I have my dead mom’s Power Of Attorney, can I sell her house?

November 9th, 2013

I have had a few questions lately from people who say they have a Power Of Attorney for their parent and the parent recently died. Usually, they want to know if they can use that Power Of Attorney to sell their parent’s house.

A Power Of Attorney allows the agent to do anything that the principal can do. In the situation above, the child was named as the agent and the parent was the principal.

If we think about it logically, a principal can’t do anything after they have died, and that is exactly what happens with the Power Of Attorney. It dies with the principal.

The next question is ‘what happens to the house?’ That would depend.

If the house was deeded with some sort of survivorship option, then the house would belong to the survivor automatically and would not be considered as part of the deceased’s estate.

If there was a Will, the Will would describe what would happen to assets in the deceased’s estate, including the house if that was part of the estate.

If there was not a Will, the statutes covering intestate (without a Will) division of property would control. In Virginia, the house would then go to the legal heirs of the decedent.

The Virginia probate process is relatively easy in comparison to some other states. You can contact the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the jurisdiction (city or county) where the deceased lived and the probate clerk can often be of great assistance. Or, you can contact a probate attorney to help with the situation.

But remember that after the person dies, the Power Of Attorney terminates automatically and is no longer effective at all. Having a complete Estate Plan can help eliminate this problem situation.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal matter, please contact the office at 757-234-4650 to schedule a consultation.

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Posted in Estate Planning, General Information, Power of Attorney, Probate | No Comments »

Were you furloughed, and can’t afford to pay child support?

October 5th, 2013

I get a lot of questions about child support obligations and the fact that the person ordered to make the payments has had his or her income reduced because of ___________ (there are lots of reasons, including the recent furloughs).

The most common reaction is that people just decide to not pay because they don’t have the money. This is a BAD decision.

In Virginia, if you don’t make your child support payments, you can end up in jail for up to 12 months. That’s right, you can go to jail for not making your child support payments. And guess what happens to your child support obligation while you’re in jail? It just keeps on going and your past due balance keeps getting bigger and interest on that past due balance keeps accumulating. The hole just keeps getting bigger.

You can also have any tax refunds diverted to make a payment toward child support. And your driver’s license may be suspended.

All in all, it is not a pleasant experience.

So, what are you supposed to do if you’ve been furloughed, fired, or laid off, or you just can’t find a job and your income has been reduced?

First of all, you should know how child support is calculated to see if your reduced income will make a difference. I wrote a post here about how to calculate child support and here about where to find a calculator online.

If it looks like your reduced income will make a difference, you should contact the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District (JDR) court where the last court order was entered that told you to make child support payments. Ask them about the procedure for submitting a petition to amend child support.

If your case was done through the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE), then go to the office where your case is being handled and ask for a reconsideration and recalculation.

If your child support obligation was set during a divorce proceeding, you need to check the final decree of divorce to see if the matters concerning child support have been transferred to the JDR court.

It is sometimes confusing, so it might be a good idea to at least have a consultation with an attorney about what to do. We often have people come into the office for a consultation and we are able to give them enough information for them to complete the process on their own.

You also want to be sure to make some sort of payment on your child support even if you can’t make the entire payment each month. This shows good faith, and it will also help minimize the past due amount that is being charged interest.

What you do NOT want to do is just ignore the fact that your income has been reduced and you can not make your payments.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

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Posted in Children, Support | No Comments »

Should I take a Polygraph?

October 2nd, 2013

Sometimes, I have clients come in who are adamant that they are not guilty and they will state ” I’ll take a polygraph that will prove I’m innocent! ”

A polygraph is a nice name for a lie detector test, and most people think they can ‘beat the test’ even if they are guilty. And sometimes, they really aren’t guilty of this particular accusation so they think they’re safe in taking the test.

The problem is that a polygraph has been proved to be ‘inherently unreliable’ and cannot be used in court. It doesn’t really prove anything.

That part is fine. What isn’t fine is that any statements you make during the interviews before or after taking the polygraph CAN be admitted into court.

Most of the time, the person taking the polygraph isn’t in custody, they came into the office to take the polygraph on their own and they are free to leave at any time, so the authorities don’t really need to issue any Miranda warnings, and they can ‘chat’ about anything.

Also, people use lie detector tests in cases other than criminal. For example, sometimes people will be accused of adultery in a divorce case and they will agree to a polygraph to ‘prove’ they didn’t have an affair with someone.

My advice? If you are ever in a position where you think you might want to take a polygraph to prove you’re innocent, just say no…..or at least contact an attorney and have the attorney with you when you go to take the test. The attorney may be able to stop you from answering an ‘innocent’ question that might end up getting you into real trouble.

If you have questions about this or any other legal topic, please feel free to contact us at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at www.BeaversLaw.com.

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Posted in Crimes, Custody, Divorce, DUI, Family Law, General Information | No Comments »

Homeowner’s Insurance Coverage

September 7th, 2013

I’m sure that we would all call our insurance agent and present a claim if someone came onto our property, slipped and got hurt. And we would probably call our insurance agent if a tree fell on our house or a storm blew off the shingles.

But there are other situations that might bring our homeowner’s policy into play.

I recently had a client come into my office because their 35 year old child, who was between jobs and living at home with her parents at the time, was in a bicycle accident about 15 miles away from the house and someone was hurt enough to require an ambulance.

How many people would know that the parent’s homeowner’s insurance would have covered this situation?

First of all, the child is considered a ‘Resident Relative’ if she was living in her parents’ home and she is therefore a covered person under the policy.

Also, since there is a possibility that the action of a covered person caused harm to someone else, even though the bicycle accident was 15 miles away from the home, that accident is a covered event.

The problem in this case? The parents didn’t even think to contact the insurance company until much later when the injured person had hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit to recover for the injuries that resulted from the accident.

And the insurance policy has a clause that in any case where a claim might be filed, the insurance company must be notified in a timely manner.

What is a timely manner? The exact time-frame might be argued, but it is safer to always notify the insurance company on the next business day after the accident.

The lesson for the rest of us? If you, or a person who is living in your home, is involved in an accident of any type where there are injuries, contact your homeowner’s insurance carrier and let them know about the accident right away.

If you have questions about this or any other legal topic, please feel free to contact us at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at www.BeaversLaw.com.

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Posted in General Information, Personal Injury | No Comments »

Estate Planning for the Blended Family

July 19th, 2013

It used to be that people would use a ‘family tree’ to describe their familial relationships. Today, it is more like a ‘family bush’.

Children are born without the benefit of the parents being married, people are married-divorced-remarried and the traditional family that is the basis of most state’s default estate distribution statutes just doesn’t handle these situations appropriately.

Who should inherit when a person dies? Is it the children of that person? The current spouse? What about the children of the spouse that the step-parent raised for most of their life?

What would happen to your estate if your spouse remarries and has other children after your death? Or possibly your spouse gets remarried and then divorced? Would the estate that you worked so hard to establish become the property of your spouse’s new ex?

These are confusing questions, but they are not unsolvable. In order to handle these cases appropriately, you should have the benefit of an estate plan developed by a legal professional that knows how to make sure that your wishes are followed.

We are having a free, public, informational seminar on Saturday, August 17, 2024 in the meeting room of the Tabb Library located at 100 Long Green Blvd. in Yorktown (across from the YMCA). The Seminar is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 and we will be discussing these issues and how they might be addressed.

Please join us for this informational seminar.

If you are unable to attend this particular seminar, check out our seminar page to see if there is another seminar or time that fits better with your schedule.

If you have questions about this or any other legal topic, please feel free to contact us at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at www.BeaversLaw.com.

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Posted in Divorce, Estate Plan, Estate Planning, Information Seminar | No Comments »

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