Aaron Charles Gregg

Can I Add Children’s Names to my House Deed?

“It’s true that if your child is on your deed as a joint tenant on your home, your home will not have to go through probate if your child survives you. At your death, your surviving child would immediately become the sole owner of your home without probate and with minimal transfer costs.”

There are many ways that this simple strategy can go very wrong, very quickly. If one of the joint owners is sued, or files for bankruptcy, the home is vulnerable, reports a recent article titled “Naming a child on your deed to avoid probate? Here’s why you may want to reconsider” from St George News.

That’s just the beginning.

As any estate planning attorney will tell you, things change when significant assets are involved. Your son or his new wife may decide they don’t want you to rent, sell or refinance your home. They have the power as co-owners to stop you from doing anything with the house. All they have to do is refuse to sign the paperwork.

If one child is on the deed and you and your spouse both die, the one child owns the house outright. If there are other siblings, no matter what your will says, the siblings have no legal right of ownership. Your other children will need to go to court and will likely not win.

If all of your children are named as joint tenants with you and your spouse on a deed, only the surviving children will own the home after the death of the surviving spouse. If one of your children predeceases, then the share belonging to any such sibling will disappear, and their children (your grandchildren) won’t receive anything.

Naming multiple children as joint owners on a deed also opens you up to more exposure. Even if your children are model citizens, things happen, including divorces, auto accidents, bankruptcies and other unexpected events. Business owners who run into problems can spell disaster for a family-owned asset of any kind. The more siblings with ownership interests in the home, the more risk.

It gets even more complicated if you and a joint tenant child die in a common accident. Determining who died first will determine who is entitled to the home. If you live longer than your child, even by a few minutes, your estate may then own the home.

As is often the case, when people decide they have found a simple solution, complex problems follow. The lawsuits resulting from the situations described above are common, expensive and can cause families to break apart. Your estate planning attorney can explain how an estate plan, with proper ownership, possibly a trust and other legal strategies, will achieve the desired goals without putting the estate and the family’s relationships at risk.

Reference: St George News (Jan. 30, 2022) “Naming a child on your deed to avoid probate? Here’s why you may want to reconsider”

an I Set Up a Trust for an Adult Child?

“Creating a will is important for all adults, but particularly those who have dependents—including adult dependents. Adding a trust to your estate plan can provide even more guidance.”

If you are the parent or guardian of an adult who depends upon you financially, estate planning is critical. When you can’t care for your child, an estate plan which includes funding and guidance protects your dependent and ensures that they will receive the care they need, reports Parents in the article “Wills and Trusts for Adult Dependents.”

First, you need a will. This fundamental estate planning document lets you be very specific about what you want to happen after your death. It also nominates guardians for minor and adult children and pets. Wills can be used to manage decisions that apply to everyone. If there is no will, the laws of your state and a court make all of the decisions, not you.

If you have dependents, the will lets you choose who you want to serve as a guardian for your children. If you are already the legal guardian of a dependent adult, the will can be used to name the person to take over for you. Choose guardians who are up to the responsibilities that come with caring for a dependent adult.

The will is used to manage assets after your death. However, in the case of a dependent adult, you may also need a Special Needs Trust. If you pass assets directly to a dependent adult and they are receiving certain government benefits, the inheritance may make them ineligible for benefits and services.

A Special Needs Trust allows you to earmark a certain amount of money for their care. An estate planning elder lawyer will be familiar with this type of trust and help you create it.

If your dependent adult does not receive any means-tested benefits but is not able to manage an inheritance, then a trust can be used to hold assets to be controlled by a trustee, who might also be a guardian or caretaker.

A will and trusts are central to a well-prepared estate plan. Working with an estate planning attorney will give you the opportunity to consider how you want to distribute assets while you are living and after you have died. It also gives you the opportunity to name a personal representative, or executor, who will manage your estate after your death and be in charge of making sure that your wishes, as expressed in your will, are followed.

Trusts are more complex than wills and allow for a greater degree of control over assets. The trust is a legal entity to benefit others, and a trustee is the person named to be in charge of the trust.

Bear in mind that anything passed through a will has to go through a court process known as probate. The will has to be validated and the executor has to be approved by the court. Any assets in the trust are already outside of your estate and do not go through probate.

Reference: Parents (July 7, 2021) “Wills and Trusts for Adult Dependents.”

Aging Parents and Blended Families Create Estate Planning Challenges

“We have seen some step siblings able to all get along fine but they seem to be the exception. More likely, one sibling feels divided loyalty to the birth parent, not the step-parent.”

Law school teaches about estate planning and inheritance, but experience teaches about family dynamics, especially when it comes to blended families with aging parents and step siblings. Not recognizing the realities of stepsibling relationships can put an estate plan at risk, advises the article “Could Your Aging Parents’ Estate Plan Create A Nightmare For Step-Siblings?” from Forbes. The estate plan has to be designed with realistic family dynamics in mind.

Trouble often begins when one parent loses the ability to make decisions. That’s when trusts are reviewed for language addressing what should happen, if one of the trustees becomes incapacitated. This also occurs in powers of attorney, health care directives and wills. If the elderly person has been married more than once and there are step siblings, it’s important to have candid discussions. Putting all of the adult children into the mix because the parents want them to have equal involvement could be a recipe for disaster.

Here's an example: a father develops dementia at age 86 and can no longer care for himself. His younger wife has become abusive and neglectful, so much so that she has to be removed from the home. The father has two children from a prior marriage and the wife has one from a first marriage. The step siblings have only met a few times, and do not know each other. The father’s trust listed all three children as successors, and the same for the healthcare directive. When the wife is removed from the home, the battle begins.

The same thing can occur with a nuclear family but is more likely to occur with blended families. Here are some steps adult children can take to protect the whole family:

While parents are still competent, ask who they would want to take over, if they became disabled and cannot manage their finances. If it’s multiple children and they don’t get along, address the issue and create the necessary documents with an estate planning attorney.

Plan for the possibility that one or both parents may lose the ability to make decisions about money and health in the future.

If possible, review all the legal documents, so you have a complete understanding of what is going to happen in the case of incapacity or death. What are the directions in the trust, and who are the successor trustees? Who will have to take on these tasks, and how will they be accomplished?

If there are any questions, a family meeting with the estate planning attorney is in order. Most experienced estate planning attorneys have seen just about every situation you can imagine and many that you can’t. They should be able to give your family guidance, even connecting you with a social worker who has experience in blended families, if the problems seem unresolvable.

Reference: Forbes (June 28, 2021) “Could Your Aging Parents’ Estate Plan Create A Nightmare For Step-Siblings?”

Estate Planning Matters for Singles

“If you don’t have a spouse and children, you might not think you need to do any estate planning—but that’s not the case.”

If you’re not married and you have relatives or friends to whom you would like to pass certain assets, then you need an estate plan, says the article “Estate planning important even if you’re not married” from Rocky Mountain Telegram.

If you die without a last will and testament or other estate planning documents in place, a probate court will make the decisions about how to distribute assets according to the laws of your state. That may not be what you wanted, but it will be too bad—and too late.

If you want to leave assets to family members or close friends, you’ll need to plan for this with a last will and testament. The same goes for any donations you may wish to leave to one or more charitable organizations. You could just name organizations in your will, but there are many different ways to give to charity and some have tax benefits for you and your heirs.

One way to leave assets to charity is a Charitable Remainder Trust. Your estate planning attorney will help guide you through the steps. Appreciated assets, like stocks, mutual funds, or other investment securities, are transferred into an irrevocable trust. You get to name the trustee—you could be the trustee, if you prefer—and then you can sell the assets at full market value, avoiding any capital gains taxes that you’d pay if you sold them as an individual.

If you itemize your income taxes, you might be able to claim a charitable deduction on taxes. With the proceeds, the trust can purchase income-producing assets and provide an income stream for the rest of your life. When you die, the assets remaining in the trust will go to the charity or charities that you have named.

Family members and charities aren’t the only ones to consider in an estate plan for a single person. You need to prepare to protect yourself. With the absence of an immediate family, being protective of your financial and health care decisions requires a durable power of attorney and a health care proxy, among other documents.

The durable power of attorney authorizes a person of your choice to manage finances, if you were to become incapacitated. This is especially important when there is no spouse to take on this role. Your health care proxy, also known as a medical power of attorney, authorizes someone you name to make health care decisions on your behalf, if you are unable.

Estate planning can be complex. An experienced estate planning attorney will be an invaluable resource as you go through the process. Who will be the best candidate to select as your power of attorney? What other documents do you need to ensure that your assets go to the people or charities you want? Once this is done, you’ll be prepared for the future—and protected.

Reference: Rocky Mountain Telegram (June 6, 2021) “Estate planning important even if you’re not married”

How to Protect Child’s Public Benefits

“If you have a child or other family member who has special needs due to physical or mental conditions, you face a variety of challenges planning for their care, including financial ones.”

Well-meaning relatives may not understand that putting a family member with special needs in their will could put your family member’s lifestyle and future at risk, says the article “Protect benefits for children with special needs from Hoosier Times. Planning ahead is your best defense.

Individuals with special needs are eligible for a variety of government benefits and local programs that help with housing, medical needs, specialized equipment, independent living, job training and a variety of other services. Most of these programs are means-tested, that is, they require participants to qualify for benefits. If your loved one has no income and few assets, that’s not a problem.

However, when relatives, especially grandparents, include individuals with special needs in their estate plans or make them beneficiaries of insurance policies or retirement plans, they could put all of these benefits at risk.

Hopefully, relatives will keep you informed of their plans. You’ll need to be appreciative but firm and explain just how badly their generosity could backfire, if their gifts are not structured properly.

There is a way to leave bequests or make gifts to individuals with special needs that will not put their benefits at risk: a Special Needs Trust (SNT), either one that has been created already or one created for their gift. A SNT is designed to help people with special needs use financial gifts for different purposes, while maintaining their eligibility for services.

There are two types of SNTs:

First-party SNT—An individual with Special Needs, their legal guardian, or the court may establish a first party SNT funded by the individual’s own assets, either through earnings or an inheritance or a personal injury award. The first party SNT includes a “payback” rule: the trust must pay back the state for certain benefits, when the individual with special needs dies.

Third-party SNT—A relative other than the individual wishes to include them in an estate plan, so the relative or other person sets up a third-party SNT. The third-party trust is funded with assets from the relative or other person and no payback provision is required.

There are many issues involved in establishing an SNT, so the best person to set one up is an elder law estate planning attorney. You’ll also want to involve anyone in the family who might contribute to the trust, so they know what to expect and how they can participate, if they wish to do so.

Reference: Hoosier Times (March 4, 2021) “Protect benefits for children with special needs

How Do I Talk to the Children about My Estate Planning?

“Many baby boomers may hesitate to discuss money with their children, but the reality is that a massive amount of wealth will be transferred in the next couple of decades.”

Some $68 trillion will move between generations in the next two decades, reports U.S. News & World Report in the article “Discuss Your Estate Plan With Your Children.” Having this conversation with your adult children, especially if they are members of Generation X, could have a profound impact on the quality of your relationship and your legacy.

Staying on top of your estate plan and having candid discussions with your children will also have an impact on how much of your estate is consumed by estate taxes. The historically high federal exemptions are not going to last forever—even without any federal legislation, they sunset in 2025, which isn’t far away.

One of the purposes of your estate plan is to transfer money as you wish. What most people do is talk with an estate planning attorney to create an estate plan. They create trusts, naming their child as the trustee, or simple wills naming their child as the executor. Then, the parents drop the ball.

Talk with your children about the role of trustee and/or executor. Help them understand the responsibilities that these roles require and ask if they will be comfortable handling the decision making, as well as the money. Include the Power of Attorney role in your discussion.

What most parents refuse to discuss with their children is money, plain and simple. Children will be better equipped, if they know what financial institutions hold your accounts and are introduced to your estate planning attorney, CPA and financial advisor.

You might at some point forget about some investments, or the location of some accounts as you age. If your children have a working understanding of your finances, estate plan and your wishes, they will be able to get going and you will have spared them an estate scavenger hunt.

If possible, hold a family meeting with your advisors, so everyone is comfortable and up to speed.

Most adult children do not have the same experience with taxes as parents who have acquired wealth over their lifetimes. They may not understand the concepts of qualified and non-qualified accounts, step-up in cost basis, life insurance proceeds, or a probate asset versus a non-probate asset. It is critical that they understand how taxes impact estates and investments. By explaining things like tax-free distributions from a Roth IRA, for instance, you will increase the likelihood that your life savings aren’t battered by taxes.

Even if your adult children work in finance, do not assume they understand your investments, your tax-planning, or your estate. Even the smartest people make expensive mistakes, when handling family estates.

Having these discussions is another way to show your children that you care enough to set your own ego aside and are thinking about their future. It’s a way to connect not just about your money or your taxes, but about their futures. Knowing that you purchased a life insurance policy specifically to provide them with money for a home purchase, or to fund a grandchild’s college education, sends a clear message. Don’t miss the opportunity to share that with them, while you are living.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report (Feb. 17, 2021) “Discuss Your Estate Plan With Your Children”