Do I Have a Right to Sell My Property if It is in Foreclosure?
Video Summary
Do I have a right to sell my property if it is in foreclosure? You do have the right to sell your property whenever a foreclosure action is filed. You can sell the property any time prior to it being sold in a foreclosure sale by the clerk’s office. Presently, the foreclosure act is being concluded through a foreclosure sale online by the clerk. So, just because you have received a foreclosure complaint does not mean that you cannot sell your property.
Many people do, and it’s usually a short sale, meaning that the lender accepts the net proceeds in full satisfaction under a mortgage, so you’re selling it for less than the amount owed. So, don’t give up because you get served with a foreclosure complaint. You’re still in a position to sell your property at any time.
So, if you have any questions about selling your property, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate - Foreclosure, Videos
Does a Trust Protect My Real Estate From Creditors?
Video Summary
Does a trust protect my real estate from creditors? I’ve heard from any number of people saying, “Oh, well, he put his property in his trust so the creditors could not reach them.” Well, this is a myth. If you have a revocable trust and you transfer your assets into your revocable trust, it does not protect them from creditors and creditors can reach them just as if you owned it in your individual name. So, by doing that, you haven’t accomplished anything. I suggest if you’re concerned about liability as far as, let’s say, a rental property, then I suggest that you get liability insurance or what you call an umbrella policy to protect you against any potential suits by tenants.
If you’re concerned about creditors reaching your property as a result of an automobile accident or something like that, an umbrella policy would also be the answer. Now, anytime the property has a secured lien, such as a mortgage, well, they’re able to foreclose the property no matter who owns the property and the lean take priority over any subsequent advances.
So, if you want to protect your property from creditors, give me a call at (727) 847-2288 and we’ll be glad to talk to you about how to protect your property from creditor’s claims.
Do I Still Own My Property if I Have Filed for Bankruptcy?
Video Summary
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.
- Published in Real Estate, Videos
Should I Put My Homestead Property In My Revocable Trust?
Video Summary
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.
Do I Need A Health Care Surrogate For My Adult Son Or Daughter?
Video Summary
Does a parent need a healthcare surrogate for an adult child? The answer is yes, if that’s who the adult child wishes to make healthcare decisions for them. A healthcare surrogate is a designation of someone to make healthcare decisions for you in the event that you’re unable to do so. Usually a healthcare surrogate also has what they call a HIPAA waiver which authorizes a medical provider to release medical information to the person you designate in your healthcare surrogate.
So the adult child can name a parent or they can name anyone else they want to name as well as any adult concerned. So just because you’re the parent does not give you the right to make healthcare decisions for your adult child. And the HIPAA waiver’s important in the event that you wish to obtain the medical information or how the person is doing medically. And without it, the healthcare providers are supposed to refuse to give you that information unless there is a designation or a waiver under HIPAA. So I urge you to have a healthcare surrogate executed and designate who you’d like to make healthcare decisions for you in the event you’re unable to make healthcare decisions and provide them with a HIPAA waiver.
Usually these healthcare surrogates go from the parent to the child rather than the child to the parent but there’s certainly no prohibition or automatic right of a parent to get information on an adult child. So if you’d like to have a healthcare surrogate prepared call me at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos