Do I Still Own My Property if I Have Filed for Bankruptcy?

 

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Do I still own my property if I have filed bankruptcy and have included the lien or the amount that I owe in the bankruptcy estate?  The answer is, yes, you still own the property even after you’re discharged from bankruptcy.  The bankruptcy simply discharges the debt, meaning that you no longer have personal liability for the promissory note.  The lender still has a mortgage against the property.  However, they must foreclose that mortgage in order to divest you from the title.  So, you should not just walk away from the property even after a foreclosure in that you can retain the property until they complete a foreclosure action.  So, you still own it until such time as they’ve completed a foreclosure action against your property.

 

If you have any questions about ownership of your property after you’ve filed a bankruptcy action, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

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Should I Put My Homestead Property In My Revocable Trust?

 

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Should I put my homestead property in my revocable trust?  If you ask all the estate planning lawyers as to whether or not you should place your homestead property in the revocable trust, probably half of them would advise you not to do so and the other half would tell you that it is not a problem.

 

If you do put your homestead property in the revocable trust, you will avoid probate, and that’s one of the big reasons why people set up trusts.  If you do put your homestead property in a trust, it may lose its protection from creditors unless you make specific provisions to leave your homestead property to an heir at law, and then it should continue to have protection from claims or creditors.  Hopefully you don’t have more creditors than you do have assets so it wouldn’t be an issue.

 

But if you’d like to discuss that issue, please give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

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What Role Does an Attorney Play in a Real Estate Transaction?

 

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What role does an attorney play in a real estate transaction?  Well, the attorney gives you peace of mind that you have someone looking out for your interests.  We usually start with the contract.  That’s probably the most important time where you can get input from the attorney because he can provide safeguards for you in purchasing the property and put certain contingencies in the contract so that if the property fails an inspection or you don’t get your financing, then you don’t have to go through with the transaction and you can get your deposit back.

 

The real estate attorney will also educate you as to what certain matters mean such as husband and wife, the legal context, the meaning of tenancy by the entireties, and what does that mean to a married couple?  There’s any number of practical matters that the attorney can talk to you about such as the getting insurance and whether or not it’s in a flood zone, windstorm, sinkhole coverage.  Also home inspections to see if a property has previously been repaired as a sinkhole.  Just any number of matters that are probably more of a practical nature than a legal nature.

 

And of course reviewing to make sure that the title you receive is a clear title, meaning that there are no liens or second mortgages against the property.  And looking at the title commitment and advising you of code assessments and things such as that or road assessments on the property and making sure you’re not responsible for those when you close.  Also another aspect is utility bills, unpaid utility bills.  Are you responsible for them?  Most of the closing documents you see say that the title company is not responsible for any unpaid water bills.  So the role of the attorney is to protect you, give you peace of mind that you have someone that’s working for you and knows what they’re doing.  They’ve been there before and looked at, in my case, thousands of real estate transactions.

 

So if you have any questions or you’re buying a house or real property, well give me a call and I’ll be glad to review your contract for you and represent you in a real estate transaction.  Please call me at (727) 847-2288.

 

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How Can Domestic Life Partners Use Estate Planning to Provide for One Another?

 

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How can domestic life partners use estate planning to provide for one another?  Well, it’s imperative if you do wish to provide for your life partner that you do estate planning and that you can provide for your life partner in your will.  You can designate him or her as a beneficiary under your life insurance policies.  You can set up joint accounts naming your life partner as the beneficiary.  One of the problems that you may have is when it comes to 401ks and your profit sharing plans.  Sometimes that’s more difficult.  Florida does not recognize civil unions.  Even if you have a civil union recognized in another state, it won’t be recognized here in Florida.

 

So the key to providing for your life partner after you pass on is to do the planning and do a will and set your accounts up in your joint names.  And sometimes it’s – I’ve seen any number of times – it’s tragic when a life partner has cared for the other one for many, many years and they didn’t make any provision for them.  And then whenever they pass away the life partner gets nothing.  So I urge you to go ahead and have a will prepared and provide for your life partner and do the planning.  If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.  Thank you.

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If a Couple Divorces, What are the Right of the Ex-Spouse in the Former Spouse’s Estate?

 

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If a couple divorces, what are the rights of the ex-spouse in their former spouse’s estate?  The law provides that if you do not change your will and you have left the name of your former spouse in your will that they don’t receive or take anything under your will.  That’s the same as far as a trust is concerned.  However, if you name them on your IRA and have not changed it, or your individual retirement account, thus far the law has not been changed and so they may take under your IRA-designated beneficiary form.

 

So it’s important that you review all your estate documents after you become divorced.  If you didn’t have a will and didn’t name your ex-spouse on any of your IRAs or name them in your will, then of course they would not have any rights under your will to receive anything. And whenever you have children involved, of course, they may have rights as far as the children are concerned as the natural guardian of those as far as child support or to take care of the children’s interests in your estate.  I urge you, though, if you do get divorced, that you do need to change your will and eliminate or provide for someone other than your ex-spouse.  So if you have any questions about that or would like to have a will drawn or review your estate plan, call me at (727) 847-2288.

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