Video Summary

Must the will be read to the family presumably after someone dies? The answer is no, and that I am asked this question any number of times, and I don’t know of its origin unless it’s out of the movies in that I’ve been practicing 45 years and this never has been a requirement under the probate code to read the will.

Under our present probate statute a copy of the will is provided to any of the beneficiaries and gives them an opportunity to contest it. No, there is no requirement to huddle all the family or the beneficiaries around to read the will and for them to comment or whatever. It says what it says and they will get a copy of it in the mail, and it’s usually all part of the probate process which the personal representative is responsible and relies upon the lawyer to assist them in sending out copies of the will and letting them know if there are beneficiaries, and if so letting them know how much they are to receive or the will will state how much they are.

So if you would like to probate a will or if you would like to create a will, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I appoint a Guardian for my children in my Will? The answer is: Yes you may. In fact, that is where you usually do designate your Guardian since as long as you’re alive you will serve as a natural guarding of your child. Because you designate someone to be the Guardian does not necessarily mean that they will be appointed because they will do what is in the best interest of the child.

There are two types of guardian. One, the Guardian of the Person who you appoint to take care raising the child and basically serving as their surrogate parent. And then the Guardian of the Property. These can be two different people. That’s the person who takes care of the money for the Minor. At age 18, they receive the money from the guardianship. So, if you’d like to set up a guardianship or provide for a guard in your will, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Are there any alternatives to foreclosure? The answer is yes. You can sell the property and pay off the mortgage, which is if the mortgage is more than what the property is worth, that’s called a short sale. Another method of doing this is to give a deed back to the lender. This is called a deed in lieu of foreclosure. These are primary ways of avoiding a foreclosure, alternative to foreclosures, and it’s recommended by if you’re a lender, a private lender, and you wish to take back the property is to try and work out something with the borrower wherein they would convey the property back to you with the deed in lieu of foreclosure.

If you have any questions, email me at Q@RDWaller.com about this topic or any topic. On social media, it’s #WallerLegal. Or give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Is there a statute of limitations on mortgage loans left over after a foreclosure? The answer is yes. The Floyd legislature changed law several years ago that said that the lender must file an action for a deficiency judgment within one year of the date of the foreclosure sale. So therefore they have one year in which to bring an action for this deficiency judgment. If they got a judgment several years ago before the statute, this may not be applicable. If you have questions, email me at q@rdwaller.com or on social media, it’s #wallerlegal, or call me at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Morning, welcome to Lunch With A Lawyer. Today’s topic is: What is a lady bird deed? A lady bird deed is a deed whereby a person conveys their property to a third party whom they wish to receive it after their death. The person who’s conveying it reserves the right to control the property during their lifetime, and also the right to sell it, retain all the proceeds. They’re not responsible to the person who they conveyed it to for any damage or insurance proceeds, or anything such as that. It is a deed designed to avoid probate as far as conveying real property, much like a payable on death bank account is concerned.

The word lady bird, this document was developed by an author and put into an elder law practice manual. He then gave these names to the various documents after famous people. This deed was named after Lady Bird Johnson, and is now widely known as a lady bird deed. This lawyer or any number of lawyers will call it an enhanced life estate deed, which is a little hard to explain exactly what that is. In essence, this deed is designed to leave the person who is signing the deed in complete control of their property during their lifetime. However, if they still own the property at their death, the property would automatically pass to whomever they designated under the will, which is an estate planning tool that I use readily for estate planning purposes to plan estates so that there is no probate proceeding involved.

If you have any questions about that, you can email me at q@rdwaller.com. That’s q@rdwaller.com, or on social media, #wallerlegal. I’ll be pleased to any inquiry. Or you can give me a call at 727-847-2288.

To bring you up to date on where we are with Lunch With A Lawyer, the idea is to make ourselves available and let people know that we would be pleased to answer their questions about topics as far as probate, estate planning, and real estate so they could call and I could try and answer them over the phone, or, if they needed a lawyer, that they would engage my services as far as that’s concerned. The new format that we’re going to do to accomplish that is with these videos, if you have any question, rather than having to watch this video either now or later, you can simply send your questions to q@rdwaller.com. You can email it to q@rdwaller.com. Or, for social media, #wallerlegal. That’s #wallerlegal for social media about any of the videos or Lunch With A Lawyer topics. I look forward to receiving your questions. I’m always available if you give me a call at 727-847-2288. Thanks.