Ready to secure your family’s legacy? In this powerful episode, Stephanie Hopkins, founder of Blaque Wall Street Title LLC and Embracing Lyfe Development Inc., reveals how equity strategies, proactive advocacy, and heirship title work can pave the way for generational wealth. Tune in to discover the crucial steps you need to protect your assets, empower your community, and unlock a legacy that goes far beyond inheritance.
Stephanie Hopkins is a visionary entrepreneur and CEO of Blaque Wall Street Title LLC and Embracing Lyfe Development Inc., dedicated to empowering underserved communities. Through estate planning and property financial literacy, she transforms complex property rights into opportunities for generational wealth while addressing racial economic disparities. Her mission focuses on preserving affordable housing and fostering financial sustainability. Contact her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heirshiptitleagent/
****************************
The Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast’s mission is to empower women to approach money confidently, reframe their financial habits, and build a future where their money is a tool for opportunity and security.
Through Dr. Sev Talks Money YouTube channel and Podcast, I provide actionable advice and inspiration to help you achieve financial freedom. Join me for one-on-one coaching, group sessions, workshops, or speaking engagements as we journey to financial empowerment together.
It’s never too late to begin again—let’s make it happen!
Here is one way you can support the podcast and YouTube channel: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DrSevTalksMoney
My website: http://www.sevtalksmoney.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrSeverineBryan–SevTalksMoney
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/severinebryan/
Transcript
That’s due to lack of protection. Asset protection.
Yeah, I’ve seen those studies, too, and it’s a little bit alarming. And what Stephanie and I are doing and what I do throughout my podcast and having people come on is to ensure that that prediction does not come to pass, that we are not in 2053, ending up with zero net worth. We not doing that. Okay. Not on my watch.
Not on my watch either.
And as Stephanie said, secrets are dangerous. Being secretive is dangerous. We need to be able to open up, because in the past, our parents would say, that’s none of your business. You don’t need to know my business. But now it’s a different. We’re in a different era. So we need to open up about what’s going on in our finances so that we. When we pass away, or if we were to have a stroke and we can’t talk, someone can come in and they can quickly pull the mat the records and they can continue the work without having to struggle to find the documents, without having to struggle to know what it is that we want.
And these conversations, as I always say, they’re not sexy. They’re not conversations that make us turn cartwheels, but they are conversations that create security for us and for our family members.
Welcome to another exciting episode of the Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast with your host and financial counselor, Dr. Sev. This show is your go to resource for starting over or leveling up your finances. Get ready to transform your money and make it work for you one step at a time.
Hey, hey, hey, savvy squad. Welcome to another episode of the Dr. Sev Talks Money, YouTube and podcast where we empower women to manage money confidently and create a future of financial freedom, security and opportunity. Today, we’re talking about heirship titles and its impact on generational wealth. Essentially, who gets to own the property after someone dies. Joining us today is Stephanie Hopkins, founder and CEO of Black Wall Street Title LLC and Embracing Life Development, Inc. Stephanie, welcome to the Dr. Sev talks money podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
Okay, so first, before I have all the questions I have to ask you about heirship, I would like for you to tell us a little bit about yourself and your businesses.
I am the founder and CEO of Black Wall Street Title LLC and Embracing Life Development, Inc. Embracing Life is my nonprofit that specializes in providing estate planning for individuals who are unable to afford it. Something special about me is that I have a knack for head over heart decisions. When you’re dealing with heirship titles, you have to have an individual that has the critical thinking skills and who are able to still make decisions in trying times.
Okay, so let’s dive into some questions. Thanks for sharing a little bit about your business and yourself. You mentioned in an earlier conversation that we had that that your recovery from COVID led to a profound promise and a shift in your purpose. Can you share more about that transformative experience and how it shaped the creation of your businesses?
Oh, absolutely. So July of 2021, I found myself hospitalized, battling for my life with COVID something I had never seen before. In isolation, 23 other individuals. None of my family could come and see me at that time. I was just praying. I said, lord, if you save me, I will do whatever it is that you want me to do. And that statement to him was not about, oh, I was afraid to die. It was, I was afraid to die without birthing my purpose to the world.
I was afraid to die because I had not completed my assignment, even for my children, with creating generational wealth for them. So that is what that statement was about.
Okay, that’s got to be an insightful time for you, for you to really focus, not even on yourself so much, but about what you want to leave behind, what you want others to say about you when you’ve left, and the impact it will have on them. So after 20 years in the insurance industry, what challenges did you face when transitioning from corporate life to entrepreneurship?
The only challenge that I’ve actually had is for individuals to see me in a different limelight. They still see me from a corporate setting, and I’m like, no, I don’t wear that hat any longer. Not as my primary hat. So because my thought process is different. Right. You have to think differently when you’re in Rome. Right. So you do what Romans do.
So when I’m in a corporate setting, I have to act a certain way, I have to conform to a certain way. But when I put on my entrepreneurship hat, I have a different outlook on life. I take those glasses off of the world’s view and look at things from a truly real perspective.
Yeah, that’s awesome. So I would love for you to share a little bit about now the heirship type of work, which I’m sure a lot of people are wanting to hear about. Can you explain what heirship title issues are and why resolving them is so critical for building generational wealth?
Absolutely. So as a title agent, I get to see the pre purchase of a home and the post purchase of a home, be it a sale, because an individual wants to sell or sell, because they have to sell due to heirs, property issues. And what that does is causes a dramatic shift in not just the economy, but in an individual’s family, the dynamics of the family. Because once that matriarch or that last individual passes away and they do not have an estate plan, it can be a trust or it could be a will, whichever fits that individual’s dynamics. Right. Family dynamics. If they do not have either one of those items which gives instructions to what they want to happen to their property, it causes a tangled title. And that’s what I see.
So once I see that tangled title, I’m always out here telling individuals, hey, you know, it’s great to have an estate plan because it stops the confusion between family members of what you really want. Right. No one has to guess what that is. And then what also happens is if the deed has no owner, then no one actually owns the home. So although you live in that home, the deed shows ownership, and if your name is not on that deed, then you legally don’t own that home.
Yes. You mentioned something about tango titles. Can you explain that a little bit more for our listeners?
Yes. So tangled title comes from heirship issues where there’s more than one individual that has rights to a property or vacant land, and you have to straighten that out as to who actually owns that property. So if an individual passes away, let’s say I pass away. I have my home, and I did not do an estate plan. I did not have a will or trust. The deed is frozen in my name. So if someone went to go look up the deed, it would say Stephanie Hopkins. It would not list my kids.
So although my kids are rightful heirs of it, they cannot do anything with this home because they are not the legal owners of it.
Okay, so how can we get our kids on the deed?
Or what?
What is the process now? So let’s say you own some land or a house and you are wanting to make sure that your kids can inherit rightly. So what are some processes that they can do?
So I’ll give the disclosure. I’m not an attorney, but in the state of Florida, you can put what is called a ladybird deed on the property, which is a life estate deed. And what that does is you, as the owner of the home, still have ownership. So you could sell it, you can do whatever you want to, but if you pass away, it automatically transfers to your, what they call remaindermen, which would be your children or whomever you list on that deed.
Okay. Yeah. My family members right now in Florida who Own property. And I’m working to try to get my brother, youngest brother on the property in the event that the older my mom passes away, I want to get my younger brother’s name on the property. And right now my aunt who passed away last year is listed on the property with my mom. And so we’re trying to get her name off and put my brother’s name on there. So we may have to go through a little bit of Ladybird or, or some other process. We’ll see how that works out.
Yeah, so the Ladybird is. It’s good when the owner is alive and then they can put whomever they would want on that deed. And I’m speaking in regards to that from experience. So again, it’s not legal advice, but I’m speaking from what I had done to protect my parents property here in the state of Florida. Before my father passed, I had a ladybird placed on the property. So before he passed away, it automatically transferred to myself and to my sister.
This is good information to know. And of course they can either contact you if they are interested in working with you, or you can probably direct them to legal person, somebody who can legally help them, depending on what it is that they are in need of. And we’re going to be sharing Stephanie’s contact information in the show notes and we will share it verbally also towards the end of the program. So what are some misconceptions or knowledge gaps about estate planning that you commonly see and what are some steps that individuals can take to better prepare for the future of their assets?
Absolutely nothing is automatic. I see that a lot. They think because they are the daughter, mother, son of the individual that it automatically passes along to them. It does not. The United States works in a way that if it is not documented, it did not happen. So you have to write down on the proper verbiage, right? That on the proper document with the proper verbiage, or sometimes people call it magic language that speaks as to what you want. So when you pass away, your estate plan comes to life and speaks your truth. So no one has to guess as to what Dr.
Sev wants. They would just go directly to that document and read what your thoughts were at that moment in time. Another concept is that it is a set it, forget it type of thing. You need to revisit your estate plan when you have any changes in your life. If you get married, if you get divorced, if you have another kid. It’s just like your taxes, right? They ask you, you know, have you had any life changings over the years. So besides maybe looking at it, I think it’s recommended every three to five years. You can, if you have any life changes, then you will look at it definitely before then to ensure that your loved ones are taken care of just in case anything happens before your time.
Yeah, this is some good tips that I think will be very helpful for those who are listening. So you work with attorneys, executors and other professionals to resolve complex type of issues as we alluded to, alluded to earlier. How do those partnerships enhance your mission and what role do they play in achieving your broader vision?
Well, working with individuals that are already in that space, it makes it a lot easier than working with individuals who are not familiar with that space because a lot of people have not had that chance of dealing with someone who is grieving, who has remorse. Right. And there’s just certain words that you just don’t say when a person is going through that stage of their life. Right. Some people have never lost anyone, so they don’t know the proper things to say to individuals and they will add actually fuel to the fire. So when you’re working with professionals that are in the same space as you, it makes the process a little bit smoother and everyone understands the polarities of life right in that space. So we can all be some type of culture counselors to these individuals to get them to, as I call it, to the finish line, which is to the signing and handling whatever is needed to transfer the deeds over if they again needs to sell due to debt. Right.
That’s something else that is misconceived also is debt. So you think debt is just about. The debt to income ratio is about purchasing a home, but it also affects you on the back end because if your estate has too much debt, then it may cause your family to have to consider selling your property as well. So you want to keep your debt low all the way around from the time of purchase to the time you pass away.
Yeah. Awesome. Now most of what we’ve been talking about is related to your company, Black Wall Street Title llc. So I want to shift a little bit now to talk about your the nonprofit advocacy arm of your business, which is the Embracing Life Development Inc. You focus on disrupting generational poverty through that company. Could you share a success story or an impactful moment that reflects the work you’re doing through this nonprofit?
Yes. So Embracing Life Development Inc. Is in remembrance to my mom. She gave me the power to stand on her word and protect her kingdom that she worked so hard to build. So I want to share that with the world. Housing. Housing is so important. It’s more than just a roof over your head or a better school.
It is your gateway to generational wealth. And how it builds wealth is every time you pay down your mortgage, your house secretly gains money. Right. So. And it’s called home equity. That home equity is what is used to build generational wealth. But when you don’t have an estate plan, then you risk your family losing that equity to what they may call equity thieves. Right.
People that look for family members that are in disarray do not have an estate plan. And then they approach them, they look at their family dynamics and they say, well, you know what? This house is worth this amount. But we’re only going to pay them this amount because they’re the ones that now have to go through the process that the family would have to go through. Right. To get the deed into their name. And so they’re just paying the family based off their temporary circumstance. So I always tell families, listen, if someone is approaching you about your loved one’s home, regardless if it’s heirship and it’s not deeded properly and they have an amount of money to offer you, you need to take a step back and you need to want to see what they see.
Yes.
Right. Because if they’re offering you that, just imagine how much money that could potentially be. Because investors look at future, right?
Yes.
And homeowners, we only look at the here and now. So you have to shift your thinking like your opponent. Right. You’re now playing checkers. You’re no longer paying checkers, you’re paying chess. So now if you get this offer, you’re like, well, wait a minute, how do you know to offer me this amount of money from my house? Well, just know they did their homework. So that means you need to do your due diligence as well. Right?
Yeah. Yes. Well, what would you say is your long term or ultimate vision for both of your companies? And how do you hope to measure the impact of your work in maybe the years to come?
So both of my companies, I want them to stand the test of time embracing life. I want it to continue to help families to transform their home into generational wealth. And that’s by helping them get the deeds in their name, helping them through the probate process. Partnerships will help us with achieving that, as well as sponsorships and even endowments from institutions. Because without homes, the underserved communities may not have any other opportunity to generate wealth. And we need to Educate them on that. And that’s what the nonprofit does as well. It educates them on the importance of estate planning, or if you no longer want to keep the house, you know, we give you options that you can consider because this is a different mind space.
Right. Most people, they just think of purchasing a home, but a home is more than that. You know, it’s a wealth multiplier and it’s. It’s a safe haven and it’s for generations to come. So I speak with families that said, well, thank you so much for, you know, for meeting with us and enlightening us on what we need to do. They didn’t know what they need to do because you have the older population, the 40s, 50s and 60s, where it’s becoming the changing of the guard. Right. And they were not accustomed to estate planning being with attorneys, things of that nature.
So although we have had the opportunity to purchase land since the emancipation back in the 1900s, but we did not always have access to estate planning services or attorneys or attorneys that were. That were kind. Right. And that did things for the right reasons. So that was another barrier for the bipoc community that I serve. So I want them to know that estate planning is not taboo. It’s been around for over 4,500 years. It is a requirement in life that when we’re born into life, we’re born into risk.
And you protect what you love. You name what you love. Right. So you named your kids. You know, you put up with a lot of things on your job to gain the keys to the kingdom, but you’re not finished. You still have the back end of things to do, which is the estate planning. It’s not taboo. It’s just a part of life.
Yes. And I am going to. For the YouTube, those of you who are listening on YouTube, I am going to link a video I did a few weeks ago about some of the things to do, to plan, you know, for, for example, considering your will, power of attorney, those kinds of things for if someone were to get incapacitated or what are some things you need to have in place to ensure their voice is heard, even if they can’t speak physically and if they were to pass away in death, what are some things you want to have in place? Like Stephanie said, to make sure the asset transfers, make sure the value that you built your whole life for that. It doesn’t just disappear, it is preserved.
Yeah, yeah, it will. And have that conversation now. It’s okay to talk about it. That’s one thing that The BIPOC community. I noticed that they don’t do. They don’t talk about it. And we have to talk. We keep things secret, but secret is dangerous.
Yes, secret is dangerous. I tell you, and I’m not telling you because, oh, it’s my profession. I’m telling you as your neighbor, as your friend, as your cousin, I am human. I have been through some things. I have seen some things. And I am all about preserving. Right. Being proactive and just having that conversation.
Because once you understand that’s half the battle right there. You don’t have to like anything the Bible just says. Just gain an understanding of it. Right. So have that conversation. That will open up the. The normalcy of this. Of this issue that is plaguing our community, and it’s costing us a lot.
Because there’s statistics out there that says by 2053, African Americans wealth may dwindle to zero. And I can definitely see that, because although we have a $1.8 trillion spending power, we only hold 4.7% of the wealth.
Yes.
And that’s due to lack of protection. Asset protection.
Yeah, I’ve seen those studies, too, and it’s a little bit alarming. And what Stephanie and I are doing and what I do throughout my podcast and having people come on is to that that prediction does not come to pass that we are not in 2053, ending up with zero net worth. We’re not doing that. Okay. Not on my watch.
Not on my watch either.
And as Stephanie said, secrets are dangerous. Being secretive is dangerous. We need to be able to open up, because in the past, our parents would say, that’s none of your business. You don’t need to know my business. But now it’s a different. We’re in a different era. So we need to open up about what’s going on in our finances so that when we pass away, or if we were to have a stroke and we can’t talk, someone can come in and they can quickly pull the mat, the records, and they can continue the work without having to struggle to find the documents, without having to struggle to know what it is that we want. And these conversations, as I always say, they’re not sexy.
They’re not conversations that make us turn cartwheel, but they are conversations that create security for us and for our family members.
Absolutely. Because what happens to Dr. Sev is. I like to use this analogy, too. You work so hard, blood, sweat, and tears. And some people are actually putting in sweat equity into these homes. Right. And you pass away, and then it’s like you went and rented something from errands from some type of rental store.
Right. And they have to come back and get it because there’s no owner to the property. They won’t talk to you. Mortgage companies won’t talk to you, utility companies, none of that. So you literally bar your family from that wealth and the possibility of their home being taken away. So it is really that serious about having this conversation and putting your wishes in writing. And as Dr. Sev said, you know that incapacitation, it only takes for you to walk out your home, be in a car accident, and then you’re incapacitating.
Everyone is guessing, well, what did you know, Stephanie want at that moment in time when all someone has to do, like Dr. Sev says, is just pull this document and say, well, this is what she wanted. And then, you know, it just. It’s. It just makes things so much easier. And I can speak from experience on that as well. So, again, I’m talking to you not as a title agent, not as a business owner, but as a friend, as a neighbor, and just as a caring human that wants to see the best out of life for everyone.
Yes. Yeah, that is so true. And they’re going to always be vultures coming around. So we definitely need to make sure that we have things in order. And sometimes even when we have things in order, I’ve seen the news stories or people will try to go into title offices to change the names on deeds. So you want to set up some kind of alert system. Figure out what alert systems you can set up in your county, in your city, set up those alert systems so that if there were any changes on your title, it would alert you. It won’t stop it, but it will alert you so that.
That you can jump on it right away. Because what they’re doing is they’re changing the title, they’re taking out loans, and then those loans are left, and you have the burden of those loans. And I see people who are on fixed incomes who are kicked out of your home because somebody changed the title on their home. So you want to make sure that you are doing those things, those little things that will create protection around your property that you’ve worked so hard for.
Absolutely. And to piggyback off of that, too. So you can go to. I know here in Florida, you can go to your county, I believe it’s the county clerk’s office, they offer, where you can put an alert on the deed now, and you could put various names because someone may, you know, put the first name, last name, middle name, all of these different things. So you put variations of the names on there too. And although we’re speaking about deeds, but you have to also consider banking accounts. Right. So again, if only one person’s name is on that bank account, it’s frozen in time.
You can’t go and make any changes. So it’s good to have a payable upon death beneficiary on your bank accounts so they can continue to do business, pay for a funeral expense or anything like that without the money being frozen in the account. Because what you don’t want happen is that the money gets exceeded to the state.
Yes, yes. And you want to do the same thing with your 401k. And especially if you’ve had a change in relationship status, if you’re married to someone when you created your 401k account and that person is on your account and now you’re married to another person, you want to make sure the right person gets that that money so that your children can be taken care of. And that video that I’m going to attach to this talks about that and gives you some more detail. So, Stephanie, we talked quite a bit about both of your businesses. So let’s talk a little bit about the personal. As a mother of three, how do you balance the demands of running two purpose driven businesses with nurturing a family legacy of hope and prosperity?
Well, I, I bring them into it. I make them aware of what I’m doing. They may not. They’ll be like, oh, ma, you know, I don’t want to do that. But they can’t say they don’t know. So, yeah, they know what I’m doing. It makes it a little bit easier for them to tolerate between me, you know, being their mother and out here saving the world.
Yes, I love that. I actually have a podcast episode with me and my daughter talking about how the impact I’ve had on our finances and the decisions, decisions she’s made around our finances and how, because we have those regular talks, we don’t just have a meeting, but we have regular talks. Driving in the car, in the store, at the dinner table, we have those regular talks and the impact this has on her. And then of course, the decisions she’s made around that has been because of those conversations. So, yeah, we want to normalize having those kinds of conversations.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
All right. So I always like to wrap up by asking a fun question. And the fun question I want to ask you, Stephanie, is if you were to have dinner, dinner with a historical person, who would it be? And it could be somebody past or present, who would it be and why?
Wow. Let’s see. A historical person. I actually would like to sit down with Dr. Martin Luther King. He has been so inspirational, even into the things that I do right now. Very impactful in his speeches still to this day, still relevant. I can see things unfold that he spoke about back then.
So just to be able to have a meeting of the mind with him would be amazing.
Yes. Such a fount of wisdom. Yes, he has such a fount of wisdom. So, Stephanie, it has been my pleasure to have you on the Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast. I would love for you to share where people can follow you. What is the most, maybe the one that you are most present at. Where can they follow you? And then of course, we’ll share all the other ones in the show notes on the podcast platforms and in YouTube.
Yep. So you can follow me on LinkedIn. You can find me at Stephanie Hopkins, Heirship Title Agent. You can also follow me on Facebook. You can also find me on StephanieHopkins.com and embracinglifedevelopmentinc.com.org I’m sorry, embracinglifedevelopmentinc.org.
All right, thank you so much, Stephanie. I am sure that listeners will get some value from this conversation that we’ve had. So everyone, thank you so much for listening and for watching on YouTube. And with that, I want to say don’t forget that you are worthy of financial stability and prosperity. So until next time, this is Dr. Sev saying see you later.
Thank you for tuning in to the Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast. Catch up on previous episodes at SevTalksMoney.com or on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, remember, you are worthy of financial stability and prosperity.
