Often referred to as a “last will and testament,” a will is a legal document that puts what you want to happen to your estate after you pass in writing. A will can also include other intentions you may have, the most common of which would be who you want to take care of your minor children, what you want to be done with your remains, and any other wishes you may feel are necessary.
If you pass away without a will, all the decisions that would have otherwise been covered in the will are made according to a state statute by a judge. It’s unlikely that these decisions will be the same as the ones you would have made. And even if there are no disagreements among family members, this probate process can take a long time and cost a lot of money.
A trust is a legal tool based on a “trust agreement” that allows you to transfer assets into it and still have access to those assets while living. Upon your passing, these assets can be distributed to your heirs directly without going through probate. Plus, if you should become incapacitated due to an illness or injury, a beneficiary you choose manages the assets in the trust. Without trust, a court decides who will manage your assets.
Another advantage of a trust is that it is considered a private legal agreement between two individuals, the grantor and the trustee, and avoids probate court, so it isn’t required to be included in public records. This means your family’s private financial information is kept private.
When you sign an agreement with a vendor to do a major project on your house, such as adding a room or putting on a new roof, that agreement usually says that if you don't pay on time, the company can put a lien on your house. That means if you sell the house before you pay off the debt, the company will get paid out of the proceeds from the sale. However, sometimes when people pay off these types of debts, the vendor neglects to remove the lien, which shows up years later when trying to sell the house.
More often than not, this is a simple matter of contacting the vendor and asking them to remove the lien. But what if the company has gone out of business? Those kinds of problems can take a title agent weeks or months to untangle and resolve correctly so that the sale can go through.
Even when a divorce settlement stipulates who gets the house, they are co-owned as a married couple, which doesn't automatically make its way into all the paperwork with your county’s property appraiser. So, as far as they are concerned, you are both still owners of the house, which will be discovered with a basic title search. This is easily resolved in most cases by filing a quitclaim deed, which both former spouses sign, stating that one spouse now has complete ownership of the property.
And if you parted amicably, this should be a relatively easy process. However, if the ex-spouse refuses to cooperate, that can cause delays. While there are legal remedies available in such cases, they can be complicated and time-consuming.
Sometimes, surveys of adjacent properties conflict, which could lead a neighbor to claim that part of the property you own is theirs. Typically, a dispute like this is with another homeowner, but it could also involve a Homeowners Association or municipal government.
Handled correctly, it can often be resolved easily, especially if it doesn't involve a major overlap. It can get messy if a substantial piece of the property is disputed or a structure has been built in the area in question.
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