It is indeed possible that an ex spouse could be eligible to receive some portion of pension benefits earned during the time of a marriage, if the ex-spouse so petitions the court.
But it is not a good idea to respond to such a petition from the court on the matter unless you are fully versed in the law regarding the topic.
In most states, the general rule is that any agreement regarding or pertaining to an interest in real property must be in writing and signed by the parties.
However, courts will often look to the conduct of the parties to see if there is a definitive agreement reached, even if the document in question has not been signed.
There are some very important differences between the two types of Power of Attorney documents.
People often discuss the transfer of a home to the beneficiaries within a Last Will and Testament, but when a mortgage is still owed on that property the transfer of ownership must still address the amount owed.
The owners of the Units of the member-managed Limited Liability Company can assign and transfer their Units of ownership to a Living Trust, so long as no agreement (or the operating agreement of the LLC) restricts such transfer. If such a restriction exists, consent of all of the owners of the LLC would be required … Read more
Depending upon the jurisdiction in which a person lives, a Divorce or Dissolution done through a court could revoke the Last Will & Testament document that existed during the marriage.
In most cases, a valid and signed Quitclaim Deed transferring property to a person other than the decedent “trumps” or supersedes the provisions of the decedent’s Last Will and Testament.
Most “general” Power of Attorney documents have a specific provision about transferring property contained within them, granting the attorney-in-fact the ability to undertake such a property transfer process.
But if the language about being able to transfer property is not stated specifically in the document (and different POAs are drafted differently), then the attorney-in-fact most likely lacks the authority to transfer property.
If a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy has been filed and the Chapter 13 Plan that is submitted to the Bankruptcy Trustee provides that any overdue amount on the house will be paid through the Plan (along with at least a portion of other unsecured debts), then so long as the debtor remains current on the mortgage payments while making the payments agreed to under the Chapter 13 Plan, the Trustee will most likely not be permitted to force a sale of a house.
Only the assets of the estate are used to pay debts incurred by the decedent. Beneficiaries and the executor are not personally liable for such debts (unless they are co-debtors or have personally guaranteed the debts of the decedent in some way).