Estate Planning USA.com

I asked this question in personal finance but wanted to post it here as well.My mother in law put my husband on her checking and savings accounts years ago.She has another son,but he is violent and could not be trusted with money.My mother in law passed away in August.We took her will to probate and the clerk told us the bank account was not part of the estate because my husbands name was on the checks and there were no beneficiaries.We went to the bank and they gave my husband a cashiers check for the money.Well,now the brother is saying he has a right to know what was in her account and has hired a lawyer.He has threatened us and says he plans on making our lives a living he**.Can he make us share that money with him?We have already spent most of it,my mother in law wanted my husband to have the money-she wanted us to be able to pay or mortgage-which is what we did.Has anyone else dealt with something like this?Thanks
Also the bank account was not listed in the will.

I need to know the laws that govern the property distributions in Bangalore. I immigrated to US in 1970s married an engineer later became a citizen solely to help my family. I helped my 2 unmarried brothers, married sister and my parents to immigrate to USA. My brothers were not educated however because of the immigrant visa they came and started working one brother is an accountant and another calls himself software engineer who never finished 12th standard in India. Because of the immigrant visa they married professionals doctors at my suggestion. I was glad to help my family and my husband helped me to support my 2 brothers for 7 years or so. When they got married they moved out.

My parents married me at age 17 to my husband who was 32. My husband died 10 years ago and I have 3 children. Neither my parents nor my brothers or sister came to my aid even though every one is financially secure. They stopped calling in fear I might ask them for financial assistance. I own my house in US with over $350,000 mortgage because of my children’s education.

On my recent trip to India after 22 years, I found out my father has transferred 2 real estate parcels to both of my brothers. Both are valued at over Rs.100,000,000. One parcel is located in Jayanagar which my elder brother had it as joint ownership with my father. Then his wife and himself contributed monies to construct a house which is rented now and later the land was gifted to my brother and registered. Rent is being collected and deposited into my brother and sister-in-laws account. My father was to receive 50% of rent and my brother 50%. since the transfer my brother has not paid my father any money.

The other parcel located in Rajajinagar consists of a large home (which my parents live in) and 2 rental units earning Rs. 12,000 and commercial rent long lease of 10,000(Reliance tower). This property currently in my mother’s name who has 6th grade education who plans on leaving it to my younger brother. My younger brother has numerous other properties in Bangalore and in US. He does not need the money. When he visits India he primarily stays with his in-laws and visits my parents for few hours. My parents are from old school and claim they can do what they want with their property.

My parents had asked me to sign a paper saying that I did not have any claim to the property approximately 15 years back, which I had refused. My sister signed the paper as well as my 2 brothers. My father worked for PWD - with LCE as an engineer with my mother never working or inheriting any property. My father received distribution from a property from my grandmother which was split between my father and his older brother. My brothers have not contributed any financial assistance to my parents in acquiring either of the properties.

At present my mother is 77 and my father 80 live by themselves. Since I am a widow with 3 children I wanted to move back to India and take care of them. Since all my siblings are with their spouse who is working they do not have any intention of living with my parents at this time.

I have contributed financially, emotionally and physically living with my siblings and caring for them. They never contributed any emotional or moral support or any financial assistance to me while my husband was bed ridden for 4 years. I have helped my parents with my sister’s wedding, contributed jewelry clothing and other expenses. No one ever compensated me for anything including immigration expenses. I was unlucky to be part of this ungrateful family. However, I am in the process of seeking legal assistance to see if there is any chance for me to get some financial settlement from my parent’s inheritance.

I thought Hindu laws dictate that daughters are entitled to fair share. Does my children have any rights to this property? Please advise.

A year ago, my mother passed away. She was my life, my world. I took care of her for so many years. I was fortunate enough to work close to home should something happen to her. Before my mother passed away, I was in no mental condition to work. But my employer forced me to get back to work or else I would be losing my job. So I went back to work knowing that my mother was going to die. In fact just minutes before my mother died, my boss asked me in front of my HR Rep. "Can you work until your mother dies"- How insensitive! I became angry and bitter about it and held my feelings inside.
As a result of my mother’s passing, I went to see my doctor who put me on anti-depressants which I am still on today. I got a doctor’s note stating that I was too depressed to work. With the brevement leave, I was out of work for 4 weeks.
My mother left me most of her estate however, living in Massachusetts, the cost of living is expensive. So I had to gut out the house and move. I moved into a condo about 8 months ago.

However, I was being harassed at work by my supervisor, my manager and my HR Rep. about how I was dealing with my mother’s death. Even though I kept mostly quiet and polite to them while I was still employed after her death, the way I was treated when I was asked about my mother’s passing- was like "She can’t live forever". No one sympathized with me. Yes I know it is a place of work but what really made me quit was the fact that my HR Rep. kept referring herself to me as "My second mother". I really resented that but kept my feelings inside.- Even my manager was yelling and screaming at me to get things in order. I understood where he was coming from but the WAY he approached me about it was degrading. This is not the first time that my ex-manager has spoken down to me. So as a result, I complained on a couple of occassions to my HR Rep. that my boss was speaking to me in this way. Nothing was ever done.

Shortly after I left this employer, I posted a review on Yelp.com about the company. It was on there for months. A few weeks ago, I received an email from my HR Rep. ordering me to take it down. Which I did however, I told her off in the email and also said that I am not done with the company yet. I filed a complaint with the state’s labor board and I have still not received a response regarding the harassment I received which prompted me to write this bad review about the company.

First off, Isn’t Yelp.com a place where I can express my feelings? Since when is freedom of speech against the law?

Now I come home from work tonight and received a voice mail on my home phone from a dectective from the police dept. of the town my employer is based in. I work late, so I returned the call and left a message.
Now my employer thinks that I am threatening them.
And one more thing, They are screwing around with my 401K plan and my Employee Stock Option Plan.

I need advice. What should I do when the dectective calls me back tomorrow? I just want what is owed to me and move on with my life.

Recently, I found out

Im 21 yrs old & feel totally lost in life My plan 4 a career was 2 model since I was a baby but with the body I developed its almost impossible. Im only 5′4 size 5/7 and an agency in FL told me I can basiclly only model lingere, maybe auto, or do porn! Should I keep persuing it & go 2 other agencys? My REAL passion is animals but Im really bad in school (impatient/add) I was hopeing 2 do ADs 4 PETA and use looks 2 my advantage 4 animals like Pamela Anderson but of course shes already famous. My boyfriend is older & in law enforcement & I feel is getting frustrated Im not doing anything 4 my future & not helping with bills or anything. I really want 2 help but Im just so torn. I was thinking of getting my real estate license in FL but working at Hooters part time cause the market is kinda slow right now just 4 fast cash. Any ideas? Heres some pictures.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/8678/yabbaswx4.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/5324/caryl1.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4351/beachvh7.jpg
Aww Steph theres no money in that though they make like 13/hr Im making that now! I wouldnt have sex 4 money youre nuts & I deff dont want a breast reduction I think my body would look fat if I did that cause everything is even now plus Im trying 2 earn money not waste money on surgery silly No advice on the real estate or hooters thing? *sigh*
Knarf being a vet is like 7/8 years of school, did you even read?

Please answer this question under the circumstance that the real estate market is healthy again…as that is the ONLY TIME I will consider selling)

I have 2 condos…one of which is fully paid for (market value $250K in a healthy market) The other which is still owned by the bank. (I owe 350K on the mortgage)

I have over 100K in savings…Would you sell the place that is paid for, use up the 100K in savings to pay off the mortgaged condo in full and be debt free….

OR hang on to both places and invest the 100K in investments???

Factors: The place that is paid for is not my residence and I struggle often to rent and also struggle to find good people to rent. I therefore have grown tired of the whole landlord situation.

I dont plan on leaving the place I still have a mortgage on as that is my home of choice.

I live in Canada (different tax laws than U.S.A.)

What would you do if you were me???

I really appreciate everyone’s input in advance!! Thank you all.

I have a strong background in mortgage and title, have practical knowledge of real estate law, and an MBA (meaning, good with numbers and marketing). I *am not* a realtor, but have a working knowledge of comps, real estate contracts, disclosures, and the sales process. We have recent sales in our relatively small building, so we have a good source for comps and plan to get an appraisal. We would really like to try to sell on our own. I’ve heard of companies that allow you to pay to list on the MLS and would like to do this. My impression is that I would have a lock box and the buyers agent would have access to show our condo at their convenience (and we’d make ourselves scarce). Does this sound right? What are the pros and cons of FSBO? How much should be offer in commission to the buyers agent?

This is quite frustrating. I’m on my third agent in my home search. The first two lied about the availability of many homes, saying things like
1) Saying homes were "not on the market" simply when there was one other offer (I figured this out when contacting the sellers agent) and
2) confirming with me she had appointments reserved for home than saying "sorry I didn’t have this home on my list for you" the day of viewing.
3) Talking on their cells to other buyers during viewings and canceling pre-planned viewings apparently due to such calls (someone else buying a more expensive house?).
…My next agent
1) Did #2 just like the last agents
2) Said he had turned in certain offer papers and then later admitted he did not
3) Said things like "we can’t see this house I called and the agent doesn’t allow viewers after 7:00PM" and then let me in only after I called the owner’s agent and yes said "I never got the call and, no there’s no 7:00PM limit"
4) Lost track of pre-approval and loan-type-description papers I had sent him multiple times and then kept saying things like "I didn’t send the offer papers b/c I thought you were only approved for an FHA loan" when my pre-approval says clearly my loan is a conventional 30-yr.

I have also had to consistently baby-sit the work of both agents as they consistently miss deadlines and have almost lost two homes I wanted due to their lying about their availability (one, in fact, is the home my last agent said wasn’t available and I now have an offer in on).

Is there any way to avoid having to deal with this and/or somehow send a strong message to the agents I am not dumb enough to take their BS?
Right now I feel like, if law allowed me to do so (and/or FSBO prices weren’t so high on the average), I’d have much better luck being my own agent.
I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A LOAN OFFICER!
I have near-perfect credit, no outstanding debt, and already have a mortgage from a reputable company. This is a question about REAL ESTATE AGENTS not loans!

I am trying to find out what kind of legal action I can take, and if I should sue the town or my neighbor?
I purchased my home 9 years ago more then half of that has been spent in hell…When I moved into my house there was
a well kept field/lot ……. NOW the field/ lot is a horror its full of junk cars, junk, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, 4 YAPPY schnauzers PLUS a pit bull that bark almost non stop
They moved a trailer in and its parked against town ordinances they actually bargained with my neighbor to stop harassing us and they would let them
put the trailer in even though it does not have enough space… Needless to say he DID NOT stop harassing infact it got worse. He also bought crack trailers from the next town called Stratton. they are not hooked up they are just used for storage either way once upon a time the town passed a ordinances against trailer. The town has ordinances against so many animals but they refuse to abide by them as our town has NO law enforcement. They also have a ordinance that you can only have a pile of junk so many feet by so many feet I have went to the town and begged for help because his chickens was coming over and destroying my yard
his dogs was defecating in my yard all this lead to a restraining order due to him threatening to kill my kids my dogs and me. ( all of his screaming and yelling was caught on tape via 911 ) I have spent thousands and thousands on my house adding a screen porch a deck and redoing every room in my house. With all the junk and smells and the fact it looks like I live across the street from a crack village am concerned at what it is doing to my property value. I am also concerned that I wont be able to sell my house ( who wants to live across the street from a junk yard I can never truly express how bad it really is ) I have got no help from the town board because they are scared to death of my neighbor cause he is not all there in the head… I have asked them for some law enforcement and they say there is no problems in town… the fact is there are no problems on THAT side of town. what kind of legal action can I take and against who? I read a long time ago about loss of enjoyment it had to do with real estate but I cant find it now… anyway I seriously need help ! I am miserable and have to take anti depressants and yes its due to my neighbors
dogs barking the stink the thought of my property being worth way less then I paid for it harassment thinking they are shooting guns at midnight when it was a potato gun.
I have my grand baby living with me and spent the night in fear that the fool was going to shoot at my house…NEVER under estimate drug addicts!! We are not wealthy and we had planned on spending the rest of our lives here but now we need out……..
board of health ? I dont think that would be of any help this is a tiny town very rural… I am looking to try and recoup what will be my loss in value of my home.. dog i wish it was "A" dog there are 5 dogs that bark almost non stop I have nothing against a dog barking.. Heck I have 3 dogs of my own ( 2 Rotties 1 Chi) and NO they do not bark all freaking day…. there is NO law enforcement in this town that means File a noise complaint would be just a joke sheriff department will not help on this matter…. THANKS so much for everyone who actually had advise I truly do value your help!!! I did report them to CBI and FBI teh sheriff department tells me they are watching them but they been saying that for 8 of the 9 years I have lived here…

I signed a tenancy agreement for a house to rent. All parties signed the agreement and dated it. We also gave them a security deposit to secure the property. I was planning on going on vacation with my family on saturday and return to this new house. Last friday I got a call from my estate agent saying that the owner of the property decided to move back into her house and she was sorry but all she could do is return our security deposit. I was devasted because I had to leave the very next day to Florida. I am now in a situation where I have no where to live when we return. My in laws are kind enough to let us stay with them until we find a place. Do I have a case here? I also need to call all my utilities and credit card companies to tell them to change the address of that house. It’s going to cost me a fortune while on holiday.
Worst of all is I have a 12 week old baby and she knew this. Where did she expect us to go. I had just turned in the keys to our other house that same day. If she knew she was going to move in on friday why did she insist we pay our security deposit on that monday?

Assume that you are a newly hired lawyer in a law firm. On your first day, you received a memorandum from your supervising lawyer:

To: Atty. Neophyte
From:Atty. Bossing
Date:23 September 2009
Subject:The Curious Case of the Paranoid Mayor

Below are the relevant facts related to us by our client, Mayor X of Bamboo City who came to our office yesterday for advice. Kindly go over the facts, and thereafter draft your opinion on the matter.

Mayor X of Bamboo City had, since the start of his office, always wanted to close down the radio station BBBB. According to Mayor X, Radio BBBB had always been critical of his administration. Radio BBBB is located in a sleepy and quiet town called Maingay in Bamboo City. For several years since 1990, Radio BBBB had been diligent in paying the necessary local and real estate property taxes, as well as in securing the necessary permits for its operations. In his effort to realize the closure of the station, Mayor X thought of a plan to withhold the renewal of Radio BBBB’s business permit until such time that the station had submitted a certification of conversion from agricultural to commercial land from the DAR, although he admitted that the town of Maingay had long been declared a commercial area under the City’s zoning plan.

Mayor X will be waiting for our opinion on whether he should remain resolute on his stand not to issue any license to Radio BBBB. Mayor X only had until the 29th of September to withhold the renewal of the license. Kindly submit your draft opinion on or before 28 September 2009, 5:00 p.m.
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