|
One of my favorite stories is
about the woman who came in for a consultation about an
estate plan.
She told me she didn't
think she needed a living trust because when her husband
had died, all of their assets had been held in joint
tenancy and all she had to do was record a few affidavits
along with his death certificate, and "poof" the
was now the owner, with no probate.
She thought this was so
great, she had gone ahead and added her daughter to all of
her real estate as a joint tenant. She actually prepared
and recorded the deeds (she was a retired real estate
broker). I looked them over and sure enough, the daughter
was now on title with the mother as a joint tenant.
But now came the real
reason she had come to see me. He daughter had gotten
involved with a new man who was one of those protestors
who believe the Internal Revenue Code (and the Internal
Revenue Service) is unconstitutional. In protest, they had
decided to stop paying income taxes or filing income tax
returns.
Mom was now worried about
the deeds she had recorded and wanted to have her
daughter's name removed. Could I help?
Well, the first suggestion
was to have the daughter sign and record deeds giving back
the joint tenancy interest the mother had given. Mom had
thought of that, but when asked, the daughter told her
mother that she was worrying too much and had nothing to
worry about. She refused to sign the deeds giving back the
title.
The point? Joint tenancy
sure is easy to create, but sure is hard to end.
Once you put your child (or
anyone) on title, that piece of property is considered to
be part owned by them and is subject to the claims of
their creditors.
Even if the daughter wasn't
a tax protestor, if she was in a car accident and was at
fault, the creditor could make a claim against her
interest in the property.
Joint Tenancy can
"Kill" your Will.
Then there is the story
about the man who had remarried after his first wife died.
He wanted to leave part of his estate to his children
(from his first marriage) and part to his new wife.
He and the new wife loved
each other so much they decided to put all their assets in
"joint tenancy" (she didn't have much of
anything, so it was his assets that were changed).
Lo and behold, he died
unexpectedly from a heart attack and his children now
wanted to receive what they felt they had coming from his
estate.
However, those of you
who've been through my multi-media course know that joint
tenancy is a very unique form of holding title to assets
or property. The moment one of the joint tenants dies, his
or her interest in the asset ends and the remaining
surviving joint tenant is now the sole owner.
So, regardless of what the
man's will said, the joint tenancy holding "killed
the will" since the moment the husband died, his
interest in all of his assets died with him.
That left nothing in his
estate to leave to his children.
Sad, but true.
I recommended a malpractice
action against the lawyer who set it all up, but it turns
out they had done it themselves, using forms.
Good luck and until next
time,
Phil Craig
P.S. Feel free to forward
this on to any friends.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
© Phil Craig, All Rights
Reserved
http://www.LivingTrustSecrets.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|
About
The Author
Phil
Craig is a licensed attorney and
entreprenuer. He started practicing law at
age 25 in 1979. He does not take on any
more clients, but is advisor to some of
the biggest names in the internet world.
He shares his knowledge gained over the
last 25 years at his Living Trust Secrets
newsletter site: click here=========>http://www.LivingTrustSecrets.com
** Attn
Ezine editors / Site owners **
Feel free to reprint this article in its
entirety in your ezine or on your site so
long as you leave all links in place, do
not modify the content and include our
resource box as listed above.
If you do
use the material please send us a note so
we can take a look. Thanks. |
|
|
