ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 26, 1996 TAG: 9608270008
SECTION: MONEY PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: MONEY MATTERS
SOURCE: MAG POFF
Q: I stand to inherit some property from my parents, and I am told that it must stay in the family or be sold to another family member. Does this hold true, or can I sell it to anyone I like, which would bring me more money than selling to a family member? I assume that this restriction is written in the will.
A: Reading between the lines a little, Charles Troland Jr., an estate and tax specialist with the Roanoke law firm of Glenn, Feldmann, Darby & Goodlatte, assumed that you have been told that you are going to inherit some property but are not to sell it to anyone but family members. And that you think this will be contained in your parents' wills.
The short answer to your question, Troland said, is that you likely will be able to sell the property to anyone you wish.
Although the law upholds most conditions in wills (for example, a provision saying that anyone contesting the will will be cut out of the estate), restrictions on real property are generally not enforceable after it has been transferred outright.
While there is a policy that a person should be able to leave her property as she wishes, Troland said, there is a strong countervailing principle that restrictions on transfers are "repugnant." This reflects the proposition that it is against the public interest to allow the wishes of a former owner, now dead, to control the use of the property.
As one commentator put it, Troland said, "To do so may be to put the lands of the living in the cold grip of the hands of the dead."
Since neither Troland nor you know the terms of the limiting language, he suggested that you consult a real property and estate lawyer when you propose to sell the property. And as a practical matter, he said, the involvement of a title insurance company may obviate the problem.
Act fast in stock issues
Q: I have had stock in a company called LTV for a number of years. How can it declare my stock valueless?
I received a letter saying that I must send in my certificates for redistribution, and I understood I had 12 years to do this. I was going through my stocks recently and figured I might as well send them in. LTV sent them back, stating the deadline was June 28, 1995, which I didn't know. It declared my 200 shares to have no value. It is still in business and on the stock exchange.
A: The Roanoke office of J.C. Bradford attempted to help you resolve the problem, but the copies of two letters you supplied to them clearly stated that you had to return your shares by the deadline because the company was in bankruptcy reorganization. In fact, both letters were stamped at the top with a notice that the stock certificates had to be returned by June 28, 1995, or be forfeited.
You told J.C. Bradford that you received another letter giving you 12 years, but you could not find it.
People who keep shares in their own name must be very careful to act promptly in all matters pertaining to the stock. The safest method is to keep shares as an electronic record with the brokerage house that sold them to you. The broker can then help you to act promptly in all proceedings related to the shares. You can also sell them much faster.
Unions and insurance
Q: According to a guest on "Oprah Winfrey," all labor unions carry insurance on their members. If you are a beneficiary of a deceased member, the guest said, then that labor union has insurance money that belongs to you.
My deceased husband was a member of the United Paperworkers International Union at Covington. He worked at Hercules Inc. in Covington. Please help me find an address of the union headquarters or information you may find on this matter.
A: Not all unions carry insurance on their members, although some do. The United Paperworkers International Union does not.
M. Glenn Anglin, head of the United Paperworkers local that serves workers at the Hercules plant in Covington, said no such insurance exists.
But he said the company's credit union carries insurance for workers who also are members of the credit union. If your husband was a member of the credit union, you should contact that institution directly.
Handling foreign money
Q: I recently went on a trip to Europe and came back with some German currency. I have $30 in bills and $11 worth in coins.
I've contacted local banks, but they will not take these coins. They are like dollars in American money. They are for one Deutschemark and five Deutschemarks.
Is there any place around here that would exchange the coins into American money? I don't want to have to send the coins back to Germany to get them exchanged, and I don't want to lose the money.
A: Linda So, who works for the International Division of First Union National Bank of Virginia at McLean, said that banks won't take coins because they are too heavy to handle. She said that the cost of shipping the coins is much more than a money exchanger can earn in fees. The coins would have to be shipped to the bank's money supply house in New York.
So said the only places in the United States that accept these coins are the currency exchange booths at major international airports such as Kennedy Airport in New York. Even some of these exchangers accept only British pounds in coins.
Most travelers usually exchange their money at the airport of the overseas country as they leave for home, So said.
If you ship the coins back to Germany, you will pay high postage fees - perhaps more than the value of the money you will receive.
Because only $11 is involved in the coins, you might just give them as souvenirs of your trip. Children especially enjoy having money from another country. Of you might save them yourself as a memento of your visit overseas.
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