Adding Partner To Home Title
REM #F719
By Ilyce R. Glink
Summary: A reader would like to add her partner to the title of her home. Ilyce provides tips for gay/lesbian couples who would like to own homes together.
Q: I want to add my partner to the title of my home. What are the legal consequences
of this and what forms do I need to fill out? Thank you for your time.
A: You can simply do a quit claim deed, but that will only accomplish part
of your goal. What you want to do is protect each other in a way that would
mimic the protections you would get if you were a heterosexual couple. One way
to do this is with a web of trusts. You'd put the property into a trust and
she would be the beneficiary on the trust.
There are also tax considerations to think about. Putting your partner on title
to the house is like giving her a gift of half the value of the property. While
you can give anyone up to $12,000 per year tax-free, if your property is worth
more, you'll have to fill out a gift tax return with the IRS and it will start
to eat into your $1 million lifetime gift exemption.
I've written about this topic on my website. You might also want to check out
a book by Sheryl Garrett (www.garrettplanningnetwork.com).
She is a certified financial planner (CFP) who has written extensively about
this topic.
Good luck. And, thanks for visiting ThinkGlink.com.
NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher.
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