Inherited home
My friends mom died, he inherited her home. He has moved in but the home is still in his mom/dads name. How long does he have to switch it over? What happens if he doesnt switch it over? Thanks for your time! Love your advice!
Terry Says
He needs to have the title switched to his name immediately. That can easily be done through probate, though he might need an estate-planning attorney to help him do that. The assets may have been minimal enough that the “estate” didn’t need to go through probate, but he needs to make it official.
That will establish his new base cost for the home — the value at date of death. There will be no tax involved. And in the future, if he wants to move, he will easily be able to sell the home. The property tax bills should come in his name (and that will remove any senior discount they might have had, keeping him out of trouble on that score).
So advise him to get an attorney — search here: search-attorneys.com. Or just walk into his local bank and ask if they know a local estate planning/probate attorney to guide him through this process. It’s not a big or expensive deal.
