RADIO SHOW HIGHLIGHTS JUNE.20.2018
Our expert guest on the show today was Dave Salsbury, Estate Attorney for wills, trusts, probate and estate planning. Eric asked Dave about insurance proceeds his dad will receive for $5,000. Eric says the money will make his dad ineligible for medicaid unless he spends it on himself for necessities. He wanted to know if he could buy a car to be used to take his dad to and from doc appointments. Salsbury told Eric that the car would have to be under his dad’s name or it would look like Eric received a gift from his dad. People on medicaid are not allowed to “give away” cash in order to spend the money down.
Debra paid $30,000 for landscaping that was not completed because the landscaper died. Now the landscaper’s sister, which is his personal representative, claims the estate had no money to open probate to pay her back. Attorney David Salsbury said Debra can force a probate to be opened as a creditor, then she can explore all of the assets to see if the sister is telling the truth. Or she can go after the sister personally if she believes the sister misappropriated the money from the estate. You see, a personal representative must make sure a good faith effort is made to pay creditors of the estate or they can be held personally responsible for the debts.
In a previous show Randy complained that Quality Auto Sound sold him a defective backup cam for his car and they wouldn’t do anything about it. He said the problem had been going on three months but as soon as we called them, he had a working replacement cam within a few days. He called to thank us!
Spencer bought a car from dealer and 20-minutes later he totaled the car! His insurance company won’t cover the losses because his coverage did not transfer over to the new car because he bought the car out-of-state. Our insurance expert, Brian Burns at Compass Insurance said that is ridiculous. He said that in most policies there is a grace period in which you are covered on the new car. Brain said that coverage will transfer to wherever you buy the car! Brain is going to help Spencer file and collect the claim. But keep in mind, the only coverage that transfers is the coverage you have … meaning … if you only have liability, then only liability will transfer.
Marie’s dad died 7 years ago and left her a piece of commercial property. She never opened probate to have the property transferred. She was wondering if she could use “adverse possession” to take over the property? Attorney David Salsbury and I told her that was ridiculous because the possession was not adverse! Salsbury said he best bet is to open probate now and legally have the property transferred.