Homes are one of the greatest and most expensive assets many people have. As a parent, you want your children to have your home after you die, but to ensure that your children are left with your home, there are some important steps that you must take.
Your children will only be left with your home if you have implemented one of these three options. Take some time to consider these options, talk to your family about them, and take the necessary pre-planning steps to ensure that your greatest asset remains in the family.
#1: Include Your Home in Your Will
In your will, you specify who your beneficiaries are that will inherit your assets after you pass away. By including your home in your will, during the probate process, the court will ensure that your home is transferred to your children since they are listed as your beneficiaries. But before this can happen, all of your debts must be paid off. If you have more than one child, each child will inherit an undivided interest and must decide together whether to keep the house or sell it.
#2: Have a Living Trust
Set up a living trust so that when you die, your assets are transferred to your children. A benefit of setting up a living trust rather than just including your home in your will is that it saves time. Your children will not have to go through probate and will avoid the expenses and delays that come with that process. The transfer of your home to your children will be a quick process with a living trust and will prevent them from spending excess money and time on the probate process. Once again, you must have paid all of your outstanding debts for this transfer to happen. You must also transfer your house to the living trust before you die; otherwise, the house will be forced to go through probate before being transferred to your children.
#3: Use Correct Wording in the Deed to Your Home
You can use either "Transfer on Death" or "Joint Tenant with Right of Survivorship" to ensure that your home is given to your children without having to wait through probate or spending money on setting up a trust. With "Transfer on Death," you own your home while you are alive, and you can do whatever you'd like with it, for example, get a reverse mortgage.
After you pass away, your home is immediately transferred to your children, who you listed as beneficiaries in the deed. With "Joint Tenant with Right of Survivorship," you and whoever else may be on the deed become co-owners of your home, so when you die, your home is automatically given to the co-owner.
If you have any further questions about how to ensure that your children are left with your home, give us a call – we can help you get things started.
For more information about the above article or other estate and trust tax services, contact Lesley L. Price, CPA by calling (334) 887-7022 or by leaving us a message below.
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