My Father Has Alzheimers. I Am His Beneficiary. I Want to Know How to Get My Name on the Deed to His House?
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at
8:00 pm
Kelli Burton asked:
I am listed as power of attorney along with my Aunt (his sister). I don’t want any financial decisions made without my okay and would like to get my name added to the deed for his house now, before he passes. What should I do?
Tagged with: Alzheimers • Beneficiary • Power Of Attorney
Filed under: Alzheimers
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You may be a beneficiary of his estate, but that does not make you Executor. You need to check the will to see who that may be. If it is you, you are in control after his death.
The POA relates to the financial and health care matters for him before his death. If you and your aunt are jointly responsible for both parts then she should not be allowed to do anything without your approval. But it is possible that you have POA solely for the financial decisions and your aunt makes all the decisions about his health and treatment.
You are best to leave things alone until his death unless your aunt can somehow do something with it without your knowledge. You really need to see an attorney in your area that specializes in elder care and probate matters. With the POA and last known will in hand.
Depending on the wording, you may have nothing to worry about.
My sympathies for your position.
Babe
Why do you want to be listed on the house now? Presumably your dad bought the house years ago, at a low cost. If you take it now, you will assume his cost basis. If you inherit it after his death, you will take the value at the date of death, which is presumably much higher. So you would pay less tax when you sell it (I assume you don’t want to live in it).
When he dies, the house will be included in his taxable estate even if your name is on the deed. The IRS presumes that he paid for it (which he did) so the value is included in his taxable estate. To keep it out, you would have to show you paid for part of it (which presumably you didn’t). Not a problem unless the entire estate is over $1M (after 2010).