91 year old mother deeding home to son

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91 year old mother deeding home to son

My mother is 91 and is deeding her
home to myself and my wife. What do
we need to know before doing this.

Asked on March 10, 2019 under Real Estate Law, Georgia

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

1) Do a title check: you want to make sure there is not some lien (e.g. form not paying a contractor or from being sued) or a mortgage/HELOC/reverse mortgage which you are unaware of, and which will impact your rights to the property. Have a title agency do this for you.
2) Similarly, be aware that if there is a mortgage, etc. on the property, it cannot be deeded to you without paying it off.
3) Consult with a CPA or accountant about the potential tax impact on both you and her of her giving you something worth tens of thousans, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars. Generally, taxes have to be paid by either giver or recipient on such large transfers.
4) Be aware that if she is doing this to try to shield her home from Medicaid, it will not work: the state can void or undo transfers of property made for less than their fair-market value (i.e. when you don't pay the fair value for the home) if the transfer occured less than 5 years before your mother needed Medicaid. The law lets the state void transfers made within this five-year "look back" period to avoid people from defrauding Medicaid by hiding asserts or giving them to family and friends.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

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