In addition to a Will, what can be done to protect my mom’s property upon her passing from greedy relatives?
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In addition to a Will, what can be done to protect my mom’s property upon her passing from greedy relatives?
My mom would like to put my name on her property since she doesn’t trust my brother. She has a Will but wants extra assurances to protect her property from too many legal fees and taxes, as well as any unfair actions that my brother may cause. She wants to make sure I don’t have any problems in liquidating her property when the time comes. Does this make any sense to you? I hope that I am explaining this correctly? There’s too many people who want to stick their hands in, undeserving people who want money that someone else worked hard for. She doesn’t want a bunch of greedy people stealing from me.
Asked on January 17, 2016 under Estate Planning, Illinois
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Your mom can potentially have the titles to any real property items redone so as to include you on the title. There are different types of title transfers... one being a 'right to survivorship.' This means that upon your mom's passing, the property would automatically pass to you without any probate or other documents needing to be executed. This is a rather easy process, but you do want to visit with an estate planning or probate attorney before making this change, because such a transfer can have potential tax consequences on each of you and, depending on the time, it could affect your mom's eligibility for certain governmental assistance (assuming that she is in need of such assistance). If you mom transfers assets and then claims that she has limited resources, a governmental entity could deem it a fraudulent transfer.
So... there are options and different types of transfers... however, visit with an attorney to help you with the most effective methods of transfers to fit you and your mom's needs.
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