Neighbor Problems: Dirty Fences Q: My next door neighbor put up a white vinyl fence between our homes. Not a problem for me, originally. But the fence is now turning green and black from dirt and mold. I don’t care what his side of the fence looks like, but I do care about my side. [...]
HOA Smoking Rules: What's permitted under state law? A homeowner association board member asked owner to research local and state laws to see what rules could be enforced. Q: Your newspaper article on homeownership association rules around home smoking policies has prompted me to try to get my homeowners association (HOA) to pass “no smoking” [...]
Adding Successor Trustees and Beneficiaries When you should revisit your trust documents Q: My house is held in a trust. My nephew is the successor trustee. He not only is the successor trustee, but he and his sister are each 45 percent beneficiaries. Another nephew is the final 10 percent beneficiary. Only my home is [...]
How do I minimize taxes for my parents? A reader wants to buy her parents' rental property and minimize taxes for them and for herself. Q: How do I minimize taxes for my parents? They have a rental property and own it without a mortgage. They want to sell it to me. Here’s the problem: [...]
How to Protect Your House and Assets from Cyber Fraud Q: Your recent article that discusses the increasing number of cyber hacks and perils of online transactions recommended moving as many of your bills online. This sounds like bad advice given the whole point of the article. Could you please elaborate on how doing more [...]
Property Rights Under a Conservatorship: Are there any? Q: A conservator has taken over my aunt's house that I have lived in for almost 30 years. I had power of attorney for 20 years but my name has never been on the deed to the home. The home has a $10,000 mortgage on it. If [...]
Should I have to pay for HOA Minutes? A reader is being asked to pay $100/hour for HOA minutes and other requested financial information. Q: I live in a townhouse development with a homeowners association (HOA). I've requested financial information dating back four years. I was told that there would be a cost to retrieve [...]
Should you put kids on title to house? Here's another reason why it's a bad idea to have children listed on the title to your home. Q: Friends of mine put their two children on the title of their house some time ago. The home has no mortgage. The father is now deceased and the [...]
HOA Won't Pay Repair Bill Here's why the homeowners association won't agree to foot the entire bill for water damage to an owner's unit. Q: We own a condo in Atlanta as a secondary residence. About a year ago we discovered a portion of our floor was saturated with water. We discovered, and the [...]
Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts A reader wants to know if it is a problem that their revocable and irrevocable trusts aren't funded. Q: On the advice of an attorney, many years ago my wife and I each created a revocable trust. We never funded the trusts because all our major assets, including stocks, bonds and [...]
