Fayette, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

You must file for an Article 81 Guardianship over your mother's estate in order to be appointed power of attorney (if there isn't already one out there) so that you may sell her property to provide for her care.

An express trust, meaning it is in writing, is a vehicle used to move assets out of one's name and into the name of a different entity.  I would need to know if it is revocable or irrevocable. For purposes of the below answers, I am assuming it is irrevocable. If so, then you probably are not the trustee which means you need a trustee’s permission every time you wish to make changes to the trust.  If planned prior to incurring any debts, it can be used to shield assets from creditors.  However, when one is creating a trust for this purpose, it is usually after a debt has been incurred.  The trust is no good in those cases.  A quit claim deed is a method of transferring an asset into the trust.  Be careful of any tax implications caused by the transfer. There is no anonymity as to what is in the trust name for someone searching hard enough. If you are using it for tax planning, then you should have more than $5.25 million (rough number) because that amount is exempt from estate taxation. If the trust is irrevocable, once assets are transferred into the trust, there is no transferring the assets back into your name.  Depending on where you live, a trust may not enjoy homestead exemptions for property taxes. You might experience issues in obtaining home owner insurance because you are no longer the home owner. The transfer into a trust may trigger the acceleration clause in your mortgage and your lender will call the mortgage due immediately. Your trust would become the borrower for future borrowing against the home since you are not the owner any longer.  Therefore, your credit rating may have little impact on whether the trust can get a loan.   As for your car, you might run into insurance issues. Further, if there is a loan against the car, you can’t transfer it until you repay the loan. Also, you can’t sell the car because you don’t own it.  You will need to get your trustee to sell it for you. If you finance car purchases, you would need the trust to be able to borrow money to buy the new car.     You should check with your banker, CPA and lawyer prior to making the above decisions because it can’t easily be changed once made. Irrevocable trusts have some advantages, but can cause significant problems in other situations.

Depending on how recently you inherited the property, or if you haven't accepted the gift you can disclaim your interest. Without more facts it is impossible to give you a clear answer. Good luck in your search for an attorney.