Truth Triumphing Over Lies
I wasn’t going to post this at all, especially on Easter, but when I thought about it more, I realized that Easter, at least for Christians, is really about good triumphing over evil, truth triumphing over lies, resurrection of life over death. The battle of good and evil is something that humans will fight forever. The Resurrection showed us that when all seems lost, good will prevail.
A lot has been said and written about our legal battle over our homestead exemption and how the property was transferred to a Living Trust (something recommended by our Estate attorney to protect it for our children in the event something happened to me and Steve). We are pretty private with our personal affairs but since several people have already been fed lies and have made assumptions about what we went through (thanks to an incorrect, self-serving Forbes attorney/author who made rash assumptions before knowing the full story). In a recent legal battle, we were falsely accused of fraudulently transferring our home into a trust that resulted in our losing the homestead protection rights. The Forbes article (that went everywhere) used our court battle and assumed the accusations were true before even awaiting the results of the case. We asked for a retraction because none of what was alleged was true, but they refused. The author was sure that he was right. I filed multiple grievances against him for his defamatory article.
Well, typically I would not gloat and talk about all our wins (we haven’t lost one), but I am quite frankly tired of the rumors. So to stop the trail of lies and to prove my point, attached please find the exact excerpts from the higher court ruling IN OUR FAVOR. The only alteration I made to the text is to insert the words (lower) court vs (higher) court so people understand what they are reading... legal jargon can be complicated. I also capitalized certain words for emphasis, but they are the same words. It’s an interesting case that has set case law precedent and is already being studied in legal circles. Enjoy and have a blessed Easter Sunday.
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Copy/pasted from court records:
The cornerstone of the (lower) court's order is that under the Property Code, a trust instrument must include the phrase "at no cost" to preserve the homestead designation. This Court (ie, higher court) disagrees. Section 41.0021 does not require the phrase "at no cost" be included for a trust instrument to constitute a "qualifying trust." Requiring a trust instrument to include the phrase "at no cost" elevates FORM over SUBSTANCE. What matters is whether the trust instrument expresses intent to preserve the homestead designation. This interpretation is consistent with the statute's purpose: to allow a trustee to transfer a homestead into a living trust without affecting the homestead designation of the property, thereby continuing the residence homestead protection. See ECF No. 10 at 29 (Bill Analysis, H.B. 3767).
The Cyrs' Living Trust expresses intent to preserve the homestead designation. Thus, the Living Trust is a "qualifying trust" under the Property Code. The (lower) court ERRED when it concluded the Cyrs' Living Trust does not constitute a "qualifying trust" under subsection 41.0021(a)(1)(C) of the Tex. Prop. Code. Accordingly, this Court (higher court) REVERSES the order of the (lower) court sustaining SNH's objection. (fyi, SNH is the owner of TEXAS CENTER FOR ATHLETES WHO BROUGHT ABOUT THIS FALSE CLAIM.)
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED the order of the (lower) Court is REVERSED and the Court RENDERS judgment for Appellants (ie, THE CYRS). The Living Trust IS a "qualifying trust" under the Property Code and therefore, when 15 Esquire was transferred to the Living Trust, 15 Esquire did not lose its homestead exemption protections.
SIGNED this 30th day of November 2020.
JASON PULLIAM (higher court Judge).
***Thank you Judge Pulliam for righting a wrong and shutting down the nonsense.
