The experience of buying a home can be exciting, but it can also be a daunting task. One of the most important steps in the home-buying process is completing a title search. This process is designed to ensure that you are buying a home with clear legal ownership, free from liens or any other encumbrances. By performing a thorough title search, you can rest assured that you are the rightful owner of your new home.

What Is a Title Search?

When someone puts their home for sale on the market, it is only reasonable to assume that the seller has the legal right to sell the home. However, without a title search, you cannot be sure of this. A title search is an investigation into the public records that verifies the past and present legal owners of a property. It also reveals any liens, easements, or other encumbrances on the home that could affect your rights as the new owner.

A title search may reveal issues such as:

If you are evaluating your estate planning options, you may have several questions about the advantages and disadvantages of various estate planning instruments. Trusts are popular options for passing assets to heirs in an estate plan. However, there are many different types of trusts, and the type of trust you choose will depend on your individual circumstances and goals. The two main categories of trusts are revocable and irrevocable trusts.

Benefits of a Revocable Trust

Revocable trusts, sometimes referred to as "living trusts" can be modified or revoked by the trust creator during his or her lifetime. This type of trust provides flexibility for those who may want to make changes to their estate plan over time. The revocable trust can also help avoid probate, as assets placed in the trust do not have to go through the court process when they are passed on to heirs.

Benefits of an Irrevocable Trust

An irrevocable trust is permanent and cannot be modified or revoked by the trust creator once it is established. This type of trust can provide tax advantages, as assets placed in an irrevocable trust are generally not subject to estate or gift taxes. Irrevocable trusts can also protect assets from creditors, as once they are placed in the trust, the creator no longer has control over them and cannot transfer them to creditors. Assets placed in an irrevocable trust are owned by the trust, not the person who created the trust. This can be useful for those who wish to pass assets on to heirs without the risk of those assets being seized during a lawsuit or by creditors. Irrevocable trusts are also sometimes used to provide funds to a disabled adult without reducing his or her ability to receive government benefits.

Bankruptcy can be a wonderful tool for escaping insurmountable debt, slowly righting your credit score, and stopping a barrage of collections efforts. However, it is important to enter the process of filing for bankruptcy with a clear and complete understanding of the effects these proceedings will have on your life, both in the short and long term. An inventory of assets should be taken, and a careful analysis to determine which form of bankruptcy would best serve your current interests conducted. These analyses are best conducted by a knowledgeable attorney who is aware of all relevant factors and can provide you with advice suited to your unique situation. Bankruptcy is not to be undertaken lightly.

Depending on the form of bankruptcy you choose, it could continue to impact your monthly budget for years to come. Debt relief through bankruptcy can be had, but the process should be supervised by a skilled attorney. 

What You Should Know Before Initiating Bankruptcy Proceedings

It is important to perform an honest assessment of how bankruptcy may affect you as compared to continuing as you are. Questions to ask include:

More and more people are choosing trusts in place of or in addition to traditional wills. There are quite a few advantages to using trusts. Your beneficiaries will probably not need to go through probate before they can receive their gifts. You can gradually distribute money over time instead of handing your beneficiaries a lump sum, providing long-term financial benefits. Trusts can also help you keep everything private, as no one but your beneficiaries and trustee should be able to even see your trust document. Trust administration is usually less costly than probate as well.

However, there is still quite a bit of confusion about how trusts actually work. There is still a misconception that trusts are mainly for the very wealthy, when in fact, almost everyone could benefit from having a trust as part of their estate plan. If you are interested in learning how a trust could benefit you and your beneficiaries, you should contact an estate planning lawyer for more information. 

Forming a Trust

Forming a trust is not nearly as complicated as many believe. It essentially boils down to executing a document that sets up a trust as its own legal entity. You then “fund” the trust by placing property in it. This is largely a legal fiction. Most people name themselves as their own trustee and lifetime beneficiary, so even after you move your property into your trust, you retain complete control over it. While technically, your trust now owns anything you put into it, as both trustee and beneficiary, you are free to do whatever you please with anything you have placed in your own trust. 

The decision to buy a home is a big one. Purchasing, rather than renting, is a long-term investment. There are quite a few advantages to buying a home, but there is also some risk involved. The residential real estate market is fast-paced and competitive at the moment. It can be difficult to do a thorough investigation and “jump on” a place quickly enough. Before you pull the trigger on a place and sign a potentially decades-long mortgage agreement, there are a few questions you should find the answers to. It is best to have an attorney helping you to make sure that you have all the pertinent information and fully understand what you are signing at closing. Failing to make sure you have the right information could lead to unpleasant surprises down the road. 

Answers You Need Before You Buy a House

If this is your first time buying a house, you may not be familiar with all the terminology used in real estate. Even experienced homebuyers may have difficulty understanding every clause in the documents they will be asked to sign at closing. This is another reason that you should involve an attorney in a home purchase - you will know exactly what everything you are signing really means. 

Some questions you should have answers to before buying include: