Articles on Wills, Trust & Estate Planning
Can I Give my Other Siblings Cash for the House we all Inherited from our Parents?
My parent left a house to his 4 children - one wants to buy- can he give us the cash or have to go through the “process of buying a house”? We are in S.C. I live in NY and my Aunt has resided in NJ for the past 10 years. She had established a revocable living trust with herself as trustee. She now requires nursing care in NY which costs 13,000/month. Is she required to liquidate her revocable living trust or is this asset vulnerable to medicaid/nursing home attachment. My mother and mother-in-law both passed away in 2007. My wife and I donated a lot of their clothing and household items to charities. Can we claim the charitable donations on our taxes if none of our siblings claim the donations? We are filing jointly. My deceased husband is still listed on my property ownership, I do not have a mortgage, It is fully paid off. I want to quit claim my house to my daughter so when I die the Property will be hers. Can I do that without his name being mentioned on the quit claim deed? My Father and mother-in-law live with his elderly widowed mother and all three are listed on the mortgage. In this instance, who owns what portion of the house, considering that my in laws are the only ones that pay the mortgage? If the elderly parent was to pass away then what happens to her portion of the property? If she has no will, then can the house be contested by all of her five siblings? I have a question regarding the language in my husband’s separation agreement with his ex-wife pertaining to his 401K. Is “appropriate court order” his divorce decree? Or does he need to file something additional regarding this part of his 401K? There is nothing in the divorce decree that further outlines specifics regarding his 401K. My Mother has been my father’s conservator & guardian for close to 6 years in the state of Michigan. My mother exhausted over 90% of their liquid assets into his care costs. The only thing she has left is the house. Was she entitled to any percentage of their combined liquid assets? Can she sell the house to make-up the percentage that is owed to her? My single brother has lived in our family home all his life. My father left the house to all seven of us kids. The deed has all our names on it. My other brother and his whole family have moved in on him and refuse to help pay the bills because they feel since it is the family home they should get a free ride. Can the rest of us sign our share of the home to our brother so he can tell them to leave and have it be legal? My husband and I have joint ownership of our house. To insure that if something happens to either of us (sickness, accident, death…) the other could sell the house or do whatever with it, do we need to set up a trust or would a will be enough? Do you pay tax on an inheritance? I’m wondering what happens when my parents pass away and I want to keep all their real estate assets and my sister wants to sell them. If she’s older, does that mean she gets to decide what happens with them? Can I pay her so that I am the only owner? I was born to a very prominent Miami family (fathers side) My mother placed me with the State of Florida in 1959. My state Case Worker gave me copies of my state file. I know who my father is because of the file. I was eventually adopted and after 13 years removed for child abuse. Do I have any legal entitlements under Florida law as an heir to this man. He has never married. If I die with credit card debt, can the credit card company seize my life insurance policy from my children to pay off the debt? I am one of two grandchildren of a deceased grandparent. He died a little over 5 years ago. My grandfather owned a home in Los Angeles, Calif. This property was worth a substantial amount of money (the property was the real value, over $1 million alone). Since his death the home has been sold by someone to somebody. I have no idea whom. Given the total value of the property/home I want to make sure that we get all that we are entitled to… If any at all. And if so, what or whom would you recommend to pursue this? My brother and I both have our names on my grandfather’s home, but he has lifetime conservatorship. If I file bankruptcy, can my creditors do anything with that property? Also, if he passed away within a few months of filing bankruptcy, can the creditors do anything with my brother’s half of the inheritance? My wife’s mother and father purchased a property that has since then turned into a very successful lodge. About ten years ago they divorced, but he did not sell his half to her-nor was she awarded it in court. He later died. Now My wife’s mother and current husband are trying to sell the place. We think that my wife’s father’s half ownership of property would go to his daughter (my wife) when he died, and therefore she would be half owner of the property. Is this the case? My father needs to name a beneficiary on life insurance policy, can he name the executor of his will as the beneficiary and be divided among his six children? A piece of property that my grandparents owned now owned by my uncle and myself, my uncle doesn’t want to work with me or talk to me so he wants to sell it. The property has a cabin on it. I’ve tried to get a loan on it but every mortgage company says the property is substandard. My uncle won’t let me get a personal loan to fix the property up so that I can get a loan to pay him off. Is there something I can do to stop my uncle from forcing a partition action? Also in the will of my grandparents they stated that the property was to go to their grandchildren not their children does this help. 30+ years ago, our grandfather bought 320+ acres of pasture ground. Soon after, he deeded 160 acres each to two of his children, one (tract 1) being our dad. 5 years ago, the other (tract 2) acreage was sold to our brother. Sad to say, relations are not good at all between the two brothers that each own a tract. The brother of tract #2 threatened to bulldoze over all the terraces on his side of the fence and dam up the water so that it could not drain down through on his side. Just last week, in anger over another issue, he followed through on his threat and bulldozed the terraces and diked up the dirt 3-4′ on his side of the fence so it would retain all the water on our side. We do not want to take a brother to court, but are at a loss as to what to do. Do we bend and just pay the expense and go on, till he gets all hot about another issue? My father passed away 2 years ago and his estate was set up in a trust. His home was left to myself, my sister and my brother. My question is can my brother and I just quit claim the home to my sister? Do multiple heirs all have to sign a contract in order to sell property left to them (there was no Will left)? My father died over 15 years ago and left my mother, myself and my 5 brothers some land (in Texas). The problem is my father didn’t have a Will, 3 of his children are from a previous marriage and 1 of them refuses to participate in the sell of the property. I need to know if there is some way the remaining 6 heirs can sell the property without him. My fiance & I purchased a house together in the state of Maryland. We would like to write up an agreement that if something happens to me, he gets 100% ownership of the house and everything in the house and if something happens to him I would get 100% ownership and everything in the house. Is there a legal document that we can pick up at Staples and have notarized? Would the document be a legal and binding in the State of Maryland, or would it be in our best interest to get an attorney? I am the custodial parent and I am owed current child support and I am owed arrearage in child support for two children one 20 and 17 in excess of $ 35,000. My ex husband (father of the 2 mentioned children) is going to receive an inheritance from his father who just passed away last week. How do I collect or intercept legally the monies he is going to receive to offset the arrearage he owes me. Can I do this myself and if so how do I file a lien , against my ex and his father??? In 1965 my parents gave my sister an acre of land from the family farm. In 1977 they made an notarized land agreement with my sister stating that this land was never to be considered a part of their estate in the event of their death nor could anyone take it from her plus the description of the land and location. My mother died before she could finish. My brother is building on the land that has been my sister’s for 40 years. I went to courthouse for a copy of the deed. There are page nos. missing in the deed and they can’t find them. I think they are the ones my brother did not sign at the lawyers office giving my sister her land. How do I stop my brother from taking my sister’s land and what can I do about the attorney who failed to do as my mother asked? What does it mean when they tell me at the courthouse there are these pages they cannot find? Does the lawyer hold the papers and how do we get my brother to sign as agreed? My friend’s wife passed away recently. She had filed for divorce and paid an attorney to handle the divorce. She never finished giving the attorney all of the information required before she passed. My friend and his mother-in-law have both asked for the fees to be returned, but neither has received any answer or information from the attorney. My husband died recently and I discovered he had credit cards, with debt, in his name only. Am I, as his widow, obligated to pay his credit card debt? “My husband and I live in Louisiana. Our marriage is his 2nd marriage. In his 1st marriage, his estranged wife became pregnant during a time when they had been separated on and off. They reunited right before the birth of a second child in 1995. (They already had one child together who was born in [...] In Florida, are adult children named as beneficiaries in a will responsible for the debt left by a parent? My father died with $4000 in his checking account and $44000 debt to a nursing home. He did not own any property at the time of his death. His nursing home bill was being paid by his health insurance and Medicaid. My father-in-law’s divorce contract in (NY. 1983) states that in the event of his death his ex wife shall receive a certain amount of money from his life insurance policy. Recently in his passing, we have come to find out that in the last few years he made some big changes in his insurance policy. The life insurance company, upon receiving the death certificate, processed the claim (in FL.) and had money ready to send to his current wife. They immediately stopped payment when his ex wife’s lawyer sent them a letter. My base question is which contract is going to fly? The divorce or the insurance naming only one beneficiary? My husband has assets over 12 million dollars and refuses to make a will, have a life insurance policy, IRA or any other legal document where I am named as beneficary. After months of fighting, my husband agreeded to list me on the title to our primary home which is worth 1,400,000 but he’s done a will naming both his children to get his half when he dies. As it stands right now, if my husband passes away I have nothing. What can and should i do? My Mother wants to leave her house to me when she passes away and has decided just to leave money to my brother. Can she put that in her will and just go to Superior Court to change the name on the real estate transfer tax declaration and remove my brother’s name on the card? My sister (B) is dying from a stroke. Her daughter is not sure what to do with the house her mother now owns in Anchorage, Alaska. B did not have medical insurance and her bills are quite extensive from the hospital as well as creditors. My mother is quickly slipping into some sort of dementia. She has an appointment with a lawyer to sign Power of Attorney over to me. She is divorced and I am an only child. I am afraid that she will become totally confused by the time we get to the lawyer. My husband retired from a CA police department. Shortly afterwards he and his wife of 30 years divorced. She passed away two years later due to alcoholism and left her half of his pension to their son who is 45 years old. The son gave his father a certified letter requesting the return of his inherited half of the pension back to his father. The retirement board refused to acknowledge the letter and return the pension. I am 47 years old, was married 13 years and divorced, then remarried and became a widow at 47, we were married 12 years. I am on soc sec disability, I was told I basically cannot be a widow at this age by soc sec. My mother’s will stated that when she died her house would be sold and the profits divided between me and my sister. My half was to go in a trust fund for me and my sister gets the other half outright. My question is: Can I buy out her half and obtain the property for myself? y brother asked our parents to sell their home and move in with him so he can provide any care they may need in the future. They immediately listed their home for sale. Once our parents sell their home, all their equity will be used on the large down payment for my brother’s house. How can we protect their assets and financial interests? James and Mary own 70+ acres in Wyoming. Son notarizes note for $75,000 for this property to be paid to James and Mary. James and Mary die, and Son inherits the property. Does Son still have to pay back the note to James and Mary’s estate? I have been divorced for 3 years, my ex-wife contacted me and said that she was going to go back to court to try and get 1/2 my 401 K and pension. In the divorce agreement it states that I retain all rights to this. Can she reopen this after 3 years? “How do I claim heir to the property?” When a parent dies and leaves nothing to their children, can the children contest the will? What rights does a trustee have over the administration of an estate? And who takes care of banks accounts, rent, etc., for the estate? Are 401K assets considered to belong to both husband and wife for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid benefits? It’s easy to prepare a home inventory for your will, for peace of mind, or for your insurance company. Not only is it easy to create a home inventory, but it’s a very good idea. Generally a will does not need to be filed with a court or have anything special done with it until after the person has died. When a bank account is in the name of two or more people, when one of them dies the money may or may not belong to the surviving account holders. “I am a 26 year old married doctor with a new baby. My family (aunts, uncles, grandparents, sister) are all having a falling out with my parents. I am included in this war and unfortunately the annuity that my aunt left for me when she died may be stuck in the middle. My mother (who [...]
