Living trusts often confuse people unfamiliar with estate planning. Basically, you create a trust and then transfer title to certain property from yourself to the trustee. The confusing part is that you can also serve as the trustee, at least while you are still alive. And as trustee, you can still use or sell the property without restriction. But the critical thing to understand is that while the property remains in trust, you must take any action as the trustee and not as an individual. For instance, let's say you create a living trust and transfer your house into it. If you then decide to sell the house, you need to make sure you sign the deed and any accompanying paperwork as the trustee, e.g., “John Smith, as Trustee of the John Smith Revocable Trust.” Mistake in Deed Leads to Adverse Possession Lawsuit What happens if you make a mistake and sign the deed as an individual? For one thing, the person who thought they know owned the house may need to jump through a number of legal hoops to establish title. This actually came up in a recent case from the Florida Second District Court of Appeal, Batterbee v. Roderick. In this case, a woman (the settlor) who owned a mobile home in Sebring created a trust. She transferred the home and its surrounding property into the trust. Some years later, the settlor invited his son and his then-girlfriend to live in the home. The son later married the girlfriend and they enjoyed “exclusive possession” of the property. In 2009, the settlor signed a quitclaim deed that purportedly transferred the property to her son outright. Unfortunately, the deed did not identify the settlor as the trustee of the trust. This meant the deed was “legally ineffective.” But at the time, nobody had noticed the defect. After the settlor died in 2011, her sister took over as trustee. In 2014, the son and his wife began divorce proceedings. They both claimed the home as a marital asset. This prompted the successor trustee to file a “corrective” deed purportedly transferring the property back into the trust. Despite this action, the divorce court treated the house as the property of the son and his now-former wife and awarded it to her in the final judgment. When the former wife died, her interest in the property passed to one of her brothers. This prompted litigation between this brother and the successor trustee over who actually owned the property. The brother claimed his sister and her ex-husband had established “adverse possession” despite the original defective deed. The Second District agreed. Reversing a trial court's ruling in favor of the trustee, the Second District explained that under Florida law, when someone takes possession of real property under the good faith belief they hold a valid title and maintains “continued possession” for at least seven years, they effectively prove they are the lawful owned under adverse possession. Here, the Second District said the adverse possession began when the settlor signed the original defective deed, which was more than seven years before the litigation began. The current owner therefore established his sister was the rightful owner of the property. This litigation would never have been necessary if the settlor had properly executed the original deed in her capacity as trustee. While trusts are not complicated, they do require a certain amount of attention to detail. An experienced Fort Myers estate planning attorney can advise you of these details and help to keep your family out of court. Contact the Kuhn Law Firm, P.A., at 239-333-4529 today to schedule a free initial consultation with a member of our estate planning team. Dear Doctor: I just read about a study where people who were depressed actually had a different gut microbiome than people who weren’t depressed. Is that true? Does your gut determine how you feel? Dear Reader: The recognition of the link between emotions and the gut is so ancient, it’s been hardwired into our language. There’s the gut feeling, going with your gut, butterflies in your stomach, a sinking feeling, bad news that’s a punch to the gut, having a gut response, or finding something to be nauseating, sickening or gut-wrenching. Now, new research suggests that not only does the brain affect the gut, but that the connection actually goes both ways. Specifically, that the composition of the gut microbiome may play a role in how someone feels. This is a new and sometimes controversial field of research, and it is the subject of (occasionally fractious) debate. The study you refer to may be one published in February in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology, which focused on 1,054 people from Belgium. Of those, 173 were either diagnosed with depression or did poorly on a questionnaire that asks participants to rate their quality of life. When the composition of participants’ microbiomes were analyzed and compared, researchers found an interesting difference. Specifically, people with depression lacked two types of microbes, known as Coprococcus and Dialister, which were present in the guts of those who were free from depression. Data in the Nature study were compared with a study of 1,064 Dutch people in which researchers found that the same two microbes were missing from the guts of those who either reported or were diagnosed with depression. In addition, the two different groups with depression had greater numbers of a certain microbe believed to be involved in Crohn’s disease. This adds weight to the theory that inflammation has a role in mental health. The specific reason that these two missing microbes affect depression is unclear. One promising line of thought, according to the researchers, is that that Coprococcus has been linked to dopamine, a brain chemical that influences feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. The microbe also makes a substance that acts as an anti-inflammatory. Such studies can suggest cause-and-effect relationships, but they shouldn’t be considered “proof” of a connection. They don’t prove them. It’s fascinating that the depressed people in the studies lacked certain microbes in their guts, but more research is needed to show direct causality. The good news is that each new study adds to our understanding and sets the stage for new research to come. The hope is that, over time, this line of inquiry will lead to new therapies such as microbiome profiling or precision bacterial supplements, which will offer new avenues of relief to people living with depression. Understanding The Role of Trustee in Selling a House ASK THE DOCTORS Two Missing Gut Microbes Could Influence Mental Health Eve Glazier, M.D., MBA, and Elizabeth Ko, M.D. Sun Bay Paper Available Do you like this News Paper? Interested in having your own Franchise in your hometown or in taking over this one? 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