real estate purchase — title?
My wife and I are 70 and will be buying a new home in the next two years. My question is this, if I put my grown son on the deed, would the house pass to him upon our demise? What are the pros and cons of doing this?
Terry Says
That is NOT the way to handle this. First, you should create a Revocable Living Trust as your estate plan, with yourself and your wife as co-trustees. Watch this video to learn exactly what I’m talking about:
https://www.terrysavage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Terry-Talks-Wills-Trusts-Estate-Planning.mp4
When you purchase the house, put the title in the name of your Revocable Living Trust. If you are incapacitated, your spouse can take over — and vice versa. If you both die, you have named your son as successor trustee and he can take over without the long (and expensive ) court process called probate.
But if you add him to the title NOW, then if he is ever sued (for divorce??) or for anything else the house becomes part of his assets. You definitely don’t want that to happen!!
