Entitlement gone wild

I continue to find it amazing how children believe that they are entitled to their parents’ largess.

A blatant display of this opinion was recently published in the “letters to the editor” section of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on June 26, 2008, at A4, where the writer stated:
   

Until recently Texas was one of a few states that did not recognize reverse mortgages.  I am disappointed to learn that the ruling has been changed and now the state does recognize them.  The door is open for borrowers to borrow their heirs’ inheritance by using it as collateral for loans.  Since a homestead probably represents the largest single inherited asset, the heirs formerly could look forward to an unencumbered asset.  However, that protection has been jeopardized by the new ruling.
   

The writer fails to understand that the former prohibition on reverse mortgages was to protect the homestead from being subject to foreclosure for failure to repay a home equity or related type of loan.  As the law in Texas now stands, the creditor cannot demand repayment until the debtor dies, moves, or sells the homestead.  See Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, Moving Forward with a Reverse Mortgage?  The policy was not to protect an heir who did absolutely nothing worthy of protection other than being accidentally born to someone who acquired a homestead.