I get quite a few calls from people who suspect they were mentioned (or not) in a relative's will, and to confirm their suspicion, they want a copy of the will.
In Cook County, the clerk of court's website has a handy search tool that tells if a will was filed in a probate estate. Click here to search for a will.
This NY Times article says that it's important to consolidate accounts. Ideally, you should have no more than 5 accounts. Too many clients bring in long lists of assets and many don't know what assets they have (often include CDs in banks all the way from Chicago to Crystal Lake).
Consolidation of accounts into the following pattern is ideal: One IRA, One 401k, One non-IRA brokerage account and a checking account. This makes management of the accounts easier. With fewer accounts, titling all of the assets into a living trust is easy. And your successor trustee will thank you when he or she has to take over.
The Cook County Assessor just put on its website the forms needed to apply for the 2007 homeowner's exemption, senior exemption and senior freeze (max. income $50,000.00).
The homeowner's exemption form must be completed by anyone who purchased a house in 2007 or thereafter. Once you file the homeowner's exemption form, you should not have to do it again. The senior exemption and senior freeze must be filed each year.
Click here to fill out the forms online.
Click here to download and print the forms as a pdf.
This explains the sub-prime mortgage mess beautifully... (Warning contains some "swears" as my kids would say)
A recent case in Illinois (Muir v. Mercano, No5-06-626,-- NE2d---, 2008 WL 305569 (5th Dist. 2008), just decided on January 30, 2008, said that because a buyer in a real estate transaction was not furnished with a completed Real Estate Disclosure form prior to the execution of the contract, the buyer can cancel the contract at any time up to closing.
The tax paid by the buyer on the purchase of real in the city of Chicago increased from $7.50 per thousand of the purchase price to $10.50 per thousand starting 4/1/08. (There's a minor exception for buyers of homes of $250,000 and under who are over age 65).
I know the CTA is in trouble, but this is exorbitant.
The presidential candidates have the following views on the estate tax (inheritance tax):
Democrats
Hillary Clinton- $3.5 million exclusion amount per person, but keep the tax
Barack Obama - wants to keep the tax and to put the exclusion high enough so no family business has to be sold to pay the tax. No specific amount mentioned.
Republicans
Mitt Romney - Eliminate the tax
John McCain - $10 million exclusion, but keep the tax
Twice in the last few months, I've run across an amazing program that makes monthly payments to veterans who are disabled or having trouble living on their own. The name of the program is the VA Aid and Attendance Program.
Here's what it does:
What it takes to qualify
Here is how to apply.
I did a closing of a Chicago condo this week. The developer offered a flat screen television to the buyer AND another one to the buyer's agent as an incentive to buy the condo. The price limit was $1200 on the televisions. The developer reported that sales picked up nicely when the televisions were thrown in. Both client and agent were quite satisfied too.
Here are the unhappy totals for real estate sales for Cook County single-family homes for May 2007 compared to last year:
May 2007 2786 houses sold
May 2006 4690 houses sold
This is a steep drop of almost 50%. The strange thing is that it was already slowing down in May 2006. We don't see anyone talking about "flipping" houses anymore (or even buying and rehabbing them). The only ones really busy are the foreclosure attorneys.
