By Tom Lauricella 

It's time to hear from you. In the past six months, this column has covered everything from reverse mortgages to essential estate-planning documents. We've also heard a lot from readers. Here, we follow up on some of that mail.

Downsizing homes. In January, we looked at the benefit of downsizing to a smaller home sooner rather than later in retirement. That can boost savings and lower expenses. But several readers noted a pitfall: property taxes.

Among them was a 92-year-old man from Mission Viejo, Calif.: "I have been in my home for 41 years and pay property tax" under the terms of California's Proposition 13 limits. If I sold it now and had to pay today's prices for a smaller place the property tax would be what? Five [or] 10 times what I pay now?"

This is a problem in California, where the state's Proposition 13 limits property taxes to 1% of the purchase price and caps the growth rate at an annual 2% of assessed value, notes Sandra Conners, a financial planner at Hokanson Associates in Solana Beach, Calif.

Ms. Conners points to clients who bought their home 25 years ago for $200,000. Today the house is worth $1.2 million, and the owners are paying annual property taxes of $4,250. They are considering buying a home worth 25% less than their current house, but would face property taxes of more than $8,000 a year. "Even though they are downsizing, their property-tax expense almost doubles," she says.

Reverse mortgages. In March, we looked at how tighter rules for obtaining reverse mortgages may make them a better retirement planning tool. With a reverse mortgage, a homeowner borrows money against the equity in his or her home.

A retired couple from Del Mar, Calif., asks if the interest on the loan from a reverse mortgage is tax deductible. They noted their statements show an "interest" charge.

The answer is no, says David Garcia, a senior financial planner at Evensky & Katz, in Coral Gables, Fla. "When you die, the lender gets the loan amount plus interest from the equity in the home," he explains. "But you never make a payment on the loan. If no interest is being paid, there cannot be a tax deduction."

Retirement documents. We wrote in April about four estate-planning documents that are must-haves. First on the list was a will. One reader wrote to ask, "I had a will made in Texas but now live in Colorado and will remain here. Does it matter if the will was made in one state but executed in another state?"

Bernard Krooks, an elder-law attorney in New York City, says it's worth having a will reviewed after moving to a new state. But "generally speaking, the will should be admitted and valid so long as it was executed in the laws of the [original] state," he says. "If he did it right in Texas, it should be good in Colorado."

Susan Pacheco, from Carlsbad, Calif., suggested the column on must-have documents should have mentioned revocable trusts, generally used to pass money or property to an heir without getting tied up in probate court.

Alan Winters, a New York City estate-planning attorney, says that for most simple situations, a will should do the trick. But for those anxious about probate court, which entails a financial cost and disclosure of certain information, a revocable trust is a workable alternative, he says.

The complication, he says, is that for a revocable trust to work, assets such as a home, car or accounts must be retitled in the name of the trust. "If you forget something...your heirs end up going through probate anyway."

He adds that a revocable trust can be helpful where elderly parents can't manage their own finances. While a power of attorney is usually employed in those situations, a revocable trust can offer a less cumbersome way for a child or trustee to handle the finances, he says.

A reader from Cary, Ill., wrote that we should have mentioned the importance of naming a beneficiary on investment accounts. He's right.

"Especially on an [individual retirement account] and a 401(k), if you don't designate a beneficiary, that can tie up your heirs in court for quite a long time" says Mr. Garcia in Florida.

A number of firms, such as Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group, offer "transfer on death" registration for non-retirement investment accounts, Mr. Garcia adds. That enables non-retirement assets to pass to heirs outside of probate.