Going thru divorce.if i have a will leaving half assets to my children and i die before divorce is final, will my soon to be ex:
get everthing. she is mother of both. my children are adults.
we all live in arizona
Stephen’s answer:
First of all, you do not discuss why this is a particular concern. If you are struggling with depression, stress, and related issues from the pending divorce, I highly recommend that you seek treatment immediately from a health care provider. You seem to care for your children, and if you are thinking about harming yourself, remember, that is a permanent solution to a temporary situation. And they will feel the pain for the rest of their lives (while also being statistically at a greater risk of causing themselves harm at a later date). If you are concerned about your personal safety for some reason, contact the appropriate authorities for assisstance.
If you have a life threatening illness, and/or you are just making plans, you can create a holographic will. A holographic will is a document that you draft up with all material terms "in your handwriting". You should sign it. You should date it. And you should have a clause specifically stating where anything not specifically stated should go. For example, you might say, to my son, I leave the Grandfather clock, to my daughter my collection of rare dolls. All of the rest of my property should be divided equally between them as they deem fit."
If your house is currently titled as Joint Tenants, it never hurts to revoke the joint tenancy as it can cause problems in having your wishes carried out.
I hope that this is simply a planning question and perhaps a family law attorney and/or estates and trusts attorney can provide you with more incite from their field.
House we are buying has driveway that one side is raised slightly higher than the other side. What could be the casue?: We would like to know who could inspect this and let us know what could be the cause and if its something we need to be concerned about.
Stephen’s answer:
You don't indicate if the home i(or driveway) s new, relatively new, or old.
If the home is under warranty by the builder, than you will probably want to just contact them. However, make sure you contact them in accordance with the Purchaser Dwelling Actions Act. You can find the Act at 12-1361 ( et seq) by following this link:
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ArizonaRevisedStat...
Pay particular attention to the notice provisions in 12-1363.
If this is an older house, and outside of the warranty, and you want to know whether this can be a problemn, then you might want to try and find out if it is a soil compaction issue and/or expansive/collapsive soil. I would look for a soils expert in the area if you wanted to know if it was a soil issue.
In Arizona, what portion of the value of a married couple's home belongs to the estate of a deceased spouse?: In this instance the assessed face value is $78k. The surviving spouse is not disabled and there are not minor or handicapped children in the home.
Stephen’s answer:
It may be that the property never goes into the estate. The first thing you will need to find out is how the property was deeded. If the property is deeded as Joint Tenants or as Community Property with Right of Survivorship, then the property will transfer directly over to the surviving spouse outside of probate. I would expect that most deeds are one of the two mentioned above. If that is the case, zero goes into the estate. If the property was not held in this fashion (and there are no other hiccups - such as a beneficiary deed), then an estates attorney will be in a better position to tell you what will happen as far as processing the estate.
If you want a definitive answer, get the deeding documents together, find out if there is a will, and call up an estates and trusts lawyer to move forward (bringing any other documents that they may suggest you bring).