St. Louis Real Estate And Estate Planning Blog

When people pass away in Missouri, they cannot take anything with them. Their property and assets will remain here and will need to be distributed. Therefore, there are laws in place that dictate where the property will go. The laws state that the property will go to various family members depending on their relationship to the deceased. However, people do not always have a good relationship with their family members or they believe certain family members need the property more than another.

That is why having a will is important. Wills are the deceased's statements and desires about where their property will go. The wills still need to go through probate, but generally courts will follow properly executed wills and direct that the property be distributed according to the will. The family members of the deceased may not be happy about the fact that they did not get what they thought they deserved or what they were going to get though. In certain situations these family members may be able to challenge the will.

As people are aware, there are many construction projects occurring in Missouri at any given time. Some are major construction projects of business offices, apartment buildings or condominiums, stadiums and other large projects. However, there are also smaller projects such as building a home or other real estate projects. These can be expensive projects though and it is important for both the contractors to be paid and for the work to be done correctly.

However, the projects can become more complicated when a general contractor uses subcontractors to complete certain aspects of the project. Generally the subcontractors are paid by the general contractor and not directly by the owner of the property. So, owners need to trust that the contractor is paying the subcontractors. However, if the general contractor does not pay the subcontractor, that company can place a mechanic's lien on the property for the amount owed to them. This means that the owner essentially becomes responsible for paying the fees in addition to what they paid the contractor.

If you have a will, you are off to a good start when it comes to estate planning. In fact, you are in the minority of American adults. A stunning 60 percent of adults do not have wills. Creating a will is an essential task to ensure your assets go to the ones you love according to your wishes. 

That said, do not feel too confident just because you are ahead of the pack. While writing a will is an important achievement, you must also review and revise it frequently. Here are some vital reasons you should regularly assess your estate planning documents. 

When people pass away in Missouri, there is always a period of mourning that the family and friends of the deceased go through. However, there is also another aspect that the family will have to deal with after the death as well and that is distributing the assets owned by the deceased at the time of their death. Obviously people cannot take those belongings with them and the possessions cannot just stay in limbo. So, these assets need to be distributed to those who survive them.

In many situations in order to distribute the assets owned by the deceased the estate must go through probate. This is true even if the person had a valid will at the time of their death. The purpose of probate is to ensure that the assets go to the people or entities that the deceased wanted their property to go to or to the appropriate family members if they did not have a will.