[vickiedavis]

My daughters father left her quite a bit of money when he passed away when she was 10yr old. I purchased a new home
For us with her money paying about half of the cost. They were OK because the home would be left to her at my death. to do as she pleased. 4 years ago I remarried he adopted her, at her request. She will be 21 next week. We want to sell the house and move, my husband agrees that the money is hers, but I want to make sure that if something were to happen to me that she would be protected. We are not sure how to make things work at the way they should.

[joypulv]

How is ownership on the deed worded?
What state is this?
Is there more money waiting for her?
What were the instructions in the will?
She could be entitled to decide what happens now, despite your desire to protect her. But a suggestion is to put the assets in a trust. There are different kinds, which you can discuss with your/her bank's trust department. Another suggestion is for her to buy a condo now that prices are low, as both a place to live and an investment.
Again, however, depending on the will her father left, it may very well be entirely her decision now.

[excon]

Hello v:

If things were done properly WHEN her father passed, the house already WOULD belong to your daughter. If that were so, then you wouldn't have to worry about the proceeds from the house, because when the house sells, the escrow company would write the check to HER, and she'd BE protected...

Evidently the house is in YOUR name which shouldn't be the case... I don't know if YOU need to do anything to protect your daughter against YOU, but SHE needs an attorney to protect herself against BOTH you and your new husband.

excon

[ScottGem]

Even worse, depending on the terms of the will, you may have had no right to use the money unless it was for the specific benefit of your daughter. I'm hoping you had legal counsel for doing what you did.

By rights, the money should have been placed in a trust for her until she became of age. Now it might have been possible for the trust to invest in the house.

As to what to do now, I would consult an attorney. A lot depends on the legality of using the money to purchase the house ion the first place. One possibility would be to issue a deed to her then have her sell the house.

[excon]

They was OK because the home would be left to her at my death., to do as she pleased.

hello again, vickie:

I'm also having trouble with your statement above... No, it's NOT OK for her to have to WAIT till you die to "do as she pleases" with her own money. I don't you think you truly understand the nature of the events surrounding you. I'd visit an attorney.

I'd also tell your daughter to visit a DIFFERENT attorney. You DO understand that your objectives are at ODDS with each other, don't you?

excon

[joypulv]

vickiedavis doesn't need to be lambasted. It's common enough for a trusted spouse to be given total control of a very young child's inheritance. Just because she is naïve about what could happen is no reason to go out and hire a passel of lawyers. Her daughter is fortunate that the adopting father agrees about the money. And she hasn't even said yet what the specifics of the will were or what's on the deed. Plus, it sounds like the money only paid for half the house anyway, and since OP isn't dead yet, why would she be signing over the deed to her daughter?

[excon]

vickiedavis doesn't need to be lambasted.

Hello again, joy:

I was exceedingly careful NOT to lambaste vickie. Clearly, she has her daughters interest at heart.

Nonetheless, she IS misguided, and there are competing interests at work here. My post was intended to point that out, WITHOUT making a judgment. I think I was successful.

Plus, who owns how much of the house doesn't really change the issue.

excon

[joypulv]

True enough. Just want OP to not run away.

[AK lawyer]

... Just because she is naive about what could happen is no reason to go out and hire a passel of lawyers. ...

Clearly she needs to consult with a lawyer at the very least. She is way over her head here. And the daughter should be aware that OP's lawyer isn't going to necessarily protect the daughter's interests.

How she was allowed to invest the daughter's inheritance in a house titled OP's name is a very troubling question. Now it may be difficult to sort it all out.

[ScottGem]

It's common enough for a trusted spouse to be given total control of a very young child's inheritance.

While this is true, the surviving parent is still generally constrained about what things they can do with the money. The OP needs to understand that she may have broken laws in her ignorance and that can get her in trouble.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, if they used the girls money to buy a house, the house would be in the girls name, perhaps in a trust.

It is not OK, for the mom to think she can live there till she dies, she can live there till the girl turns of age and the house will be hers.

I believe they illegally used this money and when they sell this house, it needs to be in a trust or in a bank for the girl

This needs to be on an attorneys desk in the morning before the girl figures out she may have been done wrongly.
Next will the house sell for enough to make a profit with the money,

[vickiedavis]

I posted on here for advice on how to further protect my daughter, not hurt or use her in any way! I invested 30,000 of my daughters money with approval of her attorney. The house is appraised now at 270,000. I don't think that was a bad investment. When the house is sold, yes I can just hand her the money, but, the question was since my current husband has not put anything into this house and we are selling and moving into another home. I feel the new house should go to only her at my death. If something is purchased AFTER a marriage, it is jointly owned. But he does not have anything invested in it. I feel it should ALL, go to her. The house had to be in my name when it was bought, she was 10 yrs old! And for you morons out there, my daughter is my life, I would never do anything to hurt her!

Do you think that if my daughter wanted or need anything, that I wouldn't be there for her? This is not a help site, rather a trash site! She has no complaints about how her money was invested. And no decisions are being made without her being involved in them. She lives with us and is not planning on moving out anytime soon, if ever. My health is bad, I want to make sure she has a good start in life. Do you really think if the money had just been handed to an 18 yr old there would be any left at this point?

[excon]

Ifeel the new house should go to only her at my death.

Hello again, moron davis:

Most crooks I know think they're entitled to benefit from somebody else's property too.

excon

PS> THIS is a lambaste!

[excon]

Do you really think if the money had just been handed to an 18 yr old there would be any left at this point?

Hello again:

No, I'm not done:

There's TWO possibilities at work here. What's NOT in dispute is whether you misused your daughters money. So, you either KNEW that was so, or you learned it here. I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, that this is NEW information.

But, instead of asking us what you can DO to extricate yourself from your legal difficulties, you DENY that you even HAVE them by using her lawyer as cover. Then you call us names. As further justification for what you did, you ask whether there would be any money left, if you had done what you THINK we think you should have done.

Apparently, you believe there were only TWO options available to you when she inherited the money - use the money yourself, or give it to her... That notion, convinces me that you NEVER consulted with HER lawyer, or that her lawyer was an incompetent nincompoop. Clearly, were his interests in protecting his CLIENT, he NEVER would have allowed you to use the money for yourself, and he NEVER would allow you to KEEP it until you die, which is exactly what you are proposing to do, and what I think you had in mind to do from the get go.

You were just hoping we wouldn't notice.. Well, we did. Bummer for you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for stealing from your daughter...

excon

[joypulv]

I guess you never noticed that I stayed open minded and even defended you.

You ask for advice under Real Estate Law and then get all in a wad when you don't like legal advice. A thousand pardons for not knowing that you didn't want it, that your 21 year old plans to live with you for the rest of your life, that you are not going to live much longer, and that your husband of a few years has not one shred of intention to take what wasn't intended for him.

You don't seem to get the fact that he could get it even if he doesn't want it, that your daughter could change her mind about living with you, and that sometimes you DO have to hand over the dough to an 18 year old whether you like it or not. (You never answered my original questions.)

If your daughter is truly involved in this, then all of you go out and buy the new house for pity's sake, which you need a lawyer for anyway, and she goes on the deed as a fractional owner (if your state has that) as a 'joint tenant with right of survivorship' if that accords to your state law, and make sure your will is current. Since you couldn't even be bothered to say where you live, things like community property and types of deeds and so on are impossible to address.

[JudyKayTee]

I am always amazed when people circumvent the legal system and then are upset when reminded of that very fact. OP invested $30,000 of the daughter's money in a home. If an Attorney had any part in this the Deed would reflect that. So, let's say the Attorney was asleep at the wheel - that $30,000 investment is now part of a property worth much more (as I am reading this). So the daughter gets handed back $30,000? Someone made a profit on daughter's money. Where is that? (She paid half the cost; she's entitled to half of the proceeds. Argue THAT one in Court!)

I'm working on the daughter, a juvenile, paying for half a house which she, the mother and now the mother's husband reside in but which the daughter will inherit when the mother dies.

I'd LOVE to know whose name is on the Deed.

Once the daughter reaches majority she can take action against her mother for misuse of the funds (or bad accounting or anything else a sharp Attorney comes up with). As far as taking care of the daughter, taking care of her needs - isn't that what mothers do, usually without the daughter paying for half a house?

Once again - every time I think I've heard it all...

It's not too late to correct the Deed on "this" house.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, I will agree, the daughter should be getting back her share of the profit, and if the home was not placed in a trust or at least put on the deed, the attorney was representing the parent, not the child, did the child get appointed an attorney to just represent the interest of the child ?

So the best thing you can do at this point is allow the daughter to hire her own attorney to review all of the paper work, the deed and the investment to be sure her interests are protected.

But if everyone agrees the money is hers, give it to her don't invest it in a new home that you and a new husband is going to buy. She could buy the home and rent it to you But she has been 18 for several years, so as soon as that home sells, she has the legal right to take that money back from you.

[joypulv]

I think everyone gets the idea that you want her to have the whole house when you die, not your husband, not even half if you and she are on the deed together.
If you are in a community property state, SAY SO, don't keep everyone guessing. There are only a few such states left. You aren't helping at all.

You may have invested well 11 years ago, but unless SHE is well advised by her own lawyer NOW, you are both making a huge mistake. You don't seem to get the legal aspects at all.

[JudyKayTee]

If MY husband leaves a lot of money to our daughter I'm going to buy a Porsche to drive her around in. She can have it when I die.

I don't see the difference between my plans and this situation.

[ScottGem]

Vickie, Have you ever heard the quote from Shakepeare; "Methinks he doth protest too much"? You have totally misread what we have tried to tell you. I don't think any of us believed that you would do anything CONSCIOUSLY to hurt your daughter. We can only go by what you tell us. The fact is you never mentioned a trust or a lawyer when discussing your daughter's inheritance. Had you done so, our answers would have been different.

I mentioned this in my first response. If the transaction had been done properly, a trust would have been setup to manage your daughter's inheritance. Of course you don't hand a 10 yr old a lot of money, you set up a trust. The trust would either be the owner of the house or would include a share of the house as an asset of the trust. If that was the case, there would be no issue now of your daughter benefiting from the investment.

Resorting to name calling was totally uncalled for. All we have done is try to help you. You came to us with a situation that was legally questionable. The only thing that came off clearly was you wanted to protect your daughter's investment in the home. Based on what you told us, it appeared (and still appears) that the transaction was not handled properly initially. So we advised that you need to try and fix that. Instead of thanking us for trying to help you, you go off on us attacking the people who were trying to help.