If I Purchase Property And Put My Childs Name On It Will It Count As Gifted?
Video Summary
If I purchase a house or property and put my child’s name on it, will this be counted as a gift?
Well, the answer is yes, you’re gifting them an interest in property. So when do you need to worry about gifting property to your children is if you would decide to apply for Medicaid. That may disqualify you for the amount of the gift if it happens within five years that you apply for Medicaid. Sometimes, people call me or want to do this in order to avoid probate, and they want to add their child’s name to a deed as joint tenants with right of survivorship. I did not suggest doing this. There’s life estate deeds or ladybird deeds that can take care of avoiding probate whenever you hold title jointly with your children. The problem is, they now own a half-interest in the property, subject to any creditors’ claims that your children may have. So it’s somewhat problematic, even worse if your children are minors. Then you won’t be able to sell it unless you have a guardianship, possibly. So it’s not a particularly good idea. So, the idea is to say what you’re trying to accomplish. Are you trying to avoid probate by doing this? What is the purpose?
So if you have a question about that before you add your child’s name to a deed or purchase property in their name, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Medicaid Planning, Videos
What Happens If I Own Probate Property But Don’t Have A Will?
Video Summary
What happens if I own probate property but don’t have a will? Well first, as far as owning probate property, that means that, that’s property that is owned in your individual name and does not have a designated beneficiary or is not held jointly with anyone else. So, first we have to define what is probated property.
The next question that you have is, if I die without a will and you own property in your individual name, then you die what they call “in testate.” And the Florida statutes have set forth a will, in their statutes they say who will receives your assets. And it goes something like, if you’re married, your spouse they receive all or a half, depending on whether or not you have any children from another marriage. If you are not survived by a spouse then it will go to your children. If you die without any children and without a spouse well then, what we call, it ascends instead of descends and goes to your parents. And if they’re deceased well then it goes back down the family tree to your brothers and sisters or your siblings and their children.
So first off is, probated property is property, which you own in your individual name at the time of your death. And the Florida statutes had set forth who the beneficiaries are, so it must go through probate. The myth that the state will take the property is simply that, the state will not take your property unless you die with no heirs whatsoever, which is very, very remote. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that happen. So if you got any call, if you have any questions about that, would like to have a will drawn up or do some estate planning, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
Do Proceeds of “Payable On Death” Bank Account Have To Go Through Probate?
Video Summary
If a bank account has an individual [inaudible 00:00:09] as payable on death, do the proceeds of the bank account have to go through the probate prior to being given to the POD? The answer is no and that the bank account will not be probated. The account should be payable to whoever is designated as the POD by the person or the payee, the payable on death recipient, by delivering a death certificate to the particular lending institution. My clients have experienced in the past where the banks sometimes require a 30 day waiting period before they will disperse the money, but it does not have to go through probate. That is controlled by the bank account contract, the contract with the bank that says that they are to pay it to person designated as POD.
If you have any other questions about your assets or your accounts, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Lunch With A Lawyer – July 11, 2017
Video Summary
Hi, I’m Chip Waller. Welcome to Lunch With A Lawyer. I’m trying to keep track, I think this our 13th addition, so we’ve been doing this for over a year and trying to come up with general topics or topics of interest. However, the biggest thing that we’d like to do is know what questions you have and try and answer those with Lunch With A Lawyer. We realize people tune in and tune out as far as the Lunch With Lawyer’s concern on what are a particular topic.
Again, my phone number if you want to talk to me. I can’t do that while I’m talking now, but later on if you have any questions about anything, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288. By the way it does need to do with Florida law if you happen to be out of state, I can’t answer questions about any matters out of the state. The name of our firm is Waller & Mitchell. My phone number is 727-847-2288.
I’d really appreciate also if you would like and share, that way we can have a little broader reach with our Lunch With A Lawyer and maybe some of your friends would be able to enjoy or appreciate what we try and put out on the air or if they have any questions. If you would send us your suggestions at video_suggestions@rdwaller.com, and we will certain answer those. If we don’t answer them on this show, well, next month we will go ahead and answer them at that time.
So, today’s topic I thought I’d kick things off and talk about it just a little bit is, what is a quitclaim deed? I get questions all the time about, well, I want to use a quitclaim to do this, I want to do quitclaim for that. And it seems to be an answer to any kind of a legal or title problem, or anything doing with real estate. Well, a quitclaim deed says that, “I convey you whatever interest I have in the property.” That’s not saying that you own any portion of the property or any interest in the property, you’re saying, “Whatever I own, I’m conveying to you or transferring to you.” Quitclaim deeds are usually used to clear up any questions about title or correct any problems that may have appeared in the chain of title, rather than to facilitate or see that property is transferred to another party.
Many people want to see about using a quitclaim deed whenever someone’s passed away to clear up the title of the decedent. Well, a quitclaim deed won’t do that, you have to go through a probate proceeding to clean that up. Or, if there’s any sort of controversy, they’d like to have the person execute a quitclaim deed. As far as that’s concerned, well, you need to be very careful about using those and that you, I would suggest that you possibly use some other kind of deed attorney as far what you’re trying to accomplish rather than, just saying, “Well, I want a quitclaim deed to cure whatever ill they maybe out there.” Some people call them a quick deeds, some of them call them quit deeds. But anyway, quitclaim deeds are basically deeds that are out there that you use and it’s a transfer or a deed, which transfers whatever interest you may have.
- Published in Videos