Wills, Trusts, and More

How Do I Give My House to All My Children?

Many clients struggle with how they can give a home or other special real estate to one or more children. This article provides some suggestions.

By making sure your home is controlled by the instructions in your trust, you can be assured that it will be sold or gifted to one of your children. If one child receives the home, to equalize the value to each child, the market value of the house would be determined at your death, and the child receiving your home would get less of other assets.

If this is still not equal, then you can provide that the child receiving the house can buy it from your other children. By using trust planning, you can leave complete instructions about how you want to distribute any asset. The issues become more complicated when it involves a family residence that may be desired by more than one family member, especially a cabin, or other vacation home that may be the source of fond memories. What issues should be considered

by Jeffery J. McKenna

and how can conflict be avoided?

Consideration should be given to ascertaining exactly what interest your children have, if any, in receiving the vacation home as all or part of their inheritance. You may have one child who would often use the home, while the siblings may have no interest in the home at all.

In this case, you may want to consider leaving the home to the child who desires it, and have the value of this specific gift charged against his or her share of your estate. Or you could give that child a first right of refusal to purchase the property from your estate at its fair market value after your death.

If all of your children have an interest in the property, you may want to leave it to all of them so each would own an equal percentage of the property, or it may be better to leave it to them in a trust.

By leaving the property in a special trust, you can clearly set forth each child's rights and duties with regard to the use and maintenance of the property. You can provide how

Rabbit

PANGUITCH OFFICE AT 46 NORTH MAIN STREET TO SERVE CLIENTS IN AND AROUND GARFIELD COUNTY.

Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney whose practice has been focused on Estate Planning for over 20 years. He is licensed and serves clients in Utah, Arizona and Nevada. He is a shareholder at the law firm of Barney, McKenna and Olmstead. If you have questions you would like addressed in these articles, please feel free to contact him at 435 628-1711 or jmckenna@barney-mckenna.com or visit the firm’s website at WWW.BARNEYMCKENNA.COM, he would enjoy hearing from you.

the expenses such as taxes and repairs are to be paid. The trust could detail when each child is entitled to use the home.

Having these terms in the trust can minimize disagreements among your children. The trust could also provide for a mechanism whereby if a child wished to sell his or her interest in the home, the other siblings would have the first right of refusal. Careful planning in advance is the key to a smooth transition of assets, including real estate, after your death.

Mosquito

A man is driving down a highway, and he hits and kills a rabbit. He gets out of the car and walks over to the rabbit. He picks it up and starts crying, thinking he’s a horrible person. Someone else driving down the highway stops and walks over to him, and asks, “What happened?”

The man replies, “I hit this rabbit with my car and now it’s dead!”

The other person gets a thoughtful look on their face and goes back to their car. They rummage around in the trunk, and eventually walk back over to the man holding a spray bottle. They spray the rabbit with the bottle, and it comes back to life. It starts hopping away, turning back every few hops to wave at the two people. The man, astounded, turns to the other person and asks, “What was in that bottle?”

The other person replies, “It’s hare spray.”

Shower Thoughts

Theme parks can snap a crystal clear picture of you on a roller coaster at 70 mph, but bank cameras can't get a clear shot of a robber standing still.

PUNishment

Did you hear about the sale on paddles? It was quite the oar-deal.

THEME:

Once, a mosquito walked into a clinic. The doctor saw him and asked him what the matter was. The mosquito said that he had a lot of problems. He was not happy with his life, he was not happy with the job he was doing. He was sad and had no motivation. The doctor listened to his problems and told him that he should really visit a therapist instead of a doctor. The mosquito replied, "Yeah, I know. I just came in because of the blood."

Adjectives

During a lesson about adjectives, my friend, an elementary school teacher, asked her class to describe their mothers. One boy described his mother's hair as auburn.

Impressed by his sophisticated word choice, my friend asked, "How do you know her hair color is auburn?" Her student replied, "Because that's what it says on the box."

7. Fork prong

8. *"Harry Potter" animal (2 words)

9. Earthenware pot

29. Hues 32. Backgammon predecessor 33. *"Babe" animal

36. *"Anchorman" and "The Wizard of Oz" animals

38. Kundera's "Unbearable Lightness of ____"

40. "That feels good!" exclamation

41. Set in motion

44. Like a go-getter bird

46. Lies in ambush

48. Wept

49. It makes waste?

50. Singular of #17 Across

51. Home versus ____ game

52. Guesstimate phrase (2 words)

53. To perfection (3 words)

54. Taj Mahal city

55. As opposed to gross

56. *"Willard" animal

Solution on B5