I was the guest host of Aging Options this past weekend on 770 KTTH in Seattle. Listen in if you get a chance.
Hour 1
Hour 2
I was the guest host of Aging Options this past weekend on 770 KTTH in Seattle. Listen in if you get a chance.
Hour 1
Hour 2
You can take the money. You can have the property and all of the “stuff” in my house. Just give me one more day with my wife, my children, a close friend. Let me have a day to spend with them, to look into their eyes, to memorize their face, to hear their voice.
Let me realize that day is today.
When I hear about the loss of the firefighters in Arizona, the loss of a daughter in a drive-by shooting, or the many losses that occur each day, I wonder if the loved ones would trade all of their material things away for just one more day with that special person. I believe I know the answer to that question. What would we say to the people in our lives, those people who make our lives worthwhile, if we knew today was it?
Keeping life in perspective is very difficult at times. We get caught up in problems and the things that annoy us. We forget how precious a little thing like one day might be.
Take the gift of a day and spend it wisely – today.
With so much discussion about the right to bear arms, let’s compare the right granted under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution with the Washington State Constitution:
Second Amendment to the US Constitution:
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Washington State Constitution, Article I, Section 24:
“The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.”
It would appear to me that Article I, section 24 of the Washington Constitution plainly and clearly guarantees an individual right to bear arms in Washington State. The US Constitution sets the floor and States may not go below the floor. They may, as Washington has, move up to the mezzanine.
Many people have created revocable living trusts to avoid probate at death and handle incapacity issues. Chances are your home mortgage contains what is called a “due-on-sale clause” to allow the lender to require you to pay off the loan in full if you transfer your home. But what if you are simply transferring your home to your revocable living trust to avoid probate when you die?
Thanks to the Garn-St. Germain Act, you are allowed to transfer your personal residence to make “a transfer into an inter vivos (also known as “living”) trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary and which does not relate to a transfer of rights of occupancy in the property.” This provision is included in the list of exemptions from the due-on-sale restrictions, along with a transfer to a relative resulting from the death of the borrower, a transfer related to a divorce, among others. Specifically, this exemption for the transfer to a revocable living trust deals with loans on residential properties containing less than five dwelling units and covers interests in cooperative housing units as well. So, a transfer to a trust would be acceptable if you lived in a duplex, triplex or four-plex or even a coop in Manhattan.
When you go to refinance a home that is held in your revocable living trust, you will generally find lenders in two categories. Most lenders will ask for information on your trust and a letter from an attorney, usually the attorney who prepared your trust. The other category of lender is either uninformed or too lazy to understand the process with a trust. These lenders will ask you to transfer your home back to your individual name and then, when the loan is finalized, allow you to transfer your home back to your trust. This route works, but is time consuming and more expensive. The enlightened lenders will want an attorney to provide an opinion letter along the following lines: (1) that in the attorney’s opinion, the trust is validly created, duly existing and enforceable under state law, and that holding title to the property in the trust does not in any way diminish the lender’s rights as a creditor; (2) that the trust is revocable and the borrower established the trust during the borrower’s lifetime to be effective during the Borrower’s lifetime; (3) that the borrower is settlor (maker of the trust), beneficiary and a trustee of the trust; and (4) that the borrower is duly qualified under applicable law to serve as trustee and is fully authorized under the trust and applicable law to hold title to, manage the property placed in trust, borrow money, and pledge or otherwise encumber the Trust assets absent written consent from the beneficiary or if consent of the beneficiary is required it has been so granted. This opinion may be obtained from any attorney, but the attorney who drafted your trust will be in the position to readily render this opinion, saving you time and money.