Real Estate and Mortgages

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For those who know Susan, you know that for more than 30 years now, she loves practicing law. However, Susan gets continually frustrated and saddened by people who do their own deeds based upon what they read online, or they have non-real estate attorneys, out-of-state attorneys, or even non-attorneys prepare deeds for them. The result is often contrary to what was intended, creating problems and expenses that could have easily been avoided.

There are warranty deeds, quit claims deeds, trust deeds, life estate deeds, and ladybird deeds, just to name a few. But there are some magic words common to all deeds that drastically change ownership rights, sometimes not as intended. Real Estate transactions and laws pertaining to purchases and sales, and deeds in general, are state specific and must be followed exactly to achieve the desired effect.

"Do you own your home as tenants by the entirety, joint tenants with right of survivorship or as tenants in common? In the event of death, is it your intent to have property go to the survivor or to that person's heirs? Can creditor's attach jointly owned property to satisfy the debt of one of the owners?"

We are not only attorneys, but truly counselors at law, when it comes to helping people battle the guilt, and desperation they feel when they realize that they need help. Seniors deserve to live the rest of their lives without constantly looking over their shoulders for fear a collection agent is chasing them. Likewise, a young person, has many homes, cars, jobs, etc., in their future and needs to prevent a cloud of debt from hanging over them for years due to some unwise youthful decisions.

Most people just look to see that their names are spelled correctly on the deed. However, it has been a very long time since a survivor was happy about being partners with the deceased's party's heirs, especially if the owners lived together on the property. The deceased's party's heirs are also not usually happy because they have to probate their undivided interest, and even after that, neither party has total control of the property. Obviously, it may take alot of time and money to correct the unanticipated results of an incorrectly worded conveyance. It takes very little time and money to ask questions and to be aware of the above described designations.