Attorney Ursula Woods & Attorney Monika Johnson

We're "Asking the Experts" with Attorney Ursula Woods and Attorney Monika Johnson on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Memphis probably presents The Ben Johnson Show.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me you say, Beth, I've got em stop mist.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Let me you say.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
She's gone empist of game.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
No matter of the problem, she can have shot all
the phone and the normans on your mind. She was
there Jimmy ding in the hair by chilling you to
just keep the fair.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
When aridle pegging out, Miss Johnson Show.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Because we have got out in happy fun here every
day you d I hate.

Speaker 6 (01:02):
Well bell got me a missed king.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome into w
d i A The Rev. Johnson Show. It is indeed
a pleasure I have you with us once again on
this Wednesday hump day. We like to say, yeah March
twenty six, twenty twenty five, enjoyed this fabulous day today,

(02:11):
get ready and put your ears on. Yeah yeah, we
will share the good news with you once again. Is
back in the house. Our sister friends from the bankruptcy
firm preferred title Escrow and nine oh one car reg
Attorney Ursula Woods will be here. Attorney Monica Johnson will

(02:34):
be here to talk with you to answer all your
legal questions you may have nine zero one five three
five nine three four two nine zero one five three
five nine three four two eight hundred five zero three
nine three four to two eight three three five three

(02:59):
five nine three four two will get you in to.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Me.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah. And if this day, this day, Wednesday March twenty six,
twenty twenty five, is your birthday like Michelle Bukennan. That's
from common Man and the kids. Happy birthday, ll he said,

(03:30):
Happy birthday, shall Michelle. Yeah, you Kennon and all of
you all out there who may be celebrating a birthday
on this day, we say, go out, y'all, go out
and celebrate your life. Yeah. Better you better. When we

(03:52):
come back, we'll talk with our legal aides.

Speaker 7 (03:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
I like to say Attorney Ursula Woods a turney, Monika
Johnson and me Bev Johnson on the Bev Johnson Show
only on double U d i A giving you a

(05:00):
little junior walker walk in the Night and yee ye
ye ye yeah, welcome into w d i A The
Bev Johnson Show. It is indeed a pleasure to have
you with us once again on this Wednesday day, March
twenty six, twenty twenty five. Enjoy this fabulous day to day.
Get ready as we will talk to the attorney's attorney

(05:22):
Ursula Woods, Attorney Monika Johnson is in the house. We'll
have that famous soapbox as always, So get your legal
questions together when you do have questions for them. Nine
oh one five three five, nine three four two eight
hundred five zero three nine three four two eight three

(05:43):
three five three five nine three four to two will
get you in to us. You're listening to the Bev
Johnson Show on w d i A, The.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
BEV J Just Say Show, Don't go away. The Bev
Johnson Show returns after these messages.

Speaker 8 (06:35):
Have never.

Speaker 7 (06:49):
Be you know, over the town working hard to break

(07:22):
you hotaday now selling Forday, every.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Good morning, and welcome back to w d i A.
We are talking with our sister friends are back in
the house from the bankruptcy firm preferred title in escrow
and nine oh one car red back in the house
attorney Ursula Woods, Attorney Monika Johnson. And let me say
to the ladies, good morning, sisters.

Speaker 8 (08:09):
Good morning, sister.

Speaker 6 (08:13):
Doing well.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
It's a beautiful day.

Speaker 8 (08:17):
It really is, it is.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
It is. As we start, we have to get you already,
know sister. We have to start with that famous it's
famous so and I have to tell you anyway, I'll
tell you have the words.

Speaker 8 (08:33):
All right, Okay, all right, Today I just kind of
want to discuss that we can do things a little
bit better than we did them the day before, okay,
And so I want us to try a little bit harder,
care a little bit more, give, just a little bit more.
It doesn't have to be a great, big, huge, you know,
colossal change, but just be a little more patient. You know,

(08:54):
a little goes a long way. One time Monika told
me she was in church, and what did they say?
A little is I'm not gonna butcher the quote you
do recall about doing a little.

Speaker 9 (09:04):
Inch inch by inch, anything is a cinch, right. So
doing a little a lot right, doing a little a
lot accumulates. And so if you're on your job and
you're giving your best, and your boss is on you
about doing you know, just a lot more, you know
I need you to do X, Y N Z, Well
why not start with saying, well, you know what I

(09:25):
am gonna conquer. I'm gonna conquer X. I may not
can do Y and Z today, but I'm going to
do X. And I have only been doing a B
and C. I'm gonna do X today. So set your
intention to doing a little a lot. That is all
I want to tell you today. Life is tough, but
you can be tougher. You have survived one hundred percent
of the things that you've gone through. How I know
because if you take that right hand and put it

(09:46):
in the center of your chest, there is still a
beat there. If you put your hand and put it
on your breath, there is bread still going in and out.
Even if you are laying in a hospital bed right now,
you still have breath in your body and life to
be able to do a little bit more, even if
that means wiggling those toes sitting right there. At least
I'm trying to get some movement.

Speaker 8 (10:05):
Even if that means it usually takes somebody else to
grab the water bottle, I'm gonna at least try to
stretch and grab it myself today. So if that is you,
I just want you to be encouraged that doing a
little a lot, you'll be surprised. Now here's the funny pride. Okay,
I'm about to tell my age. Okay, all right, So
with that said, as we age, we're supposed to do
more strength training, right, and so when you know that

(10:28):
you have to do strength training, and you have not
been doing strength training, you can really become fragile as
we age. So I was noticing when I get up
and down out of a chair that my hip was
starting to hurt. And I was like, hold, wait a minute,
what is that?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
And so then it's like a cruel joke me.

Speaker 8 (10:46):
It really it's like your body is betraying you. So
then I decided, let me do some more leg lifts,
back lifts, and core strengthening exercises to improve in that area. Now, no, look,
when I tell y'all i'm doing shrenth training, these are
weights that I have at home, Okay, And so then
I began to research doing body weights, you know, lifting
up and down. And so now just to share, now

(11:09):
I get up and down, I mean off the floor,
no hands right, and it is a goofy kind of thing.
I'm not saying put it on YouTube or TikTok. But
I do that intentionally so that my core can strengthen
and soakn my hips. Because one of the ways that
people have accidents and pass away or become in a
place that they can't really recover is because of falls.

(11:30):
And so of course I'm not, you know, at the
stage where I'm a fall risk. You know, everybody come down.
There's still some youth there, but I don't want it
to start. And so I believe that if we do
a little lot, starting now, we can get stronger. So
that means that if you find yourself in my position
where you're struggling to get up or you're feeling a
little pain, strengthen that area, do a little a lot.

(11:52):
Say the quota going again, Attorney Johnson.

Speaker 6 (11:54):
Inch by inch, anything is a cinch.

Speaker 8 (11:58):
So there you go. All right, let's get these made,
the stallion legs going as we continue to age.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
That's right.

Speaker 8 (12:04):
I like that, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I like that. That's good, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 8 (12:07):
All right, all right, Today today I want to talk
to my elders in the community about a couple of things,
and of course Attorney Johnson has some things that she
wants to discuss. If we have any leftover questions, you know,
always give us a give us.

Speaker 9 (12:21):
A call at five four nine oh one five four
three help. That's nine four one help is five four
one four three five seven. So but that's just our
office number.

Speaker 8 (12:36):
So Attorney I add a little.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
Bit to your soapbox.

Speaker 9 (12:39):
Bevis said, okay, when you give me that, okay, because
it was so good and I, you know, last the
last time we were in here, I felt like it
was a therapy session, and I had so many of
your listeners say, you know what, we received that therapy
from you all.

Speaker 6 (12:54):
But this two is therapy for me.

Speaker 9 (12:58):
And when she is expressing and reminding us not to
give up to start where you are, I'm encouraged. And
so I just wanted to add on to the soap
box that if you find yourself in a place where
you're like, how could I have gotten here?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
There's no way I can dig myself out.

Speaker 9 (13:21):
Of this hole, whether that is you know, financially, relationally,
you know, whatever that is. I'm just going to encourage
you to get out of the depression right and make
a decision to do one thing and do your best
at that. Your best today may not look like your

(13:41):
best tomorrow when you're healthy and you're strong and you
can do those squats that Aresla or attorney who well
you know, but now you can do them. And so
don't beat yourself up for where you are and how
you got there. Just go ahead and start today again.
Inch by inch. Do your best today. And if you're

(14:05):
sick today and you can't get out of the bed,
your best may be getting taken a shower, But tomorrow
your best may be actually cooking a meal. Just do
your best every day. God has given you breath in
your body. You are alive for a reason. Let's go, y'all.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
It ain't over, Amen, amen, amen, Ama man.

Speaker 8 (14:29):
All right. One of the things I wanted to talk
about today and that this is going to be for
my for my individuals that own houses. Okay, if you
own a house and you're in if you know someone
who owns a house that is in a subdivision, and
that particular sub subdivision, that particular subdivision has what we

(14:54):
call hoa's, you have to understand what the rules and
regulations are with that age. So let's begin. An HOA
means that you live in a subdivision that has rules
and regulations, and those particular rules and regulations are in
writing and recorded in the Shelby County Register of Deed's office,

(15:14):
and the HOA runs with the land. So what that
means is you may be the owner and you may
sell it to another person. But even whomever you sell
it to, they are obligated to follow the rules and
regulations as will as paid dues. When people are in
the hoa and they have to pay dues, sometimes they
fall on hard times, or to be honest with you,
they may be upset at the lack of effort from

(15:36):
the HOA or they may just simply not want to
pay their dues for whatever various reasons. Okay, you need
to be very conscious of one thing, and that is
the HOA company has the right to come in and
foreclose even if you have a mortgage. So people say,
how can an HOA company foreclose and I have a mortgage? Well,

(15:59):
they can and so and the reason why is because
within their bylaws that particular option is there, meaning that
if for none payment of your HOA dus, they can
come in and take your home. And so you need
to make sure that you are paying your hoa jews.
If you have a mother or father, or a sister
or a brother, someone even a friend who has the

(16:21):
unfortunate or who are in the unfortunate position in which
they have not paid their hoa's, you need to insert
yourself into their life if they're open to it, to
make sure that you're monitoring the mail because that HOA
company can do what foreclothes, And so if they do foreclothes,
that means that your loved one has lost access to
their house. We have come in and saved the day

(16:42):
for a couple of our elders in the community community,
and we're about to help eight more. Okay, there's a
particular subdivision that is out there who they are, in
my opinion, picking on my elders. You know, they have
identified these individuals who have not paid their HOA US.
Now the HOA company is right about that they have

(17:03):
not paid their dues, but these are the elders in
their community, and they're trying to take their houses. And
I feel as though instead of trying to take I mean,
when you have at least you have ten people who
are elders in our community, why not bring all those
ten people together and work out payment plans. You know,
have a heart. How are you going to put out
someone that is eighty years old and they have to
hurry up, try to find a new place, try to move.

(17:25):
No hold on. Let's pause. So of course, you know,
long story short, bankruptcy can stop it. But I want
to just kind of unpack this a little so if
you have an HOA and you have not been able
to pay the dues, or you have someone in your
family or a loved one who is not you need
to go to that particular HOA company and work out
a payment plan. Let them know what reasonably can be

(17:46):
paid over a period of time to be able to
repay those dues, and you have to pay them. If
you are unhappy with the results of what the HOA
company is doing in your particular neighborhood, there are courses
in which you can take that to be able to
rerect to find that. You can file a lawsuit, you
can file a complaint. You can become a part of
the board itself, which is very smart. But you can

(18:06):
do things to be able to mend that bridge and
get what you need out of the HOA company besides
just simply not paying your dues, because if you're not
paying your dues, then you have to be conscious that
the HOA company has to function, They have to be
able to meet the needs of the community, but they
can't do that if you're not paying your HOA dues.

(18:27):
So with that said, if you're in a HOA, make
sure you pay your dues. Make sure you join the board,
make sure you try to work out a payment plan,
and if all of those things fail, then I just
want to share with you that bankruptcy is an option. Okay,
you're behind on your HOA dues, hold your head high.
The best the worst has happened to the best of us,

(18:49):
and that's just where you are. Give us a call
at nine zero one five four to one help or
the call us at nine zero one five three five
nine three four to two, and we can answer your
questions about that. But what a bankruptcy will do is
a chapter thirteen way journer. It's a debt consolidation. And
so then what we do is we go in, we
open up, We open up a chapter thirteen way journer.

(19:10):
We take your rear just from your HOA, we put
it inside of the bankruptcy. And then that way you
can now pay your bankruptcy payments over the pier. I'm sorry,
you can now pay your HOA payments inside of the
bankruptcy over the next sixty months. So then that way
your bills are now affordable, okay, and then we can
even go in and try to negotiate as well. So

(19:31):
at loss as a versil was we're about saving deals
and saving homes and saving lives. You have no idea
how much of a depression an eighty year old. You
take an eighty year old from their house and put
them in an assistant living or a nursing home, they
may not last a week. And I catch you my mother.
She and my mother had to go into a nursing
home because I could no longer take care of her
because of her condition at worsen and she needs to

(19:53):
have around the clock care. My mother unfortunately passed within
two weeks of being in a nursing home. Nursing homes.
I know some of you guys are listening now in
the nursing home and you all are thriving, and I'm
proud of you, as some of us cannot survive once
we're there. So to the elders that are in the community,
if you're having issues with your HOA, bankruptcy can stop

(20:14):
in HOA and I just want you to give us
a call at nine zero one, five to four to
one help. And if you live in that awful subdivision
where they're taking the homes from all of the elders
in our communities due to non payment, please call me
or turning ursul Woods nine zero one five four to
one help and representation matters. I'm gonna get on my
soapbox about this just for a second.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Sure, and I was gonna say you, I want you
to go. So somebody's listening who may not know HOA
home Owner Association.

Speaker 8 (20:41):
Thank you, bab HOA is home owner association. Yes, so
you're HOA. So here's my soapbox. Representation matters. I'm an
African American female in Memphis, Tennessee. We have a heart
for the people. Yes, we provide a legal service for
a fee, but Attorney Justin and I also give back

(21:01):
on a regular basis, not only here on an iHeartRadio
with Beb Johnson, but also like for instance, last night,
I was at New Growth in christ right on Shelby Drive,
shout out to Bishop Malone had a huge community event
that was also sponsored by Shelby County and a non
profit organization which I will look up shortly so I
can give them their proper due due props. But we

(21:24):
went in and with everybody who had who needed assistant
with paying their rent, getting repairs done by their landlord,
having issues with being sexually harassed by their landlord. Yes,
that is a thing. Wow. A shame on you, landlord
who want a sexually harass your tenants. Shame on you.
But yeah, so we reached back to the community. But

(21:46):
with that said, we also make profit. So give us
a call so that we can represent you. We have
a heart for you and we will make sure that
you're getting the best service that we can give. As attorneys.
You know you are our priority.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Good good good. If you've just tuned in this day,
we are talking with the attorneys. Attorney Ursula Woods is here,
Attorney Monika Johnson. If you have a question or two
for the ladies, let me give you my telephone number
nine zero one five three five nine three four two

(22:20):
eight one hundred five zero three nine three four two
eight three three five three five nine three four two
will get you in to us. Ladies. I'm going to
the phone lines to talk to our listeners. Wd IA,
Hi caller, Hi, Dell, Hey, how are you?

Speaker 10 (22:40):
I'm just fine.

Speaker 5 (22:41):
This is Carolyn and I have a question for the attorney.
I have an elderly relative who has just gone through
that situation and she was put out because they said
she vialated their rules in terms of some u she
added uh something onto the house for her garbage being

(23:06):
so they really really they targeted her.

Speaker 11 (23:10):
You know, we think they did.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
She had problems every since she moved slightly after she
moved in. So, but what happened, attorney to this person
if she had a mortgage and she's been paying her
mortgage on time, Uh, what happened then? Is she obligated
to still pay that mortgage or what happens to the

(23:33):
markege payment on that property if they have sold it
to age whatever it is, they've sold it to someone.

Speaker 8 (23:41):
Else, all right, So first of all, that is a shame.
So you're saying that they already foreclothes on your elderly relative.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Yes, she she paid an attorney and this attorney charged her,
you know, a large summer money, but she didn't fileance.
And so now since she didn't file, if they came
out and they just confiscated you know, her property and
put her things out and the people in the neighborhood

(24:13):
came and they just took her stuff, and so she's
really devastated.

Speaker 8 (24:18):
Right, Okay, that's devastating to me even listening to it.
But what you asked me about, first off, elders again.
If you are facing foreclosure due to the non payment
of your homeowner association HOA dues, please give us a
call at nine zero one five four to one help.
What we can do is file bankruptcy in order to

(24:41):
get those HOA dues on a payment plan so that
you can stay in your home because they can they
can foreclose. But to answer your question directly, what happens
to the mortgage if the HOA meaning homeowner association company,
if they foreclose on your house and you already have
a mortgage on that house, Well, the HOA company they

(25:01):
are going to relist that home and sell it. And
when they sell it, they have to pay off any
leans or judgments that are against that home, and that
includes the particular mortgage. But keep in mind the gap
between the foreclosure date of the HOA and the mortgage
being paid. I'm sorry, the foreclosure date of the HOA
and the selling of that property may be one month,

(25:24):
three month, a year, five years, and your mortgage is
going unpaid that entire time, as well as your credit
is being affected the entire time until they can pay
off that mortgage or until the mortgage company forecloses on
the HOA company which is definitely a possibility. So what

(25:45):
happens to that mortgage? It is ongoing, The owner of
that home is still legally obligated to pay, but of
course who's going to pay for a mortgage in rent
at a new space? So then you're caught in a
catch twenty two in which does a lose loss situation
And it may be a situation where you ultimately have
to file a Chapter seven bankruptcy to completely get rid

(26:07):
of all the debt. Doing so would force the mortgage
company to go in and foreclose on the house behind
the HOA company. So this is a very complicated I know.
I just gave a complicated or shall I say, a
very layered answer. If you would like a further detail,
give me a call at the office at nine zero one,
five four to one help five four to one, four

(26:28):
three five seven. And that is horrible? What happened to
your relative?

Speaker 5 (26:33):
Okay?

Speaker 11 (26:33):
I cheer, Thank you for you advice.

Speaker 8 (26:35):
All right, thank you, thank you, Carolyn.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Okay, bye bye?

Speaker 11 (26:39):
W D I a hi caller, Yeah, this is Sharon, Hi,
shar Listen, I have a quick question. So let's say
two parties decide to get married. Older parties who have
already accumulated access from both their lives and they decided
to do a preting up. So would it be it

(27:00):
would it be legal instead of going to a lawyer
to have this set up and pay lawyer fees and
get it you know, document that way, would the most
people be able to put their wishes in their wills?
Do they will oversee a prenup agreement?

Speaker 9 (27:16):
Okay, that's a that's a very good and complicated question,
and so I'm gonna try to break it down the
best I can.

Speaker 6 (27:25):
This is attorney Johnson, by the way.

Speaker 11 (27:28):
First, okay, thank you. If you have.

Speaker 9 (27:31):
You know, mature adults who have accumulated wealth separately, they
may be in a position where they want to protect
those assets for their children, right, yes, and so one
of and I'm just gonna give you a few solutions

(27:52):
to that problem.

Speaker 6 (27:53):
You are correct.

Speaker 9 (27:55):
One of the solutions could be a prenuptial agreement. The
prenuptial agreement really discusses what happens in the event that
the parties are no longer together.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
That's what the prenupt focuses on.

Speaker 9 (28:12):
But there's another document that a lot of a state
plan State planning lawyers utilize when you have a mended
or blended family like this, and that is that these
individuals would enter into a joint trust agreement where they
put joint and separate assets into that trust, depending on,

(28:36):
you know, what they choose to do, knowing that any
separate asset is going to be identified and you know
that individual who put that separate asset in of course
could take it in or out of that trust.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
And so what all that means is that you're.

Speaker 9 (28:56):
Protecting the assets for your children. So because you cannot
dictate or estimate who will pass away first, whether it
be the husband or the wife, and husband needs to
make sure that his children's you know, inheritance from let's

(29:16):
say his previous marriage is protected. And then he doesn't
know that because he doesn't know that, you know, his
second wife is going to ensure that that's done. One
of the ways that you can ensure that that's done
is bring those parties in and they enter into a
joint revocable trust that would allow them to dictate what

(29:40):
happens in the event of their demise and have some
So we.

Speaker 11 (29:46):
Cannot put all this into our wheels. We can't do that.
That wouldn't be legitimate to put this all this information
in our set the wheels we can do that.

Speaker 9 (29:53):
You can put some of this information in your will,
but some of the strategies that I'm referred you will
need a trust in order to do. Like if you
need a common you know you need we call it
a common children's trust and a you know, espousal trust.
When the person passes away, then several springing what we

(30:16):
call springing trusts, several things began to happen. When you
have just a simple will, Unfortunately, you don't have the
ability to dictate the terms and conditions on how those
assets are passed to your loved ones.

Speaker 8 (30:34):
Can you give us an example of that, Attorney Johnson,
I can.

Speaker 9 (30:37):
For example, if if if you have one hundred thousand
dollars in a bank account when you pass away, and
you have a last will and testament, that bank account
doesn't have a beneficiary on it.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
So what happens is we would probate your will.

Speaker 9 (30:55):
Your will tells us who receives who the beneficiaries of
your estate are. And let's say you you know you
want to leave that to your children. Okay, Unfortunately your
children are ten, five and six years old and you
pass away before they attain the age of adulthood. So

(31:19):
what happens, and that's just having a simple will, right,
you want to leave it to your children, but your
children are miners. So what happens. That's that's a practical example,
Attorney Woods. What happens is those children, because they're miners,
they can't accept the funds. A guardianship would have to
be open, a court would have to determine with when

(31:42):
who would be over the funds and when and how
the funds will be distributed to the children. So what
can you do instead? You know you said can you
do that in a will? Yes, you can do that,
but you're limited. Instead, you can you can create a
trust and you can leave those assets to those young

(32:02):
children in what we call a structured trust, whereby the
trustee holds those funds for the children until they reach
certain milestones, maybe at eighteen, you know, they can receive
a lump sum payment at you know, twenty five, at thirty.
But what you don't want to happen, and what a
will doesn't give you the option for you don't want

(32:25):
all your assets to go to someone who is not
mature enough to handle them yet. And so a trust
allows you to put some guardrails and some protections in
to help your family even when you're not here.

Speaker 11 (32:40):
What about if they're mature children and they're grown, so
that wouldn't all, that wouldn't be an option, wouldn't be necessary.

Speaker 9 (32:46):
Well, there are other reasons though, why you would still
may want to do that, and we can definitely discuss,
you know, the difference between a will and a trust
and what's best for your particular family circumstances.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
You may not have minor children, but you may have
a tax problem.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Right.

Speaker 9 (33:05):
You may not have minor children, but you know, you
still may want to ensure that your adult children aren't
affected by your new husband who is who is an
heir a lott of your estate. And when you have
a spouse in the state of Tennessee, you can disinherit
them only to a certain extent, right you can't necessarily completely.

(33:29):
So there are reasons other than just a minor child.
I was just giving that reason to be practical to
let you know that a will has limitations.

Speaker 11 (33:41):
Okay, and I splain this so apparently we need to
be beg into this a little further and make sure's
done completely legal. Thank you.

Speaker 10 (33:49):
Very much.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
Yes, it, just give us a call.

Speaker 9 (33:51):
We will help walk you through this and especially you
know and if you're if you're not in the state
of Tennessee, I can tell you we have a drafting
tool and resources nationally that will help us with estate planning.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
So yeah, give us a call and we will be
happy to walk you through it.

Speaker 9 (34:11):
Our number at our office is nine oh one five
four one help. That's nine oh one five four one
four three five seven.

Speaker 11 (34:22):
Okay, I appreciate it. I do leave a missus. I
will give you a call, thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
Sharing.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yeah, because because because the attorney attorney Onika that can
be complicated with pre ing up. And yes, but those
two things are different. Yes, you're up in a wheel,
that's right, completely different, and I think people don't don't
realize that. I'm glad sharing call to mention that because
I don't think people think they think that it'll be

(34:47):
all together.

Speaker 8 (34:48):
Yeah, No, it's different. And Attorney Johnson, do you mind
sharing some of the basic rules of prenup, Like you
need attorneys to draft This is not something you want
to do on your own, and each party needs to
have representation.

Speaker 9 (35:01):
Yes, it's very important because when you have a prenuptial agreement.
One of the things that you're doing is you're saying,
under you know, penalty of perjury, really.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
That these are the assets that I own.

Speaker 9 (35:17):
I am completely transparent and I'm putting it all out there.
And you have a list, you know, and so you
want your attorneys to be able to look at those
lists of assets. Both of you have to present that
information and then negotiate the best solution for you in

(35:38):
the event of a divorce, right, because what we're trying
to do is prevent you know, lengthy divorce proceedings after
the fact, and you want to ensure that your assets
are protected. So hey, look, I had all of this
before we came together. Let me show you all of
these are my SI cause you need to know. And

(36:00):
this is why it's so important in the state of
Tennessee to get lawyers to draft your prenup because in
the state of Tennessee, we're a little different from a
lot of states. Okay, we we believe that all marital
any property, or any assets that are accumulated during the
marriage belong to the marriage, Okay, and so it's we
believe that strongly in our state. So I don't you

(36:22):
work your job, half of your money is mine. I
work my job, half of the money is mine. That's
how we think in Tennessee. And so knowing that you
have to be certain that before you go into this
relationship you identify what is separate property versus marital property.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
And I'm going to tell you you need some help
doing that.

Speaker 8 (36:45):
Because this isn't something you want to just do online because.

Speaker 9 (36:47):
You end up co mingling and then it becomes you know,
ify whether it's marital or not.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
It's very important that you have representation doing that.

Speaker 8 (36:58):
Like I'm gonna give you an example of a situation
I was reading about last week where they had the
pre nut, everything was separate and one of the spouses
made a mistake and took money from the separate and
co mingled it with Mara asset and that spoiled the
whole bag. I mean, it was bad. It was so

(37:22):
you need an attorney represent that. I can't even get
in talk about attorney.

Speaker 6 (37:26):
Explain to you what that means.

Speaker 8 (37:28):
Absolutely, So that's very important. All right, do we have
any other callers?

Speaker 2 (37:33):
No? Okay, let me take this break before you begin. Yes,
are we good? Yes, we're good. We're good all right.
If you've just tuned in, the ladies are here. The attorneys.
Attorney Ursula Woods is here. Attorney Monika Johnson is here
to help you. Our number in the studio nine zero one,
five three, five, nine three four to two nine zero one,

(37:58):
five three, five, nine three four to eight hundred five
zero three nine three four two eight three three five
three five nine three four two will get you in
to us. We're going to the other side of the
Bev Johnson Show right.

Speaker 12 (38:17):
Here on w d IA, the Bev Joson Show, whether you're.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
In Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram,
thank you for listening to The Bev Johnson Show on
doub d IA Memphis.

Speaker 8 (39:12):
Bell Justin' show, Bell Chompsie with this talking and home away.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Help on you go, you go Son't getting ready.

Speaker 8 (39:25):
In time Just.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
Show Bell Show.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Let's go Belln't.

Speaker 7 (39:32):
We'll make your ody by here wrong talk you.

Speaker 9 (39:38):
D by.

Speaker 8 (39:40):
Listen to want to say you know.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
It's time of the bet Just Show, time of the
Mountain Show. Let's go I do too. Good afternoon, and
welcome back to the second half of the Bev Johnson Show.
On this Wednesday, March twenty sixth, twenty twenty five. We
we are talking with our attorneys, Attorney Ursula Woods, attorney
Monika Johnson. Hold on, callers, we'll get your questions. Lunchtime

(40:08):
in the city. You know it, Yeah, you know it.
And I have to talk about my favorite place. It's
the Rocking Chair of Memphis fifteen forty two Elvis Presley,
where we rock with the best soul food in town
and the best entertainment around. Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday where you can get catfish, buffalo fish, Friday,

(40:32):
baked chicken smothered or fried, the pork chops, pot roast, hamburger, steaks,
smoke turkey Nicks, and Miss Ann's famous Chitland she serves Monday,
Whin Thurs Frida's Sad Sunday. You don't have to wait
for a special day to get Miss Ann's Chitlin's desserts
and an assortment of vegetables and drinks you can dine in. Yeah,

(40:55):
you can sit there and have a good little meal,
or you can take out. Give them a call. Nine
zero one four two five five two sixty four nine
zero one four two five five two sixty four. They
will have your order waiting for you. And it's Wednesday.
That means it's karaoke Wednesday at the Rocking Chair. You

(41:17):
think you can sing? Yeah, you wanna win a little money,
you can at the Rocking Chair. This evening doors will
open up at six clock, So go on for some
good time grown folks style at the Rocking Chair of Memphis. Karaoke.
Yeah ye yeah, yee yeah tonight Yeah. Eb T will
be there, DJ yeah e b T, bad Boy, bad Boy.

(41:40):
It's all happening at the Rocking Chair of Memphis, fifteen
forty two. Eldus Presley. Dine in or take out nine
zero one four two five five two six four when
you go there, tell them don't add anything else onto this. Okay.
That BEV Johnson and sent you to the Rocking Chair

(42:02):
of Memphis, fifteen forty two Elvis Presley. And we're going,
ladies to our phone lines to talk to Dimitric. Hi, Dimitric, Hello,

(42:26):
how are you? I'm doing well? How are you?

Speaker 11 (42:29):
I'm wonderful and good morning to your guests. The question,
the question I have is I would like for.

Speaker 13 (42:38):
You to explain to me about the market excess value
of your home and the excess value of your home,
or does the excess value determine how much if I
wanted to get a loan for home repairment put up,
if that's the amount that will determined how much I
could get up to?

Speaker 11 (42:59):
Could you just explain ain't it to me?

Speaker 8 (43:00):
To the first off? That's a great question, but I
want to that. I love fresh questions, so thank you
for that. But I want to distinguish a word that
you're using, the market. Are you saying market value?

Speaker 13 (43:13):
Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 11 (43:14):
Yeah, I think I'm saying the right.

Speaker 8 (43:16):
Okay, you know he just did the assessor. You're talking
the asss you're talking about the assess value.

Speaker 11 (43:25):
Yeah, he just did it. I got it in the mail.

Speaker 8 (43:28):
Yes, okay, all right, that's a that's a great question.
Oh I love that question. All right. So when you
are modified, I'm sorry, when you are refinancing your home,
getting a heelock, which is a home equity line of
credit refinance he lock, or if you want to modify
your current home the more, or if you want to

(43:49):
purchase a home, the mortgage company will perform a real
estate appraisal, a real estate appraisal that real estate appraising
is a higher analysis of the value of your property
outside of the assessed value that the Shelby counting performs

(44:12):
on a I don't know if it's annual. Maybe do
it every four years, every four years. We are not
exact on that. It's either two, three or the four years.
But back to the point. So the assessed value is
an assessment of the value of your property currently when
they take it every four I mean we're just going
to use the example of every four years. An appraised

(44:35):
value is based upon the comparable cells within a specified period.
Most of the times it's thirty days, sixty days, or
ninety days, meaning what is the value of your home
on today, which is March the twenty six So what
have the home sold for in your zip code within
the last or either in a three mile radius or

(44:57):
a one mile radius within the last ninety the days?
And so that is a higher valuation, sorry, a more
accurate valuation, because what it tells alender is if we
were to sell this home today, she would be able
to walk away with three hundred thousand dollars versus an
assessed valuation, which is only four years. We may be

(45:19):
three years outside of that original assessment, they may have
assessed it for three hundred thousand and twenty twenty, but
now in twenty twenty five, that particular home is worth
six hundred thousand dollars. I personally purchased a property for
about thirty five thousand dollars less than a year later.
That house was at one ninety Okay, Shout out to

(45:41):
Angela Wright, realtor who gave me that appraisal. I'm sorry.
Shout out to Jeff Jones who gave me the appraisal,
and shout out to Angela Wright who told me about
the comps. So what we received in a mail was
an assessed valuation of our house, and that is not
the appraised value. Assess value is more than likely less

(46:03):
than the appraised value. Therefore, if you want to know
the true appraise value for a mortgage, you can either
give somebody an appraiser or a call such as Glenn
MacDonald or either Jeff Jones. Both of those are reputable
appraisers in our community. The assess value is just for
a general knowledge and what you think your house may
be worth. But when you're ready to sell, when you're
ready to refinance, you will get an actual appraisal and

(46:25):
your mortgage company will be the one that will spearhead that.

Speaker 11 (46:30):
Okay, does that help you, yes, ma'am, Yes, ma'am. And
I also would like to tell you that you were
my real estate lawyer when I purchase this house.

Speaker 8 (46:42):
Oh okay, thank you for sharing, and thank you for
calling in. And if you have any questions, you know
where to find me nine zero one five for one
help and we can also if you are well, I'm
going to put it out on the air whenever I
be of John's suspecion. Now you got a list to
the special Okay, don't add anything to it, right, especially this.

(47:06):
If you purchased with me and then you refinance, I
waive my attorney fee. If you're a Beve listener and
you were my client when you purchase your home, then
I refinanced at home and I wave my attorney fee.
And the reason why I do that is because I
want to encourage people to refinance their house and get
a lower interest rate or at least inquire about it.

(47:27):
And if you need good reputable lenders, you know Dionisia Spearman,
we have several. Give us a call at nine zero
one five for one help, and we don't mind referring.

Speaker 13 (47:34):
You to sal I'm gonna come and see you again
because I also want to talk about putting my house
in a trust.

Speaker 9 (47:40):
Oh yay, that's a smart thing to do as well,
so you can secure your legacy that you have now created.

Speaker 11 (47:49):
Yes, I've been listening. I'm a lifetime listener of Bib Johnson.

Speaker 10 (47:57):
Thank you so very much.

Speaker 11 (48:00):
Yeah, okay, well, thank you all, because I'm at work. Okay,
thank you, Okay, thank you?

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Bye?

Speaker 8 (48:06):
Bye?

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Hi Larry, Hi, Larry.

Speaker 10 (48:11):
Are you doing? I'm here? How you doing?

Speaker 2 (48:13):
I'm doing well in yourself.

Speaker 10 (48:16):
I'm trying to be all right, I'm trying to be honest. Look, now,
I want to know if this true, and and this
might could help some other people I tell that might
be wanting to do this. Now, if I go, say
a house been sitting for years and the taxes weed behind,
I mean wed behind, and I start paying the taxes

(48:38):
on that house, now, is it true that if I
pay the keep paying on the TAXI that they would
turn that house over to me?

Speaker 3 (48:47):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (48:47):
No, nothing's out of automatic, right, And I do know
what the individuals are trying to express to you, But
they're only giving you half of the information. So let
me explain to you what they're what they're saying. First
of all, if you have no legal title to a home,

(49:11):
you don't just get to go down to the county
clerk's office and make that payment without there being some
rule that would allow you to do that. And Attorney
Woods is going to talk to you about that. But
as far as being able to obtain title to the home,
what you have to do is show that you are

(49:34):
adversely possessing that home as against the other individuals who
may be entitled to it. And in the state of
twenty in the state of Tennessee, that's twenty one years
or more. So that means that I have adversely said
I'm going to take over this house. This house belongs
to me and as against the true owners, and I'm

(49:56):
going to pay the taxes, I'm going to have the
yard cut, and I'm going to do for twenty one
years or more. Then we can file what's called a
quiet title action, put those homeowners on notice that we
will be asking the court to give you that property
and what we call fee simple absolute so that there

(50:18):
won't be any issues with the prior owners. But that
is a court process, and that's called a quiet title action. Now,
there are other ways that you can obtain the property.

Speaker 8 (50:31):
So when they speak of I have no idea where
in the world that rumor came from, but so many
people believe it, and they even believe that within their
own family. So they'll say, you know, for example, there
are four of us in the studio right now. So
imagine if I said to my sisters, oh, no, I've
been paying the taxes for the last five years, and

(50:53):
so what I'm saying to them is you no longer
can stay claim onto this home because I paid it.
That is not the case. What can happen is if
the four of us in this studio are all sisters
and we inherited the property, then yes, I can be
reimbursed for it, because you know, four people twenty five
percent each. I can be reimbursed seventy five percent of

(51:13):
what I've paid because I'm only financially responsible for twenty
five And so I can go back to Attorney Johnson
and ms Bev and April and say, okay, guys, I
need you all to chip in. If they refuse to
chip in, when we sell the house, I can deduct
from their portion the part that I've paid on the taxes. Okay,
But in no way can I have greater titles simply

(51:35):
because I've paid the taxes. Okay. So the second thing, Yes,
you can buy a property from the tax sale that
occurs on a specified date. So yes, you can pay
taxes in your words, that have not been paid for
way back, let's say five years, ten years. Yes, you
can go to the courthouse step and you can be it. Well,

(51:56):
I'm lying, I don't know the process for actually you
have to you have courthouse or they do.

Speaker 9 (52:00):
Well, there's an online process, and again nothing is automatic.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Right to bid, you have to actually bid on the property.

Speaker 9 (52:08):
And the minimum bid that they're gonna have is at
least to cover all the Shelby County and City of
Memphis taxes.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
So you have to bid.

Speaker 9 (52:17):
You may or may not be the successful bidder who
gets to obtain the property.

Speaker 8 (52:22):
But I do not want someone just going down paying
tax You can go and pay other people taxes. Please
feel free to pay mine if you like. But if
you do so, and you can pay aprils, but if
you do so, you don't get titled. Like Attorney Johnson said,
there's a process now on the flip side of that,
if you identify property that has the link with taxes

(52:45):
to my investors, you can contact that owner and ask
if they're willing to sell that house to you or
if they want you to loan them money too. I mean,
that's an investment, you know, and so but look, don't
take advantage of people out there. But yeah, so you
can do that. Does that answer your question?

Speaker 11 (53:02):
Call it?

Speaker 10 (53:04):
Yes? Yes, you know you helped a lot of people.
You just helped a lot of people. You kill a
lot of things up and now people can uh call
you when they get ready to maybe purchase a house
that got taxes way back and do it like you say,
just pay it for so minute at the time and

(53:24):
then go ahead and and uh purchase it. So yeah,
you you did you. Yeah, that's what I wanted for people.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Thank you, good question. W D I a high caller, Hi, high.

Speaker 14 (53:42):
On the ear, Yes, ma'am, this is uh readA And
I was calling and I had a question, okay, okay.
I called just where my sister had died and her
daughter was living in the property. And another question that
I came up was whether or not she could I

(54:07):
guess have a property.

Speaker 10 (54:09):
Put in her name.

Speaker 14 (54:10):
And I heard miss Ursulaine mention about the quiet title,
which is one of the.

Speaker 8 (54:16):
But I'm sorry to cut you off, but that does
not apply in this situation. In this situation you're about
to share, it sounds like an inheritance exactly.

Speaker 14 (54:26):
And so my question is how does she go about
doing this? Because she's not a fixed income, which is disability,
then if anything goes wrong with the house, like right now,
she probably has a roof leak and may need to
replace the group. She has no I guess ownership in
the property because it was still in her mother's name,

(54:48):
who is now deceased. So my question is what does
she need to do in order to obtain the property
in her name? Psible.

Speaker 8 (54:57):
The first thing you need to do is called nine
zero one, five for one help, five for one help.
Attorney Johnson, Do you want to share just the process
of what's occurring and what should she do?

Speaker 9 (55:10):
Yes, there's a couple of questions that I just need
to ask. Was your sister married at the time of
her death?

Speaker 14 (55:18):
She she was married, and we did get an Affidavid
tide for the husband releasing any ownership and any property
we've had him do that twice now. But the only
thing was she never bought the property when she was married.
She wasn't married when she bought the property.

Speaker 9 (55:36):
It, so she would she had she owned the property,
she got married, and then she passed away.

Speaker 11 (55:44):
Yeah, okay, so with.

Speaker 9 (55:47):
Her Okay, but she passed If your sister passed away
with a husband legally, whether they lived together or not,
whether they were a strange, The first thing that we
have to look at is who your sister's heirs at
law are. It may be more claim to ownership of

(56:07):
their home than just the daughter. Okay, so and sister okay,
so the young lady had your sister had more than
one child. Yes, she had three children and one husband
when she passed away.

Speaker 11 (56:25):
Two two children, okay.

Speaker 9 (56:27):
True, she had a total of two children and a
husband when she passed away. Okay, So all three of
them potentially have ownership interests in that home. And getting
husband to sign an affidavid may not be enough. He
actually has to transfer his interests to whomever he's going

(56:48):
to sign over his interests too, So a couple of
things needs to happen. When did your I'm so sorry
that you're having to deal with this and that your
you know, sister passed away.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
How long ago was this.

Speaker 9 (57:03):
She's now okay, for three years, okay, and so in
the house is still showing her name. I'm concerned about
the do order who lives there and who may be
receiving SSI benefits, and the reason that I'm concerned about that.
We can help you get the house transferred to the
appropriate errors at law.

Speaker 6 (57:25):
But when you have someone owning.

Speaker 9 (57:28):
Property who may be receiving some sort of benefits, and
it may be based on you know there, you know,
they may have income eligibility requirements where they can't you know,
have a certain amount of income in order to continue
or own a certain amount of property in order to

(57:49):
continue to receive those benefits. And if you have that situation,
then it would have to be more of a two
prong steps, more two steps, and that would first be
transferring the property to the heirs at law, and then
that second step may be transferring her portion into a

(58:10):
trust that would allow her to continue to qualify for
those government benefits that she's receiving. Then the property won't
be in her name. So there's a couple of considerations there,
including the consideration with the husband who's you know who,
we can't ignore. So I would encourage you or your

(58:31):
your your niece to give us a call. We'd be
happy to walk you through that.

Speaker 14 (58:37):
Okay. I will definitely do that, and I'll have her
give your office a call to set.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Up an appointment.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
All right, all right, thank you, Rita, all right, thank you,
You're welcome. Bye bye, w d I a high caller,
good after hearing and the attorney doing well in yourself.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
Doing very well, Louis. I just can I get the
phone number because I'm gonna need to sit an apointment
with all the attorneys. It's about a quick claim, okay,
a quick claim that was forged.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Oh yeah, I hate that, okay, yes.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
And it's a big mess. And so I need your
number to set up an a pointment where I can
sit down and talk about them.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Here is the number five for one help you can
remember that or five four one four three five seven three.

Speaker 9 (59:34):
And can I just say one thing about those forged
deeds because this is a free service that chalandri Afford
instituted when she was at the Register of Deeds office
and it's still in place.

Speaker 6 (59:48):
It's online.

Speaker 9 (59:50):
Y'all have to go and register your name with the
Register of Deed's office. That way, if somebody is forging paperwork,
if there's any transfer on your property, you will be
notified immediately. A lot of times we're trying to play ketchup.
We don't learn until years later that somebody went and

(01:00:14):
forged the d right, you know, and that's too late.

Speaker 8 (01:00:17):
So I'm just going to Shelby County Register of Deeds.
So if you google Shelby County Register of Deeds, scroll down,
you will see the banner for fraud Alert. It's to
Shelby County Register of ds Register for fraud Alert. If
you're not this is a worldwide show. If you're not
in Shelby County, inquire if your county has a deed
alert a fraud alert program, and if they don't, encourage

(01:00:41):
the Register of Deeds in your county to start one asap,
because Memphis, Tennessee is on top of it. Thank you
answer your question, Well, he's gonna give us a call
nine zero five one help. Yeah, we do need to
get into that, and Attorney Johnson will save that house
if you can.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
I'll call you this well, lady, and thank you, thank
you for listening.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Bye bye, Attorney ursula.

Speaker 8 (01:01:07):
Yes to attorney. I wanted to talk to you all.
Everyone got the assessment in the middle. Everybody should have
gotten a reassessment. If you own a property, and I
want you to know that you can appeal your assessment.
You can appeal and it will be highly advisable if
you appeal your assessment because you don't feel as though

(01:01:29):
your house is valued at what the assessor valued that
meaning you feel like it's lower, then you can appeal.
That process is online. Beb does an amazing job with
having the assessor's office on her show, so I would
encourage you to tune in when they do call when
they do come on. I would also encourage you to

(01:01:51):
go to the website or either call the Shelby kind
of assessor's office and you can ask them for that
appeal process. But if you go on there, there is
all you have to do is click. You can do
it all online and you can appeal online and you
can get your taxes lowered, and that is highly advisable,
especially if you're on a fixed income or a budget
like such as myself and you don't want to overpay.

(01:02:12):
And keep in mind, this does not affect the value
of your property when you get ready to sell or refinanced.
This is only putting in a line of where it
needs to be to day if they overvalue your property.
And this is applicable with a personal residence as well
as commercial. So I just wanted to bring that up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Sounds good. We will take a pause for the cause.
The attorneys are here this day. Attorney Ursula Woods, Attorney
Monika Johnson is here. If you have a question, here
are the numbers nine zero one, five three five nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three

(01:02:55):
four two eight three three five three five nine three
four two other numbers to double d I A the
bed just show.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
That's something to say. Say it next with Tennessee Radio
Hall of Famer Bev Johnson on dou W D I A.

Speaker 13 (01:03:42):
N N I A s by you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Mean I'm telling him everyone I Beth talking.

Speaker 8 (01:03:57):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Ee, you're listening to the Bev Johnson Show. Here's Bev Johnson.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
And I'm talking with Attorney Ursula was and Attorney Monika Johnson.
Attorney Ursula, Hello, everybody, we are back. We are back today.

Speaker 8 (01:04:25):
We've talked about a popery of things, trying to make
sure that you all understand the a if you have
an h oo A, that you that they can foreclose
on you if they if you do have an HOA,
so you have to be very smart about how you
proceed with not paying your ho A bills. I just

(01:04:46):
wanted to bring that up one more time so that
people will know that you do have to be very
careful with ho a's because they can foreclose on you.
In addition, I want to talk about one service that
we started providing to INDI, and that is an uncontested divorce.
That means that if you and your spouse, if you

(01:05:07):
and your spouse are in a position in which you
you know you can say, you say to yourself, I
can do all by myself, or either you can do
better together. You can do bad all by yourself, or
either you can do better together. But if you decide
that the two of you are in a position in
which you can no longer be with your spouse, I

(01:05:28):
strongly advise for the two of you to get together
and come to a resolution as to what you do
agree on, how you want to split your assets, and
what are the next steps when it comes to the kids.
If you guys can come to an agreement with that,
then we can go into an uncontested divorce. An uncontested
divorce is cheaper, is quicker, and it's a lot more amicable.

(01:05:52):
And what that means is we come together, have an
agreement on the front end, and we're just preparing the
paperwork and get in a file. If you and your
spouse can come to that level of an agreement, give
us a call at nine zero one five for one help.
It is possible because Attorney Johnson and I will both
be there to try to help navigate and mediate this

(01:06:13):
to make this happen. Attorney Johnson, you want to talk
about how we've saved families and assisted with the smoothness
of that process so they could transition.

Speaker 6 (01:06:22):
Over we're transitioning from the uncontested divorces.

Speaker 8 (01:06:26):
No, I was just want to add to that, like
what our process has been, how we meet with the clients. Yes,
and so.

Speaker 9 (01:06:34):
With the uncontested divorces, it's important to remember that emotions
are flaring very high, and so even in an uncontested
and divorce, we're still extremely emotional because it's the breaking
up of a marital institution, you know, it's the breaking

(01:06:54):
of a family. And so what happens in situations like
that is that we're not always reasonable, and so a
lot of you know what we have been able to do.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Now you have to for the most part agree, right, agree.

Speaker 9 (01:07:10):
That she can live in the house, and we're gonna
she can keep that car, and I'm gonna keep this car.
But then there might be some ancillary issues that you
just need some mediation on. We're there to assist you,
but we want you to agree on the majority of
the issues.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
And why is that important?

Speaker 6 (01:07:30):
Number one?

Speaker 9 (01:07:31):
As attorney, which just stated, it's a lot less expensive
for you, It doesn't have as much of an emotional
toll as the alternative. And especially if you have minor children,
you want to ensure that they don't have to deal
with the fallout of what occurs when you all can't agree.

(01:07:53):
And so if you don't agree, what will happen is
you will have to In the state of Tennessee, we
still have to prove grounds for divorce, and so that
means that you would have to file a complaint, you
would have to serve your spouse with a copy of
that complaint. You would have to make the allegations in
a public forum, in a public record that means he

(01:08:17):
was cheating on me, he abandoned me. Whatever those allegations are,
they come out. If you can agree on irreconcilable differences
that you all just want to go your separate ways,
then you don't drag all of that into the situation. Again,
less of an emotional toll for you and your family,

(01:08:39):
and your children don't have to come back when they're
twenty one and pull mom's records and see that you know,
Dad assaulted mom, Dad had five women. I mean, that
is information that would be public record.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
Just saying okay, now I was gonna I have an
email for you. Yes, I'll take it slow. It's a
little lengthy. Over here it says air property. Here we go, ladies.
My granddaughter's step grandfather passed away in twenty twenty one.

(01:09:14):
His father passed away as well, and owned a home.
His father did not have a will. They had to
sell the home and split the proceeds with the siblings.
An attorney had contacted my granddaughter and stated that she
would receive a portion of her step grandfather's share. In

(01:09:37):
the process, the family changed attorneys and my granddaughter was
left out of the sharing of her step grandfather's share.
We have raised her since she was a baby, but
he was not her biological grandfather, but was listed as
his grandchild. Also, her step grandfather had a wheel that

(01:10:01):
I recently located and her name was in it as
a beneficiary of his assets. Is there anything I need
to do or is it too late? Because he had
a truck a bank account with over five thousand dollars
in it apart air to his father's home, and at
the time of his death, his son got the money

(01:10:24):
from his bank account. His name was not in the wheel.
His sister gave the truck away, and my granddaughter did
not get her share from the proceeds of the sale
of the home. Thank you in advance.

Speaker 9 (01:10:38):
Wow Wow Okay, So it sounds like the step grandfather
treated the step granddaughter as if you know, he or
she was an air Now the attorney, the second attorney
is correct. I mean, if you're not legally a biological
descendant of that individual, then you may not share in

(01:11:03):
the proceeds unless all the other beneficiaries agree that you should.
Right and so, But the caveat is that he had
a will the entire time. Now the funds have been disseminated,
potentially misappropriated, and he's asking, is there anything he can do?

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
Step grandfather passed.

Speaker 6 (01:11:27):
In twenty twenty one.

Speaker 9 (01:11:30):
I do not know if an estate was ever administered,
because you can administer in a state two ways, with
a will and without a will, because if there were
bank accounts and other assets, they may have administered an
estate if they have an attorney can assist you by

(01:11:53):
filing in.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
That estate.

Speaker 9 (01:11:56):
The newly discovered will, okay, and then show that these
individuals you know, knew or should have known about the
will and misappropriated the funds. You you know, you can
hire an attorney and do that, but it will be
a process and it can be lengthy depending on you know,

(01:12:17):
you said, step grandfather, depending on how many other beneficiaries
or heirs there are out there. And then in twenty
twenty one he passed, and so then the question becomes,
you know, whether or not there's anything even left from
the estates. So I mean, but yes, there's something you

(01:12:38):
can do. You have to then determine whether or not
the risk reward is worth, you know, fighting for it.
And you may say, look, it is important to my
granddaughter because the way he treated her, it would it
was important for me for my grandmother to acknowledge me
just like she acknowledged her children. Because my grandmother raised me,

(01:13:00):
So that may be important for her to see and know,
and you might want to fight for it, but it
may be a fight that was.

Speaker 8 (01:13:07):
A good piece to add to it. And so I
want to encourage all of our elders in our community
that are listening right now, especially within the Black community. Culturally,
we will take in our loved ones, be it our niece,
our granddaughter, grandson, and you know, or even our stepkids.
I know someone right now who still takes care of
their step son as an adult. He's special need. And

(01:13:28):
so I think that we need to extend the love
and grace and when we're preparing a will to include
those who may not be our blood relatives or our
direct descendant, but we have loved them the same, we
have raised them the same, and they love us the same.
So that's another reason I think Attorney Johnson to get
that will that we've never really discussed, which is we

(01:13:49):
have children that we take care of that are not
within our direct bloodline, that we love them just like
they came out of our body. And so we need
to provide for them. I think that that's a good point.

Speaker 9 (01:14:00):
And you have to because you can't expect that someone
is gonna do it after your death. Because again I said,
that could happen if all the other beneficiaries agree, right.

Speaker 6 (01:14:11):
You can't.

Speaker 9 (01:14:11):
You can't, you know, wait for that to happen if
you want to ensure that your spouse, for instance, you know,
we talk about that and the the adult children attempting
to you know, maybe put a spouse out of a home,
and the protections that you may need.

Speaker 8 (01:14:28):
Their you know what. That Okay, so I'm gonna try
not to get on myself by side, but that is
so heartbreaking and to you know, so here's what's heartbreaking.
Two people get married later in life, they both have
adult children, and then the spouse that passed away, their
children are so ready to kick the step mom or

(01:14:50):
the stepfather out of the home. And so to the
spouse is I think it's imperative for you to get
a will because I know that you believe that you
you have tomorrow and I know that you believe that
your children love you're the step parent. They do not
when you pass away, they are going to boot them out.
I'm talking about within thirty days or less. And so

(01:15:11):
if you love your spouse, I mean this, If you
love your spouse, get a will, because those children are
going to boot them out of the hole.

Speaker 9 (01:15:20):
If you love that grand baby that you're raising. You
know your adult children are good, right you know? And
half of them aren't good, and you don't want to
leave them anything because they aren't good. Right now, you
want to get grandchild is not going to inherit anything,
and that's who you really want.

Speaker 8 (01:15:37):
No, I never even thought about that. If you have
a child, like let's say that is doing things that
are less than legal, you know they're facing jail time, addictions,
those type of things. Do you really want, you know,
Mary Sue that is out in the streets to really
inherit fifty thousand or ten thousand dollars or more. No,
you know that your grandchild is going to college doing

(01:15:59):
productive things. You need to skip over your daughter and
give it to your granddaughter. If you don't call attorney Johns,
get that will.

Speaker 6 (01:16:05):
It will not happen. If you don't put it in writing,
you don't put.

Speaker 11 (01:16:09):
It in run.

Speaker 8 (01:16:12):
You need to have that right.

Speaker 9 (01:16:13):
Verbals not gonna work. And even that writing has some requirements.
That's why you need to call your lawyer. But yeah,
you have to put it in writing because you can't
expect that people are just gonna do the right thing
for the sake of doing the right thing.

Speaker 8 (01:16:31):
You'd be surprised or just because you've been good to them,
they're gonna be continued to be good. And emotions are high.
I have I know somebody lost her mind when the
person when her sister died, everything that she said when
she was alive, and she completely forgot. I mean, you're
not literally it was Sometimes even breakups can be a
state of psychosis, you know, so you have to be conscious.

(01:16:51):
So that's the reason why why you're in your right mind.
You're making illegal decisions that are great for you. And
shout out to Bev Johnson at her church Mount Mount
Mount Piska. What was it was that last week?

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
We went with it last Saturday in the I want
to say thank you sister for showing up in the store.

Speaker 8 (01:17:14):
Oh no, you know, we're storm friends.

Speaker 6 (01:17:17):
She was showing up.

Speaker 8 (01:17:19):
I was gonna make I said, yeah, no, I was
going to show up. But shout out to Bev because
not only does she give back to the community on
the air. Not only does she give back in the
events that she hosts and she takes care of outside
of here, but she even extends that to her church
family and Mount Pisca. I celebrated women's with no it

(01:17:41):
was a fundraiser, it was it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
Was women's Women's Sunday. Was was our Women's Day. So
that was part of our women's activity.

Speaker 8 (01:17:50):
They had things for the youth, they had activities for adults.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
You all.

Speaker 8 (01:17:55):
They had salmon croquettes at the at the breast, at
the prayer back baby Lord, the Lord heard my cry.
And they had those salmon protests. Shout out to whoever
made them. Thank you, thank you that I mean like
it was some good home cooking breakfast. This is one though,
you know, a little padded eggs on there. They went
to the store and they cracked it. So Bell, thank

(01:18:16):
you for being an asset and a resource in our
community and giving us space to be able to share
with the well.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
I thank you for just coming and sharing with our
church and our little church, and we hold it on Amen.
It's a legacy church and a lot of the members
are passing away that have been there since they were children.
And wow, but thank you for coming in so there.

Speaker 8 (01:18:37):
How many years have you been a member of Mount Pisca.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
Well, I'll say all my life because my grand my
great grandmother was one of the founders, Wow, Julia Cannon Danner,
and my mother is named after that was my mother's
grandmother's so it's a legacy. My folks were there. My
great great grandfather was one of the pastors there. So yeah, okay,

(01:19:08):
church and Orange because my folks was from Orange Mountain.

Speaker 8 (01:19:11):
My I'm from I'm not from here, but my great
grandfather he helped build the church. His name is on
the building at the church. And so when my great
unpassed away, of course it's still the home church. My
family's from South Carolina, and so we went to South
Carolina and my family was so godly proud to show
this is your great granddad he built this build. Your

(01:19:36):
mama played the Oregon Yeah, and so I love the tradition.
Family so much. Love and hugs to Mount Piska and
the bad boy of being Hampton.

Speaker 2 (01:19:48):
Reverend Willie Ward Junior, well, a bad.

Speaker 8 (01:19:53):
Boy of being Hampton. And to the first lady was.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
History, thank you for coming. And at tourney Monica when
I announced that she was here. She was outside doing something.
I don't know what you looking at the hats I did.
Thank you for We're going to invite you back to
come again.

Speaker 8 (01:20:17):
Thank you, Attorney Johnson. Any final thoughts, anything you want
to share.

Speaker 9 (01:20:22):
You know, just I have a new grand daughter and
she is six months old. I'm so super proud. She's
the best thing ever. But those of us who are
in my position, I want to remind you to take
care of your grandchildren, think about them when you are

(01:20:46):
designing your last will and testament. This conversation that we
just had really hits home for a lot of people
because families don't necessarily look like the traditional families that
you think. We take in nephews. You know, we have
stepchildren that become our children. We don't use the word

(01:21:07):
step right. Well, if that is the case, and I
feel that way about my granddaughter, now I say I
have four girls instead of three. I know she's my granddaughter,
but still, if that is the case, make provisions for
that child. It will make a difference. If nothing else,
your memory and their acceptance by you knowing that it's

(01:21:33):
in writing would be a blessing long term. So I
just want to encourage those who are in blended families
who are caring for loved ones. And if you have
I can't say this enough, a loved one who has
a special need and you know that you're the only
caretaker for that loved one, Let's go ahead and get

(01:21:56):
a trust in place so that we have someone who
wanted to take care of that special needs individual in
the event that you're not here. That's important because you
may not be here and they may be. You have
to think about these sorts of things for the people
that you're love in your home and that you're taken

(01:22:17):
care of, if you know that they need to be
taken care of long term, get your affairs in order,
because everybody's not like.

Speaker 8 (01:22:25):
You, Bell, I think we have to officially welcome mo
Monika to the soapbox club. Yeah, that's what we call
a soapbox. It's like when your heart gets involved. We're
passionate about the topics we want to make sure we encourage.

(01:22:45):
So my final word is, you know, to echo Monika's sentiment,
which is really and truly show love to your loved
ones by protecting the legacy of love that you created
for them. And final thoughts are give me a call
at nine zero one five for one help Attorney Monika Johnson,
Attorney Ursula Woods, if his wills, estate planning, bankruptcy, real estate.

(01:23:07):
If you're hurt, call Earth. Give us a call again
and nine zero I like that. Oh, if you're hurt,
call Earth. It's a thing that we came up with
is catchy and you get the point right, We're here
for you. And that number again, nine zero one five
for one help five four one four three five seven.

Speaker 9 (01:23:28):
I'm just gonna say thank you for allowing us to
legally speak. We have a podcast, it's legally speaking, and
we just really appreciate the platform that you give us.

Speaker 8 (01:23:39):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:23:39):
I appreciate you ladies because you give out wonderful, great
information that we need. Thank you, Attorney Monika Johnson and
Attorney Ursula Woods. Can't wait till the next time you
ladies are here. Thank you for being here. Appreciate you,
Thank you. See you the next time. Yeah, we will.

(01:24:01):
I want to thank you callers. I want to thank
you listeners for joining us this day on the BEV
Johnson Show. We do, we really do appreciate you. So
until tomorrow, please be safe, keep a cool head, y'all,
don't let anyone steal your joy. Until tomorrow, I'm Bev Johnson,

(01:24:26):
and y'all keep the faith. The views and opinions discussed
on The Bev Johnson Show are that of the hosts
and callers and not those of the staff and sponsors
of wd I a