Revocable trust can help protect you as you age
Q: How do you protect yourself as you age from being persuaded to change your power of attorney or will? I am a single woman with no children, and I feel rather vulnerable in this regard. What strategies will protect me? Can I appoint two people I trust as a committee with me and require that all three of us would need to agree unanimously for me to make a change to my power of attorney or will?
A: Forming a committee like you have described is probably not the best approach.
Instead, you should consider setting up a revocable trust either with you and your two trusted friends serving as co-trustees, or alternatively with you as sole trustee and with the two of them designated to serve as co-trustees in the event you are unable to serve.
Of course, some other person could still get you to sign a new power of attorney, a new will or an amendment to your revocable trust without your friends’ knowledge. It is even possible that one or both of your two trusted friends could turn against you and do exactly what you are trying to avoid.
Q: My wife and her sister were given a piece of land in Brazoria County by a quit claim deed several years ago. The sister has since passed away. My wife wants to give the land to her sister’s three children. Can she do so by a quit claim deed? She is executor of the estate. Can she sign for herself and the estate? Where can we download a blank quit claim form, and do we need an attorney to file it?
A: I can't tell from your question whether your wife wants to
give away the half she owns to the three children, or whether she wants to transfer the estate's half interest to them. She may want to do both.
If it is her half, then she can sign a gift deed transferring her interest to them. If it is the estate's half, as long as her sister left her estate to her three children, then she would simply sign a deed as executor whereby the estate would transfer its interest to them. (Even without a deed from the estate, the children would already own the estate's half interest by virtue of the will which left the property to them.)
As to signing a quit claim deed, this is not advised. Quit claim deeds are typically used in Texas only when one party needs to release its interest in the property to another party. A warranty deed or special warranty deed is the type of deed used to make a gift or transfer an estate's interest to a beneficiary of the estate.
Assuming you have hired a lawyer to handle the probate, that lawyer should be able to prepare the appropriate documents for your wife and then record the documents in the proper county.
The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase @lipmanpc.com.