For many of us, our real estate choices are about people we love. Our homes provide a foundation for family life, connecting with friends, and doing meaningful work for others. For some of us, our homes and investment properties will be part of a financial legacy we leave to bless our families or to support causes we care about.
Unfortunately, what we desire to happen for those we love if something happens to us doesn’t happen automatically or intuitively. Consider a case where a married couple bought a home many years ago and kept ownership in just the wife’s name as her sole and separate property. She would have wanted her husband to immediately have the house and be able to sell it if needed to stay afloat financially. They had a trust that could have made that happen easily, but amidst a busy life, the house was never deeded into the trust. Sadly, now the husband she loved cannot do anything with their home until after he works through an expensive and long probate process.
There are a broad array of surprise logistical and financial problems that well-meaning homeowners can unintentionally pass on to the people they love if they pass away without the right things in place beforehand. The time and money you invest to have a qualified estate-planning attorney set up a trust and other tools could save the people you love multiple times that money in taxes they won’t have to pay later. In addition to maximizing the financial blessing you create, you’ll also make an already difficult time much easier for them by making that blessing readily and easily available. If you’d like to learn more about estate planning and talk to a trustworthy professional about your own situation and how you can send some love to your loved ones through your real estate after you’ve passed away, I’m happy to send you a referral. You can reach me at 626-328-4199.