Can I Force My Sibling to Sell Property, Which I Own with Them Jointly?
Video Summary
Can I force my siblings to sell property, which I own with them jointly? The answer is yes, you can. If you have any interest in real property of the possessory interest entries, a fractional share of real property, you can file what they call a partition action. Partition action is where you sue the other co-owners of the property, ask the court to appoint what they call a special magistrate, which is a third party who will list and sell the property and none of the beneficiaries have to sign the deed. Then all the money is held with the clerk of the court or with the closing agent from the sale of the property. And then the expense of bring the partition acts, including attorney fees, is then distributed pursuant to a court order, to all the owners and their fractional share. So if you owned a half interest, you would be entitled to one half of the net proceeds. If any owner of the property would have paid taxes or insurance, they’re, they may be entitled to a special equity for these taxes and insurance that they’ve paid, which would come out of the net proceeds. If you have any questions about a partition action, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Real Estate – Selling, Videos
How Do I Know If I Am a Beneficiary of a Trust?
Video Summary
How do I know if I’m a beneficiary of a Trust? Well, usually this comes into play whenever your parents or a relative has a revocable trust and then upon their death their estate is to be distributed to various beneficiaries. The successor trustee of those trusts is obligated under Florida law to send a notice to beneficiaries that they’re beneficiary on the trust and notify the beneficiary that they are entitled to a copy of the trust if they would like. Also, you would be entitled to inventory and accounting. If you’re not a beneficiary under the trust, the trustee has no obligation to send to you a copy of the trust, and you’re not entitled to get a copy of it because it’s not a public record. The question that arises many times is, well, I think I’m a beneficiary, but I don’t know that, and I’d like to copy the trust to verify that. Well, unfortunately, you’re not entitled to a copy of the trust unless you’re a beneficiary, and if you have a trustee who you don’t get along with and they won’t talk to you, you can’t very well make them, give you a copy of the trust. Since you don’t know whether you’re a beneficiary or not. I don’t have a good solution for you to try and force a copy of the trust whenever the trustee’s not cooperative for you to determine if you’re a beneficiary or not. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
If I Put My Children on My Deed, Can They Force Me to Sell My House?
Video Summary
If I put my children on my deed, can they force me to sell my house? The answer is yes, because you make them a co-owner of the property, they can file an action called a partition action where they sue and asset. A third party called a special magistrate is appointed, and the special magistrate can then list and sell the property for and divide up the proceeds pursuant to the share of the party’s interest in the property. There are other problems in adding your children to the deed, such as when it’s sold, they don’t get a step up on a basis. You may lose a portion of your homestead exemption. It may be a problem also if you have to qualify for Medicaid. I suggest that if you are going to do this for the purpose of estate planning to avoid probate and to put your children on the deed, it is that you sign what they call a lady bird deed or an enhanced life estate deed, and that’s where you convey to them the property. However, you reserve all the rights of ownership during your lifetime, as well as the right to sell the property, keep all the proceeds, or even change who receives the property during your lifetime. You reserve all those rights. And so I’ve been using these type deeds for many years and they work very well, but you do not want to add your children to your homestead property or to the house, to your property because they can force the sale and has other adverse consequences for both you and them. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate – Selling, Videos
What Kind of Decisions Can a Health Care Proxy Make?
Video Summary
What Healthcare decisions can a healthcare proxy make? The ones that are drafted or eye draft called designation, this healthcare proxy as a healthcare surrogate. The healthcare surrogate can make just about any decision as far as your health is concerned, although those decisions can’t override your decisions. So, if you give written or oral instructions to the medical provider or whoever’s giving this to you, the Healthcare surrogate can’t use their discretion to override those decisions. So if there’s any restrictions you would need to review the healthcare proxy form to see that, number one, it is comprehensive, but two, if there are any restrictions in conjunction with that, I have drafted them where there are restrictions, particularly for folks of a particular religious denomination as far as blood transfusion and the administration of certain drugs as far as that’s concerned. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos