What is a Health Care Surrogate?

 

Video Summary

A common estate planning document our clients inquire about is a Health Care Surrogate. In this statutory document, you name an individual who you give authority to make medical decisions in your behalf in the event that you are unable to do so. Also, according to HIPA laws, medical providers are not allowed to disclose your medical information. In a Health Care Surrogate document, you authorize health care providers to release your medical information to the designated party.

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What is Tax Proration?

 

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Hi. I’m Chip Waller. I’m a board-certified real-estate attorney and I have closed approximately 15,000 real-estate transactions in my 38-year career. I’m often asked, in conjunction with the closing, what do you mean by tax proration?

A tax proration is whereby the seller pays their share of the taxes at closing. In Florida your tax year runs from January 1 to December 31st; however, the tax bill does not come out until November for the current year’s taxes. So the taxes are being paid in arrears. So if you have a closing on, say, July 1, which is the halfway point in the year, the seller would give a credit to the buyer on the closing statement for one half of the taxes. That’s usually based upon the prior year’s tax bill, and care must be given to determine whether or not there’s still a Homestead Exemption on the property or just what the taxes will be.

Many times there is a tax re-proration agreement entered into between the buyer and the seller, wherein they agree that if the taxes increase or decrease, the parties will go back and do the math to determine who received more or less of the tax bill payment as far as that is concerned, and so the buyer will be responsible for paying the taxes when the bill comes out in a real-estate closing unless the closing takes place after November 1, and the entire tax bill can be collected from both the buyer and the seller and be paid from closing.

Also, if you have an institution owner, many times they will require the taxes to be escrowed and be included in your mortgage payments so that they can be paid, but this does not affect the proration between the buyer and the seller.

If you’re interested in having me represent you in conjunction with the purchase or sale of your property, please give me a call at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.

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What Closing Costs Do the Buyer and Seller Pay?

 

Video Summary

The responsibility of who pays which closing costs in a real estate transaction is controlled by the provisions in the real estate contract.

Closing costs include documentary stamps ($7/$1,000) and title insurance (roughly $6/$1,000). In the Tampa Bay are, it is customary for the contract to stipulate that the seller pays these costs. In addition, recording costs of $10.50 for the first page and $8.00 per additional page are generally paid by the buyer. Any attorney’s fees will be paid by whichever party hires an attorney. In some transactions, the buyer and seller agree to split the attorney fees.

A contract can be written to stipulate that either party is responsible for all or part of any closing costs involved in the transaction, but the above guidelines provide a general overview of the standard way costs are handled in our area.

If you would like to have a real estate contract prepared, either as a buyer or a seller, call us at (727) 847-2288.

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Do I Need Title Insurance?

 

Video Summary

It is probably a good idea to obtain title insurance. Title insurance protects the purchaser of a property to ensure that he or she receives marketable title. It also assures that there will be legal egress to a property so the purchaser will have access to the property. Title insurance provides you recourse in the case of an error in the title search. It does not provide any protection to the seller of the property.

If you purchase a home through a mortgage instutition, such as a bank, the lender will require title insurance be held on the property.

On your insurance policy, an examination of Schedule B-2 on the policy will reveal any exceptions under which the property title is not insured. If the city or county has a lein against the property, that should be revealed in Schedule B-2.

For representation when purchasing or selling a property, please give us a call at (727) 847-2288.

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Does a Spouse Have the Right to Challenge a Will?

 

Video Summary

Sometimes when a person dies, the question arises of whether the decedent’s spouse can challenge his or her will. This is particularly of interest of the spouse was not left anything in the will. According to the law, a spouse does have a right to a percentage of all assets the decedent leaves behind, so he or she can challenge a will in order to exercise that right.

The best protection if you do not want your spouse to have rights to your estate or you would like to stipulate a specific portion that he or she is entitled to is to execute a prenuptial agreement. Our firm does not currently deal with prenuptial agreements, but if you would like help in drafting a will to protect your assets, please call us at (727) 847-2288.

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