Old paint cans may cause buckets of legal problems

Most cities and counties can now levy heavy fines on homeowners who don't dispose of a half-used paint can properly.

Q. I have several half-empty cans of paint in my garage that I want to get rid of. Can I just dump them in the trash can, or is the paint considered "hazardous waste" that requires special handling?

A. Most cities and counties now consider paint as hazardous material, so they've developed special rules for safe disposal. Contact your local sanitation department, private trash-removal company or even the fire department for details.

Several communities also offer regular paint-disposal or even paint-recycling programs that will collect your unwanted cans at little or no cost. Officials at your city hall can tell you if there's such a program in your area.

Home-improvement giant Lowe's also operates a nifty website (www.lowes.com) that can help you quickly locate a nearby recycling center for various types of potentially dangerous household items, from paints and pesticides to fertilizers and fluorescent light bulbs.

Instead of dumping or recycling your old paint, though, you might want to first call your local community center, places of worship or other nonprofits to see if they could use the material. There's a good chance at least one of them is planning some type of renovation project on a tight budget, so the donation could be welcomed.

Q. I am an 11-year veteran of the Navy, but plan to leave next year. Could I use my benefits to get a VA loan to purchase a house in Puerto Rico, where my parents live, or does the VA only guarantee loans for homes in the United States?

A. First, thank you for your service to our country. And second, you'll be able to use your well-deserved benefits of a no-down-payment mortgage backed by the Veterans Affairs to buy a house in Puerto Rico, just as easily as you could buy one in Pennsylvania or Florida.

Obviously, the VA allows its eligible current service personnel and vets to purchase a home in any of the 50 states of the U.S. But those rights also extend to you and others who want to buy a house in American territories or possessions. Those include Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and even the Northern Mariana Island of Saipan.

You can get more information about the VA's home-loan program by calling the agency at (800) 827-1000 or by visiting its website, www.va.gov.

Q. My bank keeps sending me letters and emails, urging me to sign up for an "automated payment program" that will let the bank withdraw the amount that's due on the 15th of each month directly from my checking account. I'm OK with that because my employer electronically sends my payroll check to the bank, but I'm worried that this new plan could mess up my credit score. Would it?

A. No, there's no reason to worry. Banks and credit bureaus alike don't care how you pay your bills. They only care that you that you pay them promptly.

Because credit bureaus don't keep track of how a mortgage or other bills are paid - in cash, check or from another source - agreeing to the automated-payment program won't lower or raise your credit score.

Q. If we form the type of living trust that you sometimes write about, so that our heirs won't have to deal with probate court after we die, would we need to file the trust document with a local court now in order for it to be valid after we pass away?

A. No. A living trust is legally considered a private document, so it doesn't have to be filed with a court or other government agency.

Most folks create an inexpensive living trust so their grown kids can quickly get their inheritance without suffering through the costly and time-consuming Probate process. An overlooked benefit, though, is that a living trust, unlike a will, doesn't have to be presented in court. That's important if, say, you don't want the general public to know what your net worth was when you died or how your assets were divided.

Real estate trivia: In the military, a "klick" - spelled with a "K," not a "C" - is shorthand for one kilometer. A kilometer equals .62 U.S. miles, so a friend or foe who is five klicks away is 3.1 miles from a soldier's location.

• For the booklet "Straight Talk About Living Trusts," send $4 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 4405, Culver City, CA 90231-4405. Net proceeds this month are donated to the Wounded Warriors Project to help our veterans and their families.

© 2014, Cowles Syndicate Inc.