Mom recently died and he wants me to "take care" of everything. I am trying to prevent waiting for the death certificate because like now all the accounts are frozen.
2007-05-13 15:09:31 · 2 answers · asked by angelhair 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
Find an estate planning attorney and have the attorney help you straighten your current situation out and structure things to avoid this from happening in the future.
2007-05-13 15:14:28 · answer #1 · answered by cwald888 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, huge mistake to have the house put into your name. When your mom died, if she owned half the house, the "basis" -- what it was worth, was increased to the current value. That means, if you sell the house, you wouldn't pay taxes on her half. Same with when your dad dies, IF he dies with it in his name. For example, let's make this simple. Let's say your dad owned the house alone. He bought it for $10,000, and now it's worth $500,000. If he dies and it then goes to you, the basis (cost) of it is considered to be $500,000, not $10,000. Therefore, if you then sold it for $500,000, you wouldn't pay taxes on it, because you sold it at the same value as when you got it, you didn't make any money on it. If, however, he gives it to you now, you would have to pay taxes on the value of $500,000 if you sold it when he died. Does that make sense? The best thing to do is get a lawyer and have a trust written, and put all his assets in the trust. Then, there's no probate when he dies, and you get everything immediately. Best yet, it's not public info, either, so no one needs to know how much you inherited.
2007-05-13 18:31:48 · answer #2 · answered by Katherine W 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋