leaving your house to your children + debts?

**lparker** · 11-18-2010, 04:27 PM

The tax implications for giver and receiver *can* be serious.

Not in NYS. Of course that depends on what you call serious. Parents can give up to x$ without having to pay gift tax. I and my siblings don't have to pay any tax until we sell part or all of the property, which we did when we split the house off the rest of the property...and will have to again, if and when we sell any acreage.

I don't know what the limit is...only know we are not over it.

I believe the transfer had to be done 5 years before either of my parents died.

Lee

**Greebo** · 11-19-2010, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by lparker

The tax implications for giver and receiver *can* be serious.

Not in NYS. Of course that depends on what you call serious. Parents can give up to x$ without having to pay gift tax. I and my siblings don't have to pay any tax until we sell part or all of the property, which we did when we split the house off the rest of the property...and will have to again, if and when we sell any acreage.

Yes, it varies by state.

Thus dangerous, not necessarily bad.

**Greebo** · 11-19-2010, 02:56 PM

I knew I'd heard about this recently from Dave.

And it came up again on 10/21 (yeah I'm a month behind...)

"Gifting" a house to an heir CAN be done without tax implications :
"If he were to move the property to their name he has to do that under what's called the Unified Estate Tax Credit. You can move up to 1 million to your heirs before your death without paying gift tax under the Unified Estate Tax Credit. "

Otherwise there's a potential for a 55% penalty under the gift tax - payable by the giver

It must be filed properly - a tax planner/ tax attorney should be used.

**heartofmine** · 11-19-2010, 03:38 PM

Land has to be out of the person name for 7 years or they can go after it if the person has to go into a nursing home. Money has to be out of their name 5 years. These both depend on the state though as far as the # of years.

A tax free gift can be given each year...$13,000.00 now...that is tax free.

My sil's dad died after only a few weeks ...5 or 6 weeks. He had signed some sort of paper when he went in. The government stepped in and took his home and a 7 more lots that he had. The kids didn't even have enough money to bury him. None of the kids have money so its been tough on them. The land is worth far more than what his care would have been. I just don't think that is right. They should have at least allowed them the money to bury their father out of his estate before taking it all.

**annymoll** · 11-19-2010, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by heartofmine

Land has to be out of the person name for 7 years or they can go after it if the person has to go into a nursing home. Money has to be out of their name 5 years. These both depend on the state though as far as the # of years.

A tax free gift can be given each year...$13,000.00 now...that is tax free.

My sil's dad died after only a few weeks ...5 or 6 weeks. He had signed some sort of paper when he went in. The government stepped in and took his home and a 7 more lots that he had. The kids didn't even have enough money to bury him. None of the kids have money so its been tough on them. The land is worth far more than what his care would have been. I just don't think that is right. They should have at least allowed them the money to bury their father out of his estate before taking it all.

The funeral home will submit a claim to the administrator of the estate to pay for any funeral expenses.We rented extra farmland at one point and had paid for fertilizer and to prepare soil. The owner passed, his heirs inherited the property and did not want to rent it anymore. They did not want to reimburse us for our loss, so we just bypassed them and filed a claim with the administrator. Sweet and simple and we got our money.

**heartofmine** · 11-19-2010, 11:34 PM

It doesn't work that way when its the government though. He signed a paper and that gave them the right to take his whole estate after he passed. The family had no say whatsoever.

In your case since it was with the heirs you had the right to get your money back from the estate. We had a similar situation only we are the heirs. The land was leased that we inherited. We just let them continue the lease until the year was up. We then leased to someone else. We've leased it for 2 years but that lease ends April 1st. We won't be leasing anymore since we are building a new home there and using the land ourselves.

**annymoll** · 11-20-2010, 08:52 AM

The children would not be liable for the burial. Who would pay for the funeral expense if they had not?

**heartofmine** · 11-20-2010, 11:51 AM

This was not a pre-arranged funeral. The children had to go in and get things set up when he passed away so they are responsible for the bill. At that time they thought there would be money from the estate to pay. It was a few days after the funeral that they got a paper from the government basically stating the estate was now theirs. They have gone to a lawyer and tried to fight it but to no avail. There is nothing they can do. They signed the papers at the funeral home so they are now responsible for the bill.

**annymoll** · 11-20-2010, 01:26 PM

I hold a part interest in two funeral homes. I was going to ask what they had signed. It really gives food for thought to everything Russ has said. If things are not in order, things can be a big mess.