Are you planning on leaving your home to your children after you pass away? Many people do, especially considering a home is often a person’s most substantial asset. If you know that you want your children to inherit your home, the next step is deciding on how you want to make sure this happens.
Ways to Make Sure Your Children Inherit Your Home
A will is probably the best known estate planning tool for asset distribution after a person dies. In a will, you can simply state that you wish for your children to inherit your home. Most often, a person transfers ownership interests in equal shares to his or her surviving children. The problem with using a will to transfer your home to your children is that wills go through probate, which many people look to avoid. The court supervised process of probate can be incredibly lengthy. Not only can this be frustrating, but it can also result in a long delay in your beneficiaries receiving their inheritances. Additionally, probate can be costly when you consider all of the court costs and legal fees that can be incurred along the way. Another reason why many seek to avoid probate is that probate proceedings become a matter of public record. This means that your assets and who you left them to becomes fair game for all to review.
Another option for making sure your children inherit your home after you pass away is to use a living trust. With a living trust you would establish the trust, name a trustee, and fund the trust with your home. To fund the trust with your home, you would transfer ownership of your home to the trust. The contents of your trust, if properly funded, will pass outside of probate proceedings. Instead, your home and any other assets you placed in the trust will pass to your beneficiaries according to the terms you set forth in the governing trust document.
Some also plan for transfer of property ownership by jointly holding property. When a piece of property is held in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, the ownership shares of an owner who passes away automatically transfer to the surviving owners. This arrangement is most commonly seen between spouses.
Some states allow for transfer on death deeds for real estate. With a transfer on death deed, the ownership interests of the property owner automatically pass to the beneficiary listed on the transfer on death deed. No need for probate. While such an arrangement may be available as a means to transfer your home to your children, it is not available in North Carolina or South Carolina. Both states do not allow real estate to be transferred via a transfer on death deed.
Estate Planning Attorney
There are many more estate planning tools and techniques available than most people are aware of. Talk to the trusted estate planning team at Monk Law about your options in creating a strong estate plan that meets your specific goals and interests. Contact Monk Law today.