Hi, I’m Christopher Lavin. I’m an attorney with the Lavin Law Group here in Lebanon, Ohio. And a big part of elder law is crisis planning or long term care planning. So we get a lot of questions in that regards.
Now, one of the main portions of our state is the real estate. And when we get a little older families coming come they together a little more than ever before. And sometimes I’ll review a deed and I see both names on the deed. And I have to ask, what was the purpose of that? Was it that you purchased it together?
Were you trying to do some probate avoidance? Was it a long term care plan? And based on that answer, I can make the next recommendation. One thing I have to do is I have to be concerned about both names. And I did for for a few reasons. One, it’s a liability issue. If one of the persons on the deed has an accident get sued, the other person’s interest can be at risk.
Another issues can be tax consequences. Simply adding a name to a deed is not a cure all. Because now the IRS may say, you over gifted and we may cause unnecessary capital gains and it’s not always a long term care solution. Simply adding your name to a deed is not always enough. A lot of folks will say, Well, isn’t it half mine, half my mother’s, It can be.
But a good caseworker is going to ask for contribution. What did that child put into that house? And that’s what we’ll give them back so it can cloud title. And I’m not saying it can cloud title. We have to look at that. I know our goals can be to preserve a portion of this estate that can be cleaner ways to do it through trust planning especially.
So please, if you’re going to add a name to the deed, go through all the pros and cons with your advisors before it, before you do so.