trusts
Keeping Property Or Assets When You Owe Money To IRS
If you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service and you want to buy property can you get a family member to be the buyer using your money? And can that family member later give you the property via a quit claim deed? Trying to get around paying back the IRS or protecting assets from the IRS can be a messy business – it can result in you being charged with a crime. If a family member wants to transfer a property to you upon his or her death (and you didn’t contribute to the purchase), a trust may be the way to go.
Estate Planning In Second Marriage
When a married couple each has their own children, estate planning must be specific to ensure the couple’s assets are left to all the children as desired. Putting a home in a trust with the children as beneficiaries will leave it to them all equally. A life estate as part of the trust will give the other spouse right to survivorship.
Estate Planning With Minor Children
It’s not a good idea to put real property or assets into a minor’s or child’s name while you’re still alive. Turning assets over to your children also turns over control of those assets while you’re still alive. Taxes may also be incurred by the children if they don’t inherit the property.
Can Reverse Mortgage Be Used To Finance Home Repairs?
A reverse mortgage can only be used on a home that is the primary residence of the homeowners, and could not be used to finance repairs for a family’s vacation home. A home equity loan would be the more logical way to pay for home repairs, even for a home held in a trust. As long as the value of the home is assured and the loan is secured by the property, the home equity loan would be repaid every month like any other loan.
Does Capital Gains Exclusion Apply To Trusts?
A homeowner wants to put his investment property into a trust to avoid capital gains taxes. To avoid capital gains taxes, you have to live in the for-sale property for two out of the past five years. A smarter way for this homeowner to avoid capital gains would be to use a 1031 exchange.
Can Nursing Home Take Assets From Trust?
If a relative’s assets are held in trust and they’re in a nursing home, could the nursing home take those assets? It depends on what kind of trust it is and when it was set up. Talking to an attorney can help to determine if a home is at risk.
Avoid Probate With Transfer On Death (TOD) Deed
A Florida homeowner asks how to avoid probate for her estate. She wants to leave her condo to her son but does not want him to pay probate costs. Can she set up a transfer on death deed so that her son avoids probate? Probate laws vary by state and so she should consult an estate attorney to better understand Florida probate laws.
Back Taxes Overpaid From Incorrect Assessment
The county assessor’s office incorrectly classified a single-family home as a three-family building. With the mistake corrected, the homeowner wants to know if she can receive a refund for the overpayment of back taxes.
Living Trust Assists With Home Inheritance
An elderly father no longer wants to care for his vacation home. His daughters, who are in line to inherit the vacation home, worry about the vacation home’s cost basis if he transfers the vacation home to them prior to his death. The vacation home could be transferred to a living trust which could transfer the vacation home’s ownership to the daughters upon the man’s death.
Reverse Mortgages And Home Equity Loans
A homeowner can only get a reverse mortgage if the house is the owner’s primary residence, but a home equity loan can be obtained even if the home is not the primary residence. Also, a home equity loan is available to a home owner of any age, where the homeowner must be at least 62 to qualify for a reverse mortgage.
