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E45: Who Owns The House?
10 Plays2 days ago
Think your house automatically goes to your spouse when you pass? Think again! This week, we're unraveling the truth about home ownership in Texas post-mortem, from tricky inheritance laws to messy appraisal district mix-ups.
Plus, don’t miss our detour into the bizarre world of celebrity purchases—because who doesn’t want to hear about Kim Kardashian’s $750K gold toilets? Tune in to uncover the real deal about property rights in an episode you don't want to miss!
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills, Trusts, and Probate Law
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About and the other one is you. I'm Lori Birch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trusts, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Let's dive in.
Game Show Elements in Legal Discussions
00:00:39
Speaker
This is a fun topic today, for sure, because we're playing a game that I was actually thinking about. We should have a a game show intro music or something.
00:00:53
Speaker
Sarah, maybe you can edit it to have that in there. Or also have this vision of where. So so the the show the house.
00:01:06
Speaker
is who owns the house And I was almost thinking it would be like, who owns the house?
00:01:20
Speaker
Work on that, Sarah. I'm sure you will. So we we're going to talk about who owns the house in Texas. Because this is something I think when we talk about the biggest misperceptions that people have,
00:01:38
Speaker
This is one of the biggest, it could arguably be the biggest misperception that people have is who owns the house?
00:01:58
Speaker
Okay, Sam, you're in it. Let's try it. Ready? Okay. On the top. After three. One, three. one two three Who owns that house? I wasn't looking for an echo.
00:02:14
Speaker
i you I thought you were going to start and then you didn't and then it just... and Because you didn't. You looked, you were laughing. I was waiting for you to start and then I don't know you hear me go, who... who okay okay And then Sarah started laughing.
00:02:30
Speaker
ahead. One, two, three. o Oh. so Stop. I was doing well when I looked at her.
00:02:44
Speaker
Sarah, do you know how to shut your face? Is there a delay on your end? Because it's literally just an echo for me. No, that's just Sam. no That's actually what she's doing, Sarah. No, I was doing it the same time as you.
00:02:58
Speaker
let's come theres and eleven me too yeah It felt like the same time for me. so i I'm in the same room and I can hear Lori first. don't know what guys.
00:03:09
Speaker
You can't blame a delay when you're in the same room, Sam. I thought it was at the same time so I don't know what to do. and Do you have to say things in your head before you verbalize them? No. I don't know how help.
00:03:24
Speaker
know i don't know how to help I don't, I give up. I don't even know what to do now. Anyway, who owns the house? Biggest, big, big, big, biggest of bigs misperceptions, right?
00:03:38
Speaker
So um there is an assumption, and you know what assuming does, don't you, Sarah? Mm-hmm.
00:03:49
Speaker
Do you know what assuming does? What does it do?
00:03:55
Speaker
No. Oh my God. I had it and then I just realized maybe I don't have it. Have you never heard this before?
00:04:07
Speaker
What assuming does?
00:04:12
Speaker
Maybe. i I want, no, no. Either that a yes or no. the ass of you and me. I know, Sarah, I want you to type or write down right now, assume.
00:04:24
Speaker
Oh, makes an ass out of you and me out of you and me. I had heard it. There we go.
00:04:34
Speaker
Wow. What? didn't Did you guys not have your waities today? i mean, what's happening? All right. and I don't have a Red Bull. Oh, something gives you wings.
Home Ownership Myths in Texas
00:04:47
Speaker
So people assume that if they buy a home with their spouse, that if one of them dies, it will automatically go to the other.
00:05:00
Speaker
Is that true? In Texas? No. didn't. Okay. It's not true?
00:05:13
Speaker
Right. It is not true. It is not true. Sam, why is that not true?
00:05:25
Speaker
Joint tenancy. Oh my gosh. You made Sarah use a big word. A big erda Joint tenancy. And the fact that she has this knowledge.
00:05:36
Speaker
She doesn't know what ancillary means, but she knows what joint tenancy means. I mean. I'm just like Sarah. yeah She doesn't know how many Supreme Court justices there are.
00:05:52
Speaker
Oh, you know what, Sarah? You should have said, oh I thought you meant of all time. but fell ah okay
00:06:00
Speaker
Then that would have made 50 sound a lot less ridiculous.
00:06:07
Speaker
One for each state. That's right. One for each state. 51, one for Puerto Rico.
00:06:15
Speaker
sorry Right. So Sam, what you were about to say, but there is a delay, is so Texas doesn't have joint tenancy. And joint tenancy is a type of property ownership, meaning that there is a right of survivorship where if one co-owner dies, it automatically goes to the other.
00:06:38
Speaker
And Texas does not have joint tenancy. But you know, that's not um that's not the whole story because that's just according to the property code.
00:06:55
Speaker
But then when you travel down on over to the estates code, there's a way to create joint tenancy for survivorship.
00:07:08
Speaker
Did you know that, Sam? Sarah does. That's true.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yes. Sam, you've been out of legal production too long. Oh, yeah. oh Well, this is kind of one of the big areas that I don't really know a lot about.
00:07:31
Speaker
And it's obviously showing. No. No. You're full of wealth. Yeah. you're full full well um So what's Sarah feels like?
00:07:42
Speaker
So in the Estates Code, there's... Ow. Wow. Jordan level burn on Sarah from Sam. Jordan's not here, so I had to keep the beef up, I guess.
00:07:53
Speaker
ah Do you? Because that was... That was... tell Bullseye you sunk her. That was painful. to sit was simple All right.
00:08:04
Speaker
So anyway, yes, the Estates Code allows for a way to create a rider survivorship, not to get too hyper technical. But the point being is that without any sort of plan that the it doesn't automatically go. So there are solutions that you should be talking to your ah estate planning firm about, whether it's the form of doing a separate survivorship agreement that would get recorded in the deed records or a transfer on death deed or doing a trust or doing all of the above, in fact.
00:08:34
Speaker
But it does not happen automatically. We've even seen things where, you know, you just never going to you never know what you're going to get with title companies. or appraisal districts more more to come from there.
00:08:47
Speaker
But you never know what you're goingnna get with title companies. And so I've seen deeds in Texas where they'll say, sure, we'll throw in with rights of survivorship or something like that. And they'll put that language on the deed.
00:09:00
Speaker
And it's like, oh, you're so close. You're so close. But technically, that won't work either. It can't be in the original deed. It has to be a separate filing, a separate document to create or write a right of survivorship.
Probate Issues and Spousal Home Ownership
00:09:15
Speaker
FYI. So um anyway, this trips up a lot of people. It's probably one of the most common issues that we run into, particularly on the probate side of things, because a common scenario that we have is where, let's say you've got a couple that's been married forever, which is going to be Luke and Cynthia when they're older.
00:09:35
Speaker
They're going to be one of those like, oh my God, they're married forever. Right.
00:09:42
Speaker
and what happens is like one will die and the surviving spouse won't do anything because sure, life insurance, retirement had a beneficiary on it to them.
00:09:54
Speaker
And so that's something where you just contact the company and that preempts, there's no need for a will or a trust or anything like that. Then ah if you have all joint bank accounts, what you're not realizing is that when you're signing up for those accounts, you're probably signing documentation that says you want it to be with rights to survivorship.
00:10:12
Speaker
So you go to the bank and say my pal my spouse passes away and they're like, okay, we'll take we'll see a death certificate, take their name off of it. So they're like, well, everything's taken care of.
00:10:22
Speaker
And then again, that assumption creeps in about the house that it's just automatically theirs. And look, if you keep paying the mortgage company and you keep paying your taxes, nobody's going to tell you that the title to your home is not yours.
00:10:37
Speaker
um What will happen is if you go to refinance, if you go to sell it, those will all be triggers where now you're going to have a title company tell you, whoa, you know why was there nothing done when the other person who's on this this property passed away?
00:10:56
Speaker
But where it typically comes up, back to Cynthia in their ripe old age, is but let's pick on Cynthia. Let's say Cynthia dies first.
00:11:08
Speaker
Right. and That's actually, we have an agreement that that's the way it needs to happen.
00:11:16
Speaker
Cynthia dies first. Luke doesn't do anything because accounts or joint beneficiaries are all there. And then Cynthia dies. And then her executor, Sam, comes to probate firm and says, Cynthia passed away. i need to probate her will.
00:11:38
Speaker
And then we're like, did Cynthia do anything when her husband died? And then you'll say, well, no, she didn't think she had to. Oh, no, wait. We killed Cynthia off. So then when Luke dies, when Luke dies, sorry, I just, was trying to kill off Luke first. Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
Cynthia's married to Cynthia. So when Luke dies and his executor, say um goes to probate firm, And then Sam says, I need to i need to probate for Luke.
00:12:15
Speaker
Then the probate firm is going to be like, well, what happened? Because his wife is still listed on this home. And you were like, oh. and then And then all the excuses come in. Oh, we didn't think we had to. Or the ah my brother's uncle cousin who was a lawyer 30 years ago said you didn't have to. Or you know all the things that we hear from people.
00:12:33
Speaker
And so now we're faced with the issue of now we've got to backtrack and do something there. And you only have four years. So let's presume there was a will. You only have four years to probate it So if you're finding out about this after the fact, then there's a lot of messy stuff and hoops that you have to jump through i don't want to give specific examples because that's the next part of who owns the house.
00:12:59
Speaker
Don't even try, Sam. I don't even want you to try. I won't even let you. Okay. Okay. Okay.
00:13:08
Speaker
So, you know, what do you do about this? And I kind of alluded to that earlier. I mean, you could have a will, a will still has to go through probate, but at least it will happen. There's other deed type of work, legal filings, trusts, all of that kind of depends on what's the best route for you.
00:13:23
Speaker
But let's talk about scenarios if you don't have any plan about it. So
00:13:33
Speaker
You get married and then you buy a house together, both names on the title. One of you dies, no will.
00:13:45
Speaker
Who would get the house? You know what's really important with this dead air is that I'm talking to people who have worked multiple years in an estate planning and probate firm, and they're still not sure of the answer. i did so that should tell. I am sure.
00:13:58
Speaker
just don't know who's going to answer. Because I thought Cindy was going to. I don't know why. I thought you were. Because you have to. No, I thought it looked like you were going to answer and it just felt like it was pointing towards you for because of the example. Because I died.
00:14:13
Speaker
So then I was leaning forward, like, is she going to answer? And then it, yeah, I died. Well, okay, hold on. gonna i need to clarify something. um hard Were there any prior marriages? Were there any children? I gave you all the facts you needed. Okay, cool.
00:14:29
Speaker
So in that case, you would need to go through a proceeding but the other spouse would ultimately. What would the default laws say? Again, it's not automatic. You'd have to go through a legal process to determine this. have go probate.
00:14:43
Speaker
But what would the state of Texas say? see, I know too much, and I'm sitting here hung up on, okay, if we're sure it's community property, then the spouse would.
00:14:56
Speaker
i said they bought it after marriage. So it's community property. it's community property. They bought it after marriage. Both names are on the title. Yes. So surviving spouse.
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah. Ding, ding, ding. Okay. All right. just Whenever you start. I'll get another one. Let me see through the facts and let me figure it Let's say spouse one owned a house.
00:15:19
Speaker
There's no kids. Nobody has any kids in this scenario. Okay. Spouse one owned a house.
00:15:29
Speaker
And then... gets married, and spouse two moves into the house. Spouse one dies, no will. Who owns the house?
00:15:46
Speaker
Heirs?
00:15:49
Speaker
Heirs. Of course, it's always heirs. It's always heirs.
00:15:54
Speaker
Who is the heirs? Well, let's say in this scenario, okay, I've got one for you. Let's say in this scenario that they had two kids together after they got married because, you know, they're not your parents, Sam. Yeah.
00:16:17
Speaker
ah
00:16:20
Speaker
yes oh I was like eight when we got married so that's a really wrong engagement did you legally change your name though how did you become Anderson oh I never asked I mean i don't know I'm hoping so I mean they let me in the country with Anderson so I would hope so I'm sure they had to provide my birth certificate okay okay All right. So the scenario is spouse one has a house,
00:16:54
Speaker
gets married, spouse two moves in, they have two kids together, spouse one passes away, who owns the house? And this is pat this is after 1993. Because I'm sure that was going to be your next question. Wait a minute. and Is this before September 1st, 1993? Or after? It's after.
00:17:13
Speaker
It's? I don't know. just guessing. Well, what does it sound like it should be? What do you think it should be? It should be spouse. Why? Because they were married and in love. and were but No, they weren't married whenever it was acquired. So that is their separate property. Whenever somebody passes away. So spouse is one separate property. So is it different is the answer different, though, if they were if it was their separate property prior to the marriage?
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, because not community property. Right. but But again, like the spouse and then they have kids that are together. Spouse one has no kids from any previous marriage or relationship, as the case may be.
00:18:01
Speaker
So who would the house belong to? Kids. It would be split. How would it be split? I mean, the kids.
00:18:16
Speaker
And we split to the kids, like the, so two kids, so 50-50? I'm trying to remember the chart that's on your desk right now. I'm trying to remember exactly which portion.
00:18:29
Speaker
Okay, so so this is painful enough, and I've got more. Who owns the house? So, yes, this is a community property state. We kind of just floated that by there, but that's that's what's the driving factor here. So if spouse one owns something prior to marriage, then that is considered separate property.
00:18:50
Speaker
So in that case, separate property would go to children, the children, right? But- yeah But or if there were no children, then it would be spouses, spouse, one's parents.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, except except the surviving spouse. And I really don't know how this is supposed to work. The so surviving spouse has a one third life estate interest.
00:19:21
Speaker
And a life estate means you basically own something until you die. And then it automatically reverts to whomever else, in this case, the kids. that's why I don't know how you have one-third life estate. like i know like and Do they just have to stay in one-third of the home? Yeah.
00:19:41
Speaker
yeah
00:19:44
Speaker
I know, so there are, i mean, there's probate and probably real estate attorneys that have dealt with this scenario, so they could probably explain that better, but we've never run into it, so we've never had to really figure that out, but it's pretty bizarre, I think.
00:19:59
Speaker
So then let me do the next one of who owns the house? This is my favorite example. By the way, this is all post-September 1993.
00:20:14
Speaker
laws did change. The laws did change. The laws did change. And two of us were alive. So let's say um
00:20:25
Speaker
there were more than two of us alive at that time. In this room? Oh, you mean in this podcast? I thought meant Birch Law. No. I always think of the collective. I always think of the Borg. Okay. ah Yes.
00:20:38
Speaker
So this is this is my favorite one. Okay. So let's say you've got spouse one, spouse two. Spouse one was married before, had two kids,
00:20:54
Speaker
gets divorced, marries spouse two, ah three, no, marries spouse two.
00:21:05
Speaker
They buy a house together, both names are on it. Spouse one dies, who owns the house?
00:21:14
Speaker
Spouse 2? Did you say both names were on it? Spouse 2? Yeah. yeah Yes, but that wouldn't matter, by the way. Well, no, it just I didn't catch that part, so i was just wondering. Okay, they they got married, they bought the house, and spouse one paid for the whole thing. It's only their name on the title.
00:21:33
Speaker
and And you know what? The answer doesn't matter. It's the same. So yeah both names are on the title, one name on the title. Now, mind you, this is based on the assumption that there's no will, trust, there's no prenup, postnup, there's none of that stuff.
00:21:45
Speaker
Because the whole point... of why we exist as a business is to try to help people plan things so that intended intended things happen with their money, property, and children.
00:21:57
Speaker
So we're presuming there's no sort of legal documentation. Spouse one, married, had two kids, got divorced, meets spouse two, gets married, buys a house, both names on the title, spouse one dies, no will or any sort of legal documentation.
00:22:17
Speaker
Who owns the house? It's like the number one thing I do in all the seminars that I give. And then I'll have some smart ass say, the bank.
00:22:31
Speaker
Right. But the kids in the new spouse. Anyone? Anyone?
00:22:39
Speaker
Is this not on?
00:22:42
Speaker
Wow. So Sarah, you can spout off ah here joint tenancy, but you can't answer like the thing that I say most often when I do these presentations.
00:22:55
Speaker
Oh, can you not hear us? No. No. Cynthia said it like three times. Oh, I couldn't hear it. Oh, I close from like, I made a joke. Is this thing on? She was like kids and spouse. And then you go, anybody, anybody?
00:23:13
Speaker
And she goes kids and spouse. Sarah? And I'm like, is this thing on? ah Sarah, could you hear it? No, not really. oh so and I got really close.
00:23:24
Speaker
Can you hear us now? Yeah. um Oh. oh So ah so for for the fans, what's the answer, Cynthia?
00:23:36
Speaker
Oh, the kids and the spouse. So give me the division of of this, that if it's kids and spouse.
00:23:48
Speaker
Like, it would be if the spouse would retain... Okay, you have the whole. So break that off. So... Of the half that belonged to the spouse, the thought piece would be divided amongst the kids and the spouse.
00:24:08
Speaker
Well, no, not the spouse. The spouse does not inherit anything. the The surviving spouse does not inherit anything. The surviving spouse just retains their half. Yeah. so the kids would inherit spouses one. Those spouses. Half.
00:24:26
Speaker
Half.
00:24:29
Speaker
What if same scenario, except the kids were from this marriage, spouse one, spouse two, get married, buy house, have two kids?
00:24:42
Speaker
That's the same answer as the other one. Right. Because what's the triggering factor here in Texas is when there are children from outside the marriage, they inherit their parents' community property.
00:24:57
Speaker
Now, what if those two kids were underage and a judge has to step in and appoint who will oversee their inheritance for them? Who do you think a judge is going to pick?
00:25:09
Speaker
If you have not pre-designated the other parent of the children. No, again, all these questions are based off of no planning happening because that's where 70 plus percent of people find themselves. The other parent of the children.
00:25:22
Speaker
I mean, probably. Yeah. That's a great parent. Right. So spouse two is now co-managing her home with her deceased spouse's ex.
00:25:36
Speaker
Right. Because they're the ones that are appointed there. Okay. Let me give you another scenario. Same thing. Let's say spouse one and spouse two are two women. They get married.
00:25:49
Speaker
They buy a house.
00:25:52
Speaker
One of them goes through artificial insemination and gives birth to a child. Now, everything through ah ah cryobank. So don't worry about any sort of paternity from a sperm donor anything like that, okay?
00:26:05
Speaker
That piece is clean. Let's say, though, that spouse one, female one, has a child during this marriage to this other person.
00:26:17
Speaker
Spouse two is on the birth certificate. because that's what happens in Texas ah by virtue of being married. I mean, for now, it'll do that.
00:26:29
Speaker
But nothing else is done. I'm not going to say what else is not done because I'm not going to lead you down this road. I'm just saying, and this is a very common scenario for lesbian couple where they're married, buy a house together, both names on title.
00:26:44
Speaker
One of them goes through artificial insemination, anonymous sperm donor, everything's through a cryobank, everything's signed off there. Other spouse that did not give birth, other woman that did not give birth is on the birth certificate.
00:27:00
Speaker
Spouse one who gave birth to the child dies. no will, nothing. Who owns the house? The kid, right? Well, I have a question.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah? Whose genetic spawn is it? i so I said went through artificial insemination. Oh, artificial insemination. Okay. The kid, right?
00:27:27
Speaker
The kid would own the whole house?
00:27:32
Speaker
ah or like spouse one's ownership of it whatever the one that gave birth was okay so you're saying i don't i don't know why this is like so like so the ah spouse one who died their half the community property would go to the child yes okay what is making you say that i'm just not sure if i'm right oh like i'm um um
00:28:01
Speaker
because they, and let me know if I'm getting technically too complicated, but they didn't do second parent adoption, right? So the kid, is it both of theirs? like Okay, so let's say I introduce this, that that spouse two did do second parent adoption.
00:28:20
Speaker
Would your answer change when everything else is the same?
00:28:26
Speaker
I don't know. Well, I mean, you just said the reason you answered that the child would inherit the deceased spouse's share yeah is because there is no second parent adoption. So I'm saying, okay, Samala, let's say there was a second parent adoption.
00:28:43
Speaker
If that's what made up your mind, so that would indicate to me that you would have a different answer under those circumstances. Yes, because then would go to the spouse because there's no kids outside of marriage, technically.
00:28:56
Speaker
Sam, that is that is the answer. Oh my god. You're being really intense, so it's making us all second-guess ourselves, even though we're no, that's what we do. I'm not being intense. I'm acting, I'm asking very matter-of-fact, direct questions.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's being intense.
00:29:18
Speaker
I don't know. For some reason in this context, it feels a lot more high-stakes, like, no, don't say the wrong thing. And like, this is what my ears is definitely asleep. The fact that you think our podcast is high stakes is something that I'm going to have to sit with that for a while later. i might have to journal about it.
00:29:36
Speaker
Your boss is asking you on a medium that will be presented to a lot of people. I like how you said presented, not viewed or listened to, just presented. It will be put out there, presented to a bunch of people and you will like mercilessly, um how you say, remind ye, nay,
00:29:57
Speaker
and needle ah anything that's that's wrong so yeah yeah it's high stakes but for the most part you guys are doing it right because this is the stuff we deal with all the time but to circle back to that thing yes because and i don't know that a lot of same-sex couples realize this but if you haven't gone through that second parent adoption this scenario then technically that child even though anonymous sperm brother is not another legal parent um is actually not of that marriage and would trigger these community property rules.
00:30:29
Speaker
But if the child's underage, who is a judge going to appoint then? Because again, there's no, there's no paternity. So there's no other parent. This is the other, I mean, it could be by virtue of the birth certificate maybe, but the big thing that we run across is that a birth certificate does not, um is not a determination of parentage.
00:30:49
Speaker
Yeah. and And this is all specific to Texas, okay? Remember that. it's this is What we're talking about now is very, very different state to state. But in this scenario, two it's it's really like I think the argument is really more sex discrimination than LGBT discrimination.
00:31:07
Speaker
But... If it's because it's a woman and Texas defies, defines mother. And we talked about this with Jamie, uh, when she was on our, I was about to say on our show, it is a show, right?
00:31:20
Speaker
Uh, when she was on the podcast that it's giving birth or having, um, adoption or legal adjudication. So we're saying not, none of those things happen. and being on a birth certificate doesn't count in that case because in the scenario I gave it to him.
00:31:36
Speaker
So anyway, that's who owns the house. Wild stuff, isn't it? Yeah. yeah It is. And when you think about it, though, like the fact patterns that we just went through are all very common scenarios that people are in. I mean, people have blended families.
00:31:53
Speaker
People have stepchildren. People, you know, have homes before marriage and move into a more, you know, one of my favorite scenarios. Actually, we did not go through this one and I don't want to do a quiz about it because I want to um bag on appraisal districts. But ah is what if they weren't married?
00:32:14
Speaker
They bought a home together and then they got married. Okay. It's a separate property. So basically half of it's a separate property of each of Okay.
00:32:27
Speaker
of each of their yes ah it So it's just, it's it's messy, people. It's messy, messy, messy. All right. So I wanted to talk about a trend that we have been seeing because, you know, Birch Law is entering its 20th year.
00:32:42
Speaker
Collectively, we have seen a lot.
Appraisal Districts and Ownership Confusion
00:32:44
Speaker
And so this is something that we have not seen until, i mean, frankly, the last year. So if you're hopefully you're following along with everything that we're saying about homes and property in Texas and how there's no joint tendency with rights to survivorship and all that good stuff.
00:33:06
Speaker
So what we've been seeing appraisal districts do is let's say you've got um a married couple and one of the spouses passes away and the other spouse um takes the death certificate give it certificate to the appraisal district and presents them the death certificate.
00:33:24
Speaker
And then the appraisal district is now saying, oh yeah, your name's also on the title. We'll now update the appraisal district to show you as the sole owner. And
00:33:38
Speaker
We've had a couple instances of this. So finally, we just called the appraisal district basically saying, what are you doing? There's been no changes in the law. And they're like, oh, yeah.
00:33:49
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Uh, If both names are on the title, like we'll change that, but no, we're not doing any deed work or anything like that. So it's still the same situation. So basically they're giving people the misperception that the title to their home is clean and clear in their name.
00:34:06
Speaker
And in fact, they're 100% not doing that. They're basically updating a mailing address. Except when they enter it in their little computers, it will show like 100% ownership.
00:34:19
Speaker
But that's not true. And people really need to understand that because then it puts people in our position, whether it's probate attorneys or estate planners or real estate attorneys or title like all of us in the position of saying, no, that's not accurate.
00:34:35
Speaker
And then, you know, you could have the misperception where just trying to make a buck getting me to do this stuff. It's like, no, actually, this is this is a huge problem because we can then run a title search and show you there's no there's no chain of title. There's no deed record here that is making that switch. I cannot even believe that appraisal districts are doing this. I'm actually shocked because it's pretty hard to get you know, a bureaucracy to do anything.
00:35:03
Speaker
yeah But, and heaven forbid, like they, they love to tell you, Oh, you need to get a lawyer to help you with that. So I really, really sad. So listen to that, everybody, if you're going to take two things out of this podcast that are unrelated to whatever the hell Sam and Sarah's throw at us,
00:35:19
Speaker
take Take away that a home does not automatically go to a spouse and take away the fact that if an appraisal district updates a title because all you showed them was a death certificate, that that is not, in fact, creating any sort of ownership transfer.
00:35:35
Speaker
You're still in the same boat.
00:35:40
Speaker
All right. So that that concludes the first ever episode of Whose house is it?
00:35:52
Speaker
was who owns that house. Oh, that was the alternate title. All right, let's try that again from the top. Who owns the house?
00:36:03
Speaker
kind of like whose house is it now that I said that a different way. Whose is it? Yeah, I like that one better. Sarah, go back and read everything for this episode.
00:36:15
Speaker
Okay, yeah. Just do it. ah So i I do, you know, and the one thing I can say for Sam and Sarah is that they usually try to tie their segment into something topical.
00:36:32
Speaker
topical And i don't really know the inside out of what they're presenting, but I don't see the connection.
00:36:43
Speaker
So here's what I'm going do. I'm going to let Sam and Sarah take over and explain to us what they want to talk about and how that can relate yeah to that.
00:36:57
Speaker
Whose house is it? um So basically we were talking about like who owns the house, right? um And so we thought we would share some celebrities who own some ridiculous things.
00:37:15
Speaker
So that's the tie, the ownership piece. Yeah, the ownership of it. That's very weak, but I'll take it. Thank you. Okay, so that the first one, ah we're going to go from cheapest to most expensive.
00:37:29
Speaker
um We just kind of wanted to mention her, but Taylor Swift has some, I think they're Scottish, Scottish fold cats? Is that what they're called? Wait, did you say Scottish fold?
00:37:40
Speaker
um I don't know what they're called. They're Scottish something. I think you said Scottish folk. I said fold with a D. yeah scott old Wait, no, wait, Sam, say fold.
00:37:52
Speaker
Fold. ah Okay. ah Proceed. Okay. Well, she has some Scottish i like the way you talk.
00:38:03
Speaker
Oh. um and they can range from i need an adult um you are the adult um they range from about 1500 to 2000 ish piece probably more if she's maybe there's some rich breeders out there i don't know um right know so that those those aren't really like dumb things to own because they're actually very cute but But you can also find a cat outside and bring it in. and Yeah.
00:38:32
Speaker
Outside on the street, in front of your apartment. That's what I did with one of my cats. Yeah, it's a little bit more economical. Free cat. Yeah.
00:38:45
Speaker
All right, so next on our list, we have Kelly Rowland, who spent $5,200 on a crystal bathtub for Blue Ivy. um Who's Beyonce's kid. Right, Beyonce's kid. i mean but ah doesn't know that?
00:38:58
Speaker
I don't know. People who don't care about Beyonce.
00:39:04
Speaker
and That's not us. I stand by my question.
00:39:11
Speaker
Okay, the next i is Lady Gaga, and this is personally my favorite one. She spent $50,000 just loan on this ghost detector. ghost detector because her house was horneted apparently in like the early 2010s or something like that.
00:39:27
Speaker
um So that doesn't include like any other equipment just for one piece of equipment she spent $50,000. that well um Justin Bieber spent to convert his car into a Batmobile.
00:39:42
Speaker
Which I feel like is pretty low. right yeah and a yeah yeah What was the car? I mean, depends on what the original car was. I think it was like a Cadillac CT5 or something like that. I don't know if that's the right name, but somewhere around there.
00:39:55
Speaker
If I remember correctly.
00:40:01
Speaker
Are you looking it up? Of course I am.
00:40:07
Speaker
yeah Is that right? Well, no, looking up a Cadillac CT5. I feel like if he would have done like the really old school Batmobile, like I could see an old Cadillac working for it But, you know, it would have been nice if you would have had pictures for us.
00:40:24
Speaker
Oh, I'm so sorry. Hey, Sarah, can you do that for for the for later? Thank you.
00:40:31
Speaker
The next one Ben Affleck. um Lori's favorite in Halloween costume. Was it Ben Affleck? It was, right? Yeah, yeah okay. yes ah But he's not my favorite.
00:40:42
Speaker
He's not my favorite anything. Your favorite meme to dress up for the year of 2024. Fair. Anyway, you spend $105,000 on a toilet seat for Jennifer Lopez and it has diamonds, pearls, rubies, and sapphires on it.
00:41:02
Speaker
I think that's my favorite. That's fair. Buying someone a toilet seat is like the least romantic thing you could ever.
00:41:14
Speaker
I... i I think you're right, Sarah. I'm not sure that there's anything that's... My mom got mad at my dad because he got her canisters one time for I think, Valentine's Day. Canisters?
00:41:29
Speaker
Yeah. Like storage canisters? don't see a problem. for, flour, and they matched her kitchen. They had one of those 90s duck kitchens.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah. At least it matched. She really wanted them. She really, really wanted them. Oh, okay. there's the i But it was the idea that it was for Valentine's Day. That's fair, I guess.
00:41:54
Speaker
Okay. But I think a toilet seat. Okay. don't know what my mom would have not a toileancy with ducks on it and each time you lifted it up it goes quack all right i'm kind of talking myself into the toilet seat Okay, well, hold on. i need to back up a little bit here. yeah guys were talking about this um West Coast Custom Batmobile.
00:42:21
Speaker
It is essentially the the Cadillac vehicle, which you spoke of. um It is just matte black, and they just added the Batmobile, like the bat symbol on the front. i never said it was a good Yeah, this is why you come with pictures, people.
00:42:40
Speaker
Because this just looks like a matte black car that they just listen. Sounds like he got ripped off. I feel like... I mean, it doesn't fly or submerge itself in water.
00:42:52
Speaker
It looks just like a matte black car.
00:43:00
Speaker
Good for him. Yeah.
00:43:03
Speaker
I'm not loving that trend, by the way, right now with matte colored cars.
00:43:10
Speaker
Like the actual texture of matte? Well, it's so they're not glossy or shiny. like It's a big trend right now. oh you can or i i don't I don't want to admit why I know this, but I think actually the statement will indicate why I know this.
00:43:25
Speaker
But you can order Mustangs right now and for like an additional... I don't know, if few grand, you can have the color be matte. Like, have a matte film yeah over it.
00:43:36
Speaker
Interesting. it crazy it costs that much to do it. Yeah. Okay, there's also an emblem on the steering wheel. Okay. Listen, I'm not i' not really impressed so far. I never assume ever said these were good purchases.
00:43:53
Speaker
i think I think their intent is the opposite of being impressed by these purchases. Listen, I'm not impressed by any of these. um Especially because... like I absolutely get the Lady Gaga thing. Yeah, I would absolutely. i I would consider that if I move some... Absolutely, 100%. Oh, yeah. was...
00:44:15
Speaker
I don't have any problem paying money for pets. If i if i was rich and I had a haunted house, I would hire the Ghost Adventures crew to come to my house.
00:44:27
Speaker
See, i was i I would need Zach Bagans personally to find the ghost for me i I saw actually, this reminds this was just yesterday. i saw this video that was basically saying, was a reel, and it said that if you could see the ghost, they'd be a lot less scary.
00:44:45
Speaker
So first they show like a chair moving by itself and a door opening and closing by itself. And then they showed a guy opening and closing a door, moving a chair around.
00:44:57
Speaker
It's like, that's so true. If you can see the ghost, it's not scary at all. Like turning the light switch off. If they can do all that, why can't you pick up a Swiffer and just move it around?
00:45:12
Speaker
ah so I think ghosts are not scary. It's the fact that we can't see them. Yeah. true yeah yeah if they're willing to do some house chores i'm down okay but that's his batmobile thing if it would have been like a replica of the 1966 batman batmobile sure you know what i'm down but no i don't think justin weaver cures that much especially because i think this was in his early days yeah let's being a child with money let's move on to the next thing All right, so next up, we got Nicolas Cage.
00:45:44
Speaker
He spent $276,000 on a Tyrannosaurus skull, but it turns out it was stolen, so he gave it back to the rightful owner. So, good job, Nick. kind of it What's the series of movies he was in but i'm trying it where they actually steal? like old National Treasure? Yeah.
00:46:05
Speaker
National treasure. So is it during that era that he did this? It's kind of a strange coincidence. Yeah, it was like 2007, I think. Yeah, 2007. Apparently he's like obsessed with um like collecting stuff like that, likekull like dinosaur skulls and other collectible stuff. Apparently he outbid DiCaprio, which is He doesn't seem like a guy. so Wait, he likes to collect skulls or or he artifacts or fossils or what exactly?
00:46:40
Speaker
um Hold on. Let me look.
00:46:45
Speaker
He's apparently done a bunch of um comic books. Oh, apparently he, Heritage Comics of Dallas, which, fun fact, when I played for applied for virtual, I also applied for them.
00:46:57
Speaker
Fun fact. For where? ah Heritage Comics of Dallas. It's like an auction place. It's like a section of Heritage auctions. For comic books? Yeah, for specifically comic Wait a minute. All right, you need to stop, Sam. Stop.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah. When you were in the job market, You applied to a comic book auction house into an estate planning and i need a probate law firm. Yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
Just shooting shots. Yeah. I walked in and she's like, I like cats. And she's like, okay. Okay. One, they were close. And i'm very into like. Hold on. They were close? Yeah. From my own apartment. that Whatever. We are close.
00:47:39
Speaker
Yeah. yeahally That's the only criteria. Yeah. Because I didn't want to drive 40 minutes. You guys just had the bonus of being gay. Yeah.
00:47:50
Speaker
Do
00:47:55
Speaker
they still have openings? I don't know. I mean, yeah, you you might want to see. The answer is I don't know. i mean, I genuinely don't know. Okay, moving on. You genuinely should not know.
00:48:08
Speaker
No, I did not know. um I think this is just about his comic books in here. Yeah, what's the next one? i I actually think, as someone who is not a kajillionaire, I actually think is fairly reasonable for a T-Rex skull.
00:48:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:31
Speaker
I mean, that's millions of years old.
00:48:35
Speaker
And extinct.
00:48:38
Speaker
I don't know. How much does a Picasso go for?
00:48:42
Speaker
Like, I don't know. I mean, we're talking like millions of the millions of dollars. Like, I think a quarter of a million dollars for a T-Rex skull, I wouldn't want it. And if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't pay for it. I just think that's reasonable is what I'm saying.
00:48:58
Speaker
He also has purchased two islands, ah two snakes and a pit octopus, specifically two king cobras. cora um They were also around the same price of the skull.
00:49:12
Speaker
That's really it that People Magazine has given me. I also think it's probably a good deal for an island. Yeah. Yeah. um I'm on board buying an island.
00:49:24
Speaker
What's next?
00:49:27
Speaker
ah So the next one is ah Kim Kardashian. she bought $750,000 gold toilets.
00:49:34
Speaker
gold toilets
00:49:38
Speaker
What is it with commodes and celebrities? I know. I don't know. It's too, too many.
00:49:45
Speaker
Well, Kim K is too much. Well, that was just the seat. Yeah, that's true. ah Well, anyway, she can have it.
00:49:56
Speaker
And we have one more. um Okay, our last one is Celine Dion, who spent $2 million on a humidifier. Okay.
00:50:08
Speaker
While she was living in vegas during her i don't if still lives in Vegas. Well, I think she was doing a reason. Considering all the cigarette smoke that emanates through Vegas, you might need that.
00:50:19
Speaker
Right. Taking no chances. Like, where where is the humidifier? Is this like in a house? is it Does it do the whole house? Yeah. Is it in a hotel room?
00:50:31
Speaker
Is it in where she's performing? Like, where is this humidifier? while she was performing. Yeah, it was installed in the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace to protect her vocal cords from a dry desert air.
00:50:46
Speaker
Okay. This was in early It's like whenever you're Celine Dion and you have to keep up the voice and the skin. Yeah. I mean, I also do not think that sounds like a ridiculous amount of money for that. No, and considering she had that, was it, like the stiff person syndrome or whatever she had?
00:51:07
Speaker
that's right. But like really messed up her vocal cords.
00:51:12
Speaker
Yeah. forgot about that.
00:51:15
Speaker
No, I can understand a lot of these things, except the toilets. Yeah. the toilet okay That so interesting. So how did that connect to our theme again? yeah Because they owned them and we were talking about owning houses.
00:51:31
Speaker
No, we were talking about who owns a thing. It was more of like ownership. Who owns a thing. Not just and what weird things people have bought. Well, that's owning it. That's fine. works.
00:51:45
Speaker
It works. So thank thank you, all you that you contributed and and to our listeners and fans, if you have made it this far, ah we are forever indebted to you.
00:51:57
Speaker
Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us.
00:52:10
Speaker
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00:52:21
Speaker
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00:52:42
Speaker
Much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.