Video Summary

If separated, can my spouse inherit the property I buy before we are divorced?  Well one of the first things we need to address is Florida doesn’t have legal separation.  I believe that’s something comes from New York where they may have legal separation but we don’t have that.  In Florida either you’re married or you’re single, one of the two, you’re not anywhere in between as far as your rights are concerned.

So we get to the question as to whether or not your spouse can inherit your property.  Under our Florida law as is that you can leave your property to whomever you want under your will and you can exclude your spouse.  Your spouse then has the right to file what they call an elective share wherein they get I believe it’s 30 percent of everything you own no matter how you hold it, whether it be in a revocable trust or wherever.  So yes, you can buy property, you can leave it to whoever you want to.

Now if you happen to buy a home and you’re separated and you not going to be able get a mortgage when you buy a home in Florida if you’re married without the joint of your spouse because the Florida constitution requires that a spouse join in any conveyance or any mortgage as far as your homestead is concerned.  But let’s say you say, “Well that’s not a problem.  I pay cash for it.”  Well that’s, it’s not a problem until you get ready to sell it during your lifetime while you’re still alive, and then you turn around and have to have your spouse join in the deed in order to be able to sell it.  So if it’s your homestead here in Florida it’s not so much a problem buying it but when you get ready to get rid of it or try and mortgage it, you’ve got problems as far as needing your estranged spouse to sign.

Also if you are still married, even though you’re separated and you own your homestead here in Florida and you pass away, the spouse has a right to a life of state in your homestead property or can elect to take a half interest  provided that you don’t have any minor children.  If you have minor children then it’s automatic life estate.  So there’s any number of complications as far as purchasing property.  And so my suggestion is if you’re separated, well you need to go ahead and take care of getting divorced and clean up your property rights or enter into a marital settlement agreement with your separated spouse whereby they’re waiving any rights in this and that’s another way to handle these problems.

So if you have any questions on that, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

If my property is taken by eminent domain, how is the compensation for the property determined?  Well the Florida statutes provide that you are entitled to just compensation.  So the amount that you’re entitled to recover is determined through the appraisal process.  And so if you hire an eminent domain attorney, he will select appraisers and see about getting your property appraised.  And then he will negotiate or if necessary, have a trial and have a jury determine the amount of your compensation in an eminent domain transaction.

The issue is is whilst I’m worried about having to pay the attorney.  What is nice about the eminent domain statute, it provides that the attorney is entitled to be paid by the condemning authority, so whatever governmental body is condemning the property, must pay the attorney fees.  The attorney fees are measured by taking the amount that the first offer that was made by the condemning authority to you for the property and subtracting it from the amount that they eventually wind up paying you and then taking a percentage of that amount and that’s going to be the attorney fees that your eminent domain attorney is entitled to.  So it will not cost you any money for an eminent domain attorney to handle that.

So if you’re notified that a condemning authority is going to take a portion of your property for road right of way or for any reason, give me a call and I don’t handle these but I will put you in touch with a very, very good eminent domain attorney that will be pleased to represent you and help you with this process.  You will find that the condemning authority will first come and ask them if you’ll give them the property.  I believe that’s the first step, then they will make you an offer and then once they make the offer then, I don’t suggest you accept it until you consult with a eminent domain attorney and see if they can help you get any more money for your property.

So if you have any questions or you’ve gotten a letter from the condemning authority, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

If I go through bankruptcy, can I keep my homestead property?  The answer is yes, you can.  When you file for bankruptcy, you cannot include your home in the bankruptcy action and if it is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you have to then of course keep paying your mortgage payments, the taxes, insurance and your other expenses related to your home.  But yes, you can exclude your homestead property from bankruptcy.

Now there are some limitations on exempting your homestead on how long you have lived there as so many days whenever you file bankruptcy.  So you cannot move into the state of Florida one day and then the next month file bankruptcy and protect your homestead property if it has a lot of equity in it.  So hopefully that answers your questions.  I don’t do bankruptcy so if you call me I’ll be glad to refer you to someone who will be able to help you with a bankruptcy if you would like to file a bankruptcy action and save your homestead or keep your homestead from being sold.

Give me at call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Will I owe any income tax if I sell my home for more than what I paid for it?  I have to ask a question of you to be able to answer it and the answer’s probably no.  Have you owned the property and resided in it for two out of the past five years?  If so, you can then exempt from any sale $250,000.00 and if you own it with another party or husband and wife, you can exempt up to $500,000.00.  The sale does not have to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. However I believe on your tax return there is a box that you have to indicate whether you sold your residence.

You also have to state that you haven’t taken this exemption also in the past, I forget how many years, but you can’t double dip if it’s a second marriage or a second home or residence.  So usually you do not have to pay it, however if you have not owned it and lived in it for two out of the past five years and you sell your home, then you will have to pay long term capital gains on it if you’ve owned it for more than I believe it’s six months or a year.  But you do have to pay tax.  Unfortunately if you sell it for less then what you paid for it, well then you do not get to take a loss because it’s not an investment property.  You only have to pay on the gain.

Also this is a question that comes up many times when someone short-sells their property.  And so if you sell it for less than what you paid for it and then your lender gives you a 1099 of whatever the gain is, you can offset the whatever gain the lender gave you a 1099 for against the sales price and your loss so you won’t have any income tax liability and you also may be able to exempt the transaction under the two year living there and owning it for two out of the past five years.

So if you have any questions on it or want to sell your home, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I terminate a Notice of Commencement? Before answering the question, I’d like to first talk about a Notice of Commencement and why we have notices of commencement.  They are an integral part of the construction lien law in Florida. And it’s the owner’s responsibility to record this Notice of Commencement before starting construction. In fact, in order to get a building permit, you must have a Notice of Commencement recorded.

The Notice of Commencement gives everyone who works on the property the name of the owner of the property so that they can give them a notice to owner that they are working on the property. It also gives the contractors name and address so that they sub contractor can also give notice to the contractor that he is giving notice to the owner that he’s working on it. So this all ties into the owner then, having the responsibility to obtain a waiver from anyone that is working on the property that has given notice to owner.

So in order to terminate your Notice of Commencement, you obtain an affidavit from your contractor that says he has completed all the work or he has been paid for his services and he has paid all of his subcontractors and material men. So at that point you are then in a position to terminate the Notice of Commencement and you can rely upon the contractor’s final affidavit.

There are some other circumstances whenever you may want to terminate your Notice of Commencement in the event that you started construction or you filed a Notice of Commencement and then you got a mortgage. Now you have a problem because the liens revert back to the Notice of Commencement, so now you have a mortgage and the lender won’t close on it because you can’t give them clear title or first lien position because the liens revert make to the Notice of Commencement.

So there is a process whereby you can terminate the Notice of Commencement and then later file a new one. I don’t have enough time to talk about whenever a contractor goes bad and you terminate his services, on how to file a Notice of Recommencement after a termination of a contractor.

If you have any questions about Notice of Commencements, give me a call at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.