Should you give your home to your children now?
As with many legal questions, the answer is an annoying “sometimes you should, and sometimes you should not—-it depends on the individual family circumstances.” Here are some of the considerations:
- If one spouse is in a nursing home, but the other spouse remains at home, the family home is an excluded asset any way.
- If one child has lived with you for at least the past two years, giving the home to that particular child may have no negative Medicaid consequences, but giving it to all children may have negative Medicaid consequences.
- What is the likelihood that one or more of the children who own your home will experience financial difficulty?
- What is the likelihood that one or more of the children who own your home will experience marital problems?
- If your home is sold by your children before your death, there almost certainly will be state and federal capital gains taxes that could have been avoided if you had not given the home to the children.
We would be pleased to meet with you to review your individual family circumstances and determine whether giving the home to your children, now, makes sense for you.