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A Farm of My Own:  what we've learned & YOU MUST KNOW about/homstead  |
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BamaSuzy
True Blue Farmgirl
138 Posts
Alabama
USA
138 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 21 2007 : 05:01:45 AM
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Most of you know my mama passed away April 12th of this year and BOY HAVE I LEARNED A LOT about the way things HAVE to be done legally!!!
Her estate was officially settled yesterday!!!! This was a woman who had NO savings or anything in the end so her estate was only her little house that is HERE ON OUR FARM!
The house was in my name and her name but the deed did not CLEARLY indicate "right of survivorship" so I had to go through this long legal thing and buy the other half of the house "from the estate" which was actually buying the house from myself!!!
She had a will that could not be probated because she wound up in the nursing home for the last six weeks of her life so we had debt there....that had to be paid!
She had be jointly on her checking account, etc. but I did not have Power of Attorney and she went down too fast for me to get it as she went in the nursing home (dementia would have made the power illegal) SO we had just got the lawyer working on a legal guardianship when she died....
So he switched everything over to working on me being named executor of her estate and getting the little house after she died.
SO THIS IS WHAT WE LEARNED AND YOU ALL SHOULD TAKE TO HEART:
Thank goodness she did have a legal "Living Will" signed by two witnesses (which makes it legal in Alabama). This week my husband and I have both signed Living Will's naming each other as healthcare proxies to make decisions if the other can't, and naming our son to make the decisions if both of us can't....the Living Will says we don't want feeding tubes, etc.
We are signing Powers of Attorney this week before a Notary Public giving each other Power of Attorney.
We are now preparing our regular Wills (now that the estate is settled and we know who legally owns what---we sold my mama's house to our son yesterday during all the legal procedings)...
That Power of ATtorney is really important. No matter what your age, do these three legal things to make SURE that everything can be carried out properly after you die!
And IF YOU HAVE UNDER AGE CHILDREN, make sure you have a legal document showing where those children are to live, who is to have custody, after you die!!!! We don't have any young children now but always made sure we had that written out legally when we did.
We had to spend $2995 in legal fees (the lawyer just "ate" the legal fees about all the work he'd started on the guardianship) and that included $795 worth of "legals" that had to be placed in the newspaper as required by law. (Any other lawyer around here wanted to charge us $2500 UP FRONT PLUS all other expenses so we came out good on this legally as far as fees!!!)
I am so thankful that it is all OVER before Christmas. We're done everything we could to carry out my mama's wishes from the will that could not be probated and I know mama would be proud of the way things worked out (son buying her house and daughter buying son's house---EVERYBODY HAPPY!!!!)
OH---AND IT IS IMPORTANT for you to have these three legal papers even IF you don't own your homestead and don't have money in savings---there are just lots of legal things that have to be done after a person dies!
(You can get copies of the Power of Attorney forms and copies of Living Will forms from local nursing homes and they can tell you if they need to be notarized or witnessed by two people or whatever for your state to be legal! You can also download those two forms from the internet....type in "free" living will forms, or FREE Power of Attorney forms....there will be some websites that will try to SELL you the forms but keep looking and you can find the free downloads if you don't want to check with your local nursing home or whatever....THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT TO DO NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE!)
best wishes to you all!!! Hope this helps someone!!!
You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt! |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2007 : 09:47:41 AM
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Such good advice Suzy!! I am so glad your ordeal with all the paperwork and waiting is over and you can relax at Christmastime!!!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2007 : 09:55:41 AM
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I agree, Suzy! Very good advice and thank you for posting it here!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8 Just call me Calamity Jane!! |
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Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - Dec 22 2007 : 08:06:57 AM
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Suzy, thanks for telling us all that you had to learn (and pay for!). It's crazy that you had to go through all of that, but as was said already, I'm glad it was finished by Christmas. Hope you have a peaceful time ahead.
Ann
Sairy Hill Thicket
There is a Redeemer. |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Dec 23 2007 : 12:02:00 AM
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Suzy, so sorry for you loss and that you had so many hoops you had to jump through! You have offerd us so much good advice. Have a merry and peaceful Christmas...
Sharon
Life is messy. Wear your apron! |
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A Farm of My Own: what we've learned & YOU MUST KNOW about/homstead |
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what we've learned & YOU MUST KNOW about/homstead
