Attorney mistake??

[dhardy71]

I was given custodianship of a mortgage interest from my husband for our 4 children Under the wisconsin uniform transfers to minors act in May of 2005. I have since forclosed on the mortgage and was given the sheriffs deed. I put the house up for sale and had an offer to purchase and accepted it. The closing company contacted my attorney and asked for a guardians deed. My attorney contacted me and told me we needed to go to court to get guardianship so that we could sell the house. I tried to ask him why this was necessary since my husband had signed it over to me and he stated that we had to since the closing company asked for a guardians deed.(closing company did not know that I had custodianship under the Wisconsin UTMA).
I have since (within days) contacted my attorney and given him all supporting documentation showing that I was custodian under Wisconsin UTMA, and asked that he contact court and ask that they ammend the order or whatever else may be done seeing as how the guardianship was not necessary.
Under Wisconsin statute 54.870 I did not need court permission to sell the property. Because of my attorney there is now an order that I put the proceeds of the sale into secured accounts and that I can not remove any of the funds for my children unless I write to court and get a court order.
My husband along with the transfer of mortgage registered in the outagamie county register of deeds gave me a document that he and I signed making me custodian.
My attorney is telling me that the mortgage signed over to me was done so as a guardianship.According to wisconsin statutes a guardianship is created only by a court. My husbands intentions in transferring this mortgage interest was for benefit of our children and he is quite upset as well. Is the attorney correct?
Wisconsin statutes 54.01(10) is the definition of a guardian. There was no court involvment in the transfer my husband made to me. I believe my attorney made a mistake and I would like to know if there is anything I can do? Applicable Wisconsin statutes are below.

Thanks For any help
dhardy71


FROM WISCONSIN STATUES CHAPTER 54
54.01(10)
(10) "Guardian" means a person appointed by a court under s. 54.10 to manage the income and assets and provide for the essential requirements for health and safety and the personal needs of a minor, an individual found incompetent, or a spendthrift.

54.870(1)(a)2.
2. Delivered if in certificated form, or any document necessary for the transfer of an uncertificated security is delivered, together with any necessary endorsement to an adult other than the transferor or to a trust company as custodian, accompanied by an instrument in substantially the form set forth in sub. (2); 54.870(2)
(2) An instrument in the following form satisfies the requirements of sub. (1) (a) 2. and (g):
Transfer under the Wisconsin Uniform
Transfers to Minors Act
I, .... (name of transferor or name and representative capacity if a fiduciary) hereby transfer to .... (name of custodian), as custodian for .... (name of minor) under the Wisconsin Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, the following: .... (insert a description of the custodial property sufficient to identify it).
Dated: ....
....
(Signature)
.... (name of custodian) acknowledges receipt of the property described above, as custodian for the minor named above under the Wisconsin Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.
Dated: ....
....
(Signature of Custodian)


54.870(1)
(1) Custodial property is created and a transfer is made whenever:

54.860
54.860 Transfer by gift or exercise of power of appointment. A person may make a transfer by irrevocable gift to, or the irrevocable exercise of a power of appointment in favor of, a custodian for the benefit of a minor under s. 54.870.

 

[seniorjudge]

Your post is exceptionally confusing.

Let me just say this: You need to run a title search (have a local title company do this) to find out exactly who needs to convey this property.

There are certainly ways that a custodian can transfer stuff without court approval, but court approval is never wrong.

 

[dhardy71]

My husband transfered the mortgage interest to me as natural guardian of my 4 children. Along with the mortgage transfer he gave me a document that he signed and I signed in this format.
54.870(1)(a)2.
2.Delivered in certificated form,or any document necessary for the transfer of an uncertificated security is delivered, together with any necessary endorsement to an adult other than the transferor or to a trust company as custodian, accompanied by an instrument in substantially the form set forth in sub. (2); 54.870(2) (2) An instrument in the following form satisfies the requirements of sub. (1) (a) 2. and (g):
Transfer under the Wisconsin Uniform
Transfers to Minors Act
I, .... (name of transferor or name and representative capacity if a fiduciary) hereby transfer to .... (name of custodian), as custodian for .... (name of minor) under the Wisconsin Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, the following: .... (insert a description of the custodial property sufficient to identify it).
Dated: ....
....
(Signature)
.... (name of custodian) acknowledges receipt of the property described above, as custodian for the minor named above under the Wisconsin Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.
Dated: ....
....
(Signature of Custodian)

I eventually forclosed on that mortgage and was given the sheriffs deed. The deed States (my name) as natural guardian of (my four childrens names)
My attorney is the one who prepared the transfer on my husbands request. He told me that I needed no involvment with any courts. He was as shocked as I was when the closing company asked for a guardians deed. He called me imediately and told me that we had to go to court because the closing company wanted a guardians deed. It was 2 days befor the closing date and we could not change the closing date or we would have lost the sale. My county only handles these types of cases every other Wednesday and it was allready Tuesday so it was a rush for him to get everything all set for court. I tried to ask him "why we needed court with the documents I had" and he stated "it was a different county". I assumed he knew what was going on. I Believe there was a miscommunication. The transfer of the mortgage and the forclosure giving me the sheriffs deed were both in Outagamie county. He was mistaken.
I didn't have an issue involving court until the register in probate ordered that the funds from the sale be placed into accounts that can not be touched without a court order, witch will cost money everytime to do so. I had control of the money that was coming in befor I forclosed on the property. I had to turn over my oldests daughters portion to her because she is 18 where I had control under the uniform transfers to minors act until she is 21.