What if I Create a Joint Tenancy With My Child?
By Barry Zimmer on July 26th, 2018 in Joint tenancy
Zimmer Law Firm can help you to explore the efficacy of different estate planning ideas, including creating a joint tenancy with child. There are pros and cons to this approach, so you need to ensure that you have talked with an attorney about whether creating a joint tenancy is the right choice for you.
Creating a joint tenancy with child is just one of many approaches that people consider to try to help them pass property quickly and effectively after their death. It may not always be the best approach to take, as there are other legal tools that can also allow property to transfer outside of probate.
However, in some cases it can be a simple and effective solution. Our firm will discuss this and other options with you to help you make the right choice about what you should do to protect your wealth and pass it onto your children.
To find out more about the ways in which Zimmer Law Firm can help you with joint ownership and other estate planning tools, give us a call today.
What Happens if You Create a Joint Tenancy With Child?
Many parents think about creating a joint tenancy with their child in order for a child to more easily inherit property. If you create a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, then your child can immediately become the owner of the property upon death. There is no need for the property to pass through the probate process, which can be a time consuming process, as well as a stressful and expensive process.
A joint tenancy with child does, in fact, provide the benefits of quickly transferring assets to children and it does keep the property outside of the probate process. Probate can take around a year to complete and the costs of probate can total around three percent to seven percent of the estate’s value, according to Investopedia. Because of the big downsides to probate, it is a big advantage to be able to move property to co-owners automatically after death.
However, there is also a downside risk as well. If a child is a joint owner, then financial issues or bad decisions that the child makes could impact the parent’s property. For example, if a child jointly owns property with a parent and the child is sued, the property could be considered one of the child’s assets even though it is jointly owned. This could mean that it could end up with a lien placed on it in order to satisfy a judgement against a child.
If a child is a co-owner, the parent also looses some control over what happens to the house. If the parent passes away and specifies his or her entire estate should go to someone other than the child, the house would still go to the child because of the co-ownership. If a parent decided the child should not be listed as a co-owner any more, then the parent would need to convince the child to give up his claim on the property or would need to go to court to get a court order for the child’s name to be removed — and this might not always be possible.
If a child got into financial debt, this could also result in the jointly-owned property being at risk. And, if the child got divorced, then this could also result in the jointly-owned property becoming a part of divorce proceedings and the child’s spouse could try to claim that the property should be divided as part of the dissolution of the marriage.
Getting Help From an Estate Planning Lawyer
An estate planning lawyer at Zimmer Law Firm can provide you with insight into the pros and cons of all different estate planning tools and all different tools used to protect assets and pass them on. We can offer advice on joint tenancy with child and other ways of transferring wealth, and can help you to put comprehensive plans in place that are right for your personal and family situation.
To find out more about the ways in which our firm can help with all legal issues related to estate planning and asset protection, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 513-721-1513 at any time to start making a customized plan that is right for you and your family.