How Does a Lady Bird Deed Help My Heirs Avoid Probate?

 

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How does a lady bird deed help my heirs avoid probate?

 

Well first let’s define what a lady bird deed is.  That is a name that an author of a treatise gave to a life estate deed.  A life estate deed means that you convey your property to your children or to anyone. However, you reserve to yourself a life estate, meaning that you own the property, or you get to use the property during your lifetime.

 

Now what is known as a lady bird deed has additional powers besides being able to use the property during your lifetime. Those powers include, which are reserved to you with your life estate is the ability to sell the property without the joinder of these remaindermen.  So that is the definition of a lady bird deed when we’re talking about it.

 

So how does it avoid any kind of probate when a person passes away?  Well, you signed the deed and you conveyed it to whomever, your children or your heirs and reserved a life estate.  And you have certain rights to convey or transfer the property during your lifetime.  But if you do not sell or convey it during your lifetime upon your death all they need is a death certificate and they will own the property, “they” being whomever you have conveyed the property to.  And the deed, they will own it, and all they need to do is record the death certificate and they will automatically own the property.

 

So that’s how your heirs will avoid any probate proceeding if you sign a lady bird deed conveying the property to them during your lifetime.

 

If you would like to discuss this further well give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

 

 

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Can I Buy a Homestead Property Free of Judgements Against the Owner?

 

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Can I buy a person’s homestead property free of any judgments that may be against the owner of the property?

 

The answer is yes, depending on what kind of judgments there are against him. The Florida Constitution provides that your homestead cannot be attached by creditors.  So if someone sues you and obtains a judgment against you, they cannot take your home away from you.  There is a specific provision in the statutes that allow you to sign an affidavit, send it to your creditor and they have 45 days in which to object as to the homestead status. After which time you can then sell the property and the seller can sell the property and does not have to pay the judgment creditor.

 

As far as a buyer is concerned, they usually need to rely upon obtaining title insurance to be insured against these judgment liens attaching. If the seller does have a judgment, well then I would strongly suggest a buyer not rely upon this video or anything else, but require that he receive title insurance insuring that the judgment lien does not attach.

 

The seller, if they would like to contact my office to follow up on how they can sell the property without having to pay a judgment creditor, well, give me a call.

 

Now there are certain judgments that do attach, such as child support, that’s one. Also any federal tax liens that may come in, the federal taxes preempt state law and the Florida constitution.  So most judgment liens do not attach to homestead, however, there are some exceptions.  So, if you are a buyer, be sure to get title insurance; if you are a seller call me and we can go over it to determine whether or not you have to pay these judgment liens in order to sell your property free and clear of the judgment.

 

Give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

 

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What is FSBO and Does it Save Me Any Money?

 

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What is FSBO and does it save me any money? Well, FSBO stands for “For Sale by Owner”, affectionately called in the industry a “Fizbo”. This is how people sell their own homes, whatever money they save would be in the form of a real estate commission. Whether or not the realtor can market the property for more than what their commission would be, since they have the ability to market online, they have the ability to put it in multiple listings, a realtor may actually net you more money. Their usual real estate commissions run about 6 to 7 percent.

 

 

However, if you are going to sell the house yourself, you do not need a realtor and you can do your own marketing. The old-fashioned time was to put a For Sale sign out in your yard that says, “For Sale by Owner” and put your phone number on it. Then you have the ability to sell the house yourself.

 

Once you have a buyer well then that would be a good time to contact my office and we would be please to prepare the contract between the buyer and the seller and take care of the closing. Customarily the seller pays for the title insurance and the documentary stamps on the deed. We’re seeing more and more seller financing, so if you’re trying to sell your property, and in these times it’s hard to get a bank loan, well we can certainly assist you as far as preparing the note and mortgage or holding the financing.  But FSBO stands for “For Sale by Owner” and it’s known in the industry as a “Fizbo”.

 

So if you want to sell your property on your own, give me a call at 727-847-2288 and I’ll be glad to tell you what you need to do when you have a prospect that wants to purchase your property.

 

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What Happens to Past Due Property Tax When I Short Sell my Home?

 

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What happens to past due property tax when I short sell the home? Well that’s a fairly easy one. It’s when you short sell your home the property taxes are paid out of closing money and it reduces the amount that your lender receives or agrees to take in satisfaction of their lien and hopefully releases you from any liability on the loan. So those taxes are paid just like any other closing, when you close on your property and sell it to someone else. The back due taxes are paid, since they’re a lien against the real property rather than your personal obligation. So they are all taken care of and it is only up to you to negotiate with your lender that they’ll take the net proceeds less the payment of the real property taxes in satisfaction of the mortgage.

 

So if you have any questions, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

 

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What Are the Benefits of a Health Care Savings Account?

 

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What are the benefits of a health care savings account? Well this question is probably better asked to your human resources person where you are employed. It’s an alternative to providing health insurance or can be a blended arrangement whereby your employer puts a certain amount of money into your account every month. Therefore, you can use that money for any health care needs you want.

 

After a certain amount, which is usually a fairly high deductible, then your health insurance would kick in as far as that’s concerned.  But you can use this for dental or prescription drugs, anything you’d like as far as your discretionary.

 

It’s particularly beneficial to people who are very healthy and don’t go to see the doctor very often, other than an occasional physical and don’t get sick, because the money builds up in that account. And so you can use it for cosmetic surgery or dental work or whatever you would like. It’s not particularly beneficial to people who have prescription drugs that are particularly expensive; usually the money that’s deposited isn’t sufficient to cover the amount that the employee has to pay.

 

So it’s something that your employer does for you or to you in conjunction with providing health insurance for you. So you probably don’t need to call and talk to me about this but that’s my take on a health care savings account. You probably need to talk to the human resources department where you are employed and ask them to give you more information about it. And it’s an alternative to your medical insurance or deductible.

 

So good luck with that! You can always call me about your legal needs.  It’s 727-847-2288.

 

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