We have blogged several times about Missouri Beneficiary Deeds — the good, the bad, and the ugly. We ran into a new situation today. A divorced dad died a few months ago and left his house to 19 year old Molly, his only child, through a beneficiary deed. We offered to help her with “getting…
A good friend and client just became the victim of a poorly conceived Estate Plan involving a Missouri Beneficiary Deed. Fortunately I wasn’t the one who advised that be used. Unfortunately I wasn’t asked to, because I would have advised against it. My friend, Lenny, and his sister, Martha, had been named beneficiaries on their…
Once again today we were asked for a Beneficiary Deed Form. Once again we respectfully and politely declined to provide one. Why not? Several reasons, but primarily because we don’t want somebody filling in the blanks incorrectly, or not understanding precisely what they are doing. We simply refuse to be a part of that. Real…
Beneficiary Deeds are a handy and valuable tool. Used properly, they transfer ownership of real estate instantly and automatically upon the death of the person or persons who created the deed, bypass probate, and they are relatively inexpensive. So — why doesn’t everybody use them all the time? The simple answer is — everything has a time…
This is a true, but sad story. Mom and Dad owned a farm in North Missouri. Mom and Dad have two basic goals when they go see their lawyer. First, they want to keep the farm “in the family”. Secondly, they want to do so as inexpensively as possible. They have their lawyer prepare prepare…