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My father recently died, and my sister is executor of his estate. An attorney is in charge of the probate and waiting for...
Read moreHow Do I Go About Putting My Parents' House in My Name?
- October 2nd, 2023
Q
My father died in July 2023 in assisted living care, leaving everything to my mother. She has dementia, and will never go back to their house to live. My father had long-term care insurance for both of them. The policy has been in place and paying the facility since April of this year, and per the policy, will pay for her until she passes.
As her power of attorney, and my father's executor, how do I go about putting the house in my name? I am an only child, and as stated, Medicaid will not be an issue. I don't like having the utilities, homeowners insurance, etc. remaining in their name. My husband and I plan to move there at some point.
A
Presumably, your parents owned the house as joint tenants, so the house is now in your mother’s name alone. You will probably have to record a death certificate for your father to clear up title. You may or may not be able to transfer the house to yourself and your husband using your mother’s durable power of attorney. The question is whether the power of attorney authorizes you to make gifts to yourself. If so, you can sign the deed on your mother’s behalf. You will have to record the durable power of attorney along with the deed.
If the document does not grant you this power, you can only accomplish the conveyance by betting appointed as guardian and conservator (different states use different terminology) for your mother and may also need separate court approval.
Before you go ahead with the conveyance, you should consider the capital gains consequences of the transfer in the event you and your husband ever chose to sell the house. It received a one-half step-up in basis upon your father’s death. If you wait until your mother’s death to transfer title to yourself, it will receive a 100% step-up at that time. Instead of an outright transfer, you might want to put the house in a revocable trust or life estate to avoid probate and get the step-up.
Harry S. Margolis practices elder law, estate, and special needs planning in Boston and Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the founder of ElderLawAnswers.com and answers consumer questions about estate planning issues here and at AskHarry.info.
Last Modified: 10/02/2023