House titles, living trusts questions?

We have a meeting this week with my mothers laywer to figure out if we should take my deceiced fathers name off the house title.

Does anyone have any experiance with what to do or not to do here? I’m VERY unsure of the options, what to avoid or what the best way to go is.

I’ll likely be gone for the rest of the day…

You may want to Private Message me with this info, but I’m sure there’s others in the same boat as me and sharing is a good thing.

Thanks all!

Is your mom moving or selling? If not, I dont know if I would worry about it. If it was a joint asset, then it automatically goes to her.

You will need to provide a death certificate before completing any transaction regarding the home. But, there is no reason to do this now that I can think of.

I believe that there are fees to change a title, but I dont recall what they are.

I used to be the head of operations for a trust dept. I am by no means an expert, but if you have questions, dont hestitate to ask.

Briank;

Gary would most likely know the answer to this, but She may need to file a Quit claim. I think that is what it is called, but like I said Gary or someone else may know for sure.

Brian all you should have to do is supply a death certificate to a title company and they can issue a new title commitment with just your mother in fee simple!!! if that makes any sense to you!! PM me if you have any further questions!!!

Cal nailed it on the head.

Also, I strongly advise getting this done and wrapped up. The earlier the better, with no reason at to procrastinate. Waiting may only create challenges down the road and I recommend not dragging out the aftermath of dealing with a family loss any longer.

Brian;
If the family needs any assistance, I can work with our title company to help you out with this.

Shoot me a PM if needed.

Estate Planning is very Important.

The house “assets” should be put into you or a trusting family members name, with a wriiten agreement that she can live there as long as she wants.

No need in giving the goverment or nursing home if need be the assets that she and your dad worked so hard for.

Good Luck.

Thanks all…

Anyone have experiance with this?

Quote:

---

Estate Planning is very Important.

The house “assets” should be put into you or a trusting family members name, with a wriiten agreement that she can live there as long as she wants.

---

Brian,
I just sent you a PM. Let me know if you have any questions.

My dad is 89 and about five years ago we retitled the home in Winona to me so if he had to go in a nursing home our family would not lose their home. I live in Wisconsin but what we did was based on Minnesota laws.

Regarding assets there are many other issues involved but feel free to give me a cal at 262-242-9050 and E Mail me at [email protected]. Frankly, a decent attorney should have been abke to resolve this issue for you, but as you know I am an opionated sort.

Brain, this guy is right on and this is a very simple transaction. Your mom can live there as long as she wants, taxes stay the same, and God willing your family will not lose the home.

For more legal specfics send me an E Mail at [email protected]. I am a bit intense about this issue because a few of our neighbor hood residents have lost their homes to pay for nursing home care and those assets could have been protected for the family.

The 5 years is important, because that is the look back period. If the home has not been in the trust for 5 years, they can still go after the value of the home to pay for health care expenses.

With the situation I’m currently in we were told the lookback period is 3 years?

Where’d you get the 5 year number?

I know the government wants to raise it.

Tim, back when I dealt with this stuff, 6 years ago, the look back period was 5 years. If it is 3, that is a change.

Great thread and good advice for everyone

We were given that time frame by our attorney’s. If I remember right they said Federal law is 3 years and that that trumps the state statutes of 5 years???

Hope to not have to find out but…………………..

Hopefully I’m not getting too “IN-DEPTH” here…but does someone have the time to explain what exactly a living trust is?

I understand that (basicly) the house would be move into my sister and my names and Mom would be “using” the house…just as she is now..
Would that living trust include other assets too?

We’ll be seeing a lawyer,but I really want to know more about this before walking in and listening to one guy.

Thanks again ALL!

All a living trust means is that the person is still alive. Essentially, all a trust does is set up another entity, almost like incorporating a private business. You can put any asset in the trust.

The benefits of a trust is that the assets in the trust get different treatment than private property. They trust document dicates what happens to the assets in the trust upon the death. If someone dies without a trust, probate law (if no will is in place) determine what happens to someones property at death.

Also, dont get worried about probate, it isnt a big deal. I always here people saying how someone lost everything in probabte, that only happens if the children fight over the assets and drag things into the courts and get lawyers involved.