Estate planning can address issues unique to homeowners to ensure that your home is protected in case of incapacity or death.
Oftentimes when a person is incapacitated, whether due to dementia or an injury, the spouse or family needs to sell or transfer the incapacitated person’s home. Their home may need to be sold to pay for care for the incapacitated person, to allow the spouse to downsize, or to qualify for medical assistance. If you are incapacitated and own a home, you will not be able to execute a deed or other documents required for the sale or transfer. Even if you own your home jointly with your spouse, if you are incapacitated, your spouse cannot sell or transfer the real estate on their own because Minnesota law requires both owners to sign all deeds regardless of how title is held. Without estate planning, your family or spouse will need to get a court order to sell or transfer your real estate and will have limited options for how the proceeds from the sale can be used. Getting a court order can take several months and be quite expensive. Having a Revocable Living Trust or a Power of Attorney in place will allow a person selected by you to sell or transfer your home without the need for court involvement.
Our clients often want to avoid probate because it is a time consuming and expensive process. If you own a home your estate may be required to go through the probate process, even if you have a Will. Probate is a process where the court oversees the administration of an estate. While a Will allows you to avoid the default rules for estate administration in Minnesota, your loved ones will still have to submit your Will to the court and go through probate for it to take effect. Establishing a Revocable Living Trust to hold your home and other assets avoids the probate process at your death. A Trust does not require court oversight to administer at your death, while still ensuring that your home and other assets are distributed according to your wishes. For some families, a Transfer on Death Deed will also avoid probate, if prepared in conjunction with beneficiary and payable on death planning.
When you go through the estate planning process at Deckert Law, P.A., we will help you evaluate your unique needs to determine how a Power of Attorney, Trust, or Transfer on Death Deed can help you accomplish your estate planning goals.
Posted by Molly R. Wiese
