Q: : Me and my boyfriend of 12 years bought property together and built a home for retirement.
He wants to put in a trust for kids. If something happens to either one of us can the other change trust or sell property?
A:
There are a number of legal issues you must consider. Since you are not married, the purchase would be classified as creating separate property owned partially by each of you. However, Texas has a "common law marriage" regime that could allow either of you to claim marriage and try to classify the property as community property. So first, you should be clear on your relationship, even to the point of having a Relationship Agreement that specifies you are not and will not claim to be married. Second, you can each put your interests in the house into a joint trust, or you could each put your shares into separate trusts with differing goals. Trusts are very flexible and can be structured to meet a wide variety of goals, so you need to agree on those goals. You can agree to make the trust revocable or not, amendable or not, and you can decide who will be allowed to use the house, when, if/when it can be sold, and what happens when each of you dies.
I do strongly suggest you make an appointment with an experienced estate planning / trust attorney. Go for a video consultation to protect yourselves during the pandemic.
A: I recommend that you hire an estate planning attorney. There are a number of legal pitfalls you may encounter without guidance.
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