Estate planning is all about ensuring that the assets you’ve worked hard for all your life pass on to support the people you care for. One of the most significant assets in most estate plans is property, and your estate planning attorney can assist you in making sure that your home and other real estate is protected as much as possible from creditors and probate.
Gifting your home and properties
Gifting your real estate to your heirs is one of the most effective ways of protecting it, and you can achieve this through either gifting the property outright or holding it in a trust. These transactions have different tax implications according to the value of the property, so your attorney can help develop the correct strategy for you to minimize this impact.
Using trusts to protect real estate
Trusts can be specifically developed with the aim of protecting your properties, in the form of a Qualified Personal Residence Trust. This allows the owners of the property, whether you or a spouse, to transfer your property into an irrevocable trust, which makes it inaccessible to creditors who would like to use the assets to settle debts. This type of trust also allows you to avoid paying federal gift taxes, and removes the real estate from the valuation of your estate for taxation purposes.
These trusts also allow you to decide on how the property is used after your passing. For example, you can specify that your surviving spouse can use the home until such a time as he or she passes or wants to move out, or you can specify that the house should be sold after your passing and the proceeds split in a particular way, or that the heirs may have equal use of the home and can decide to sell or keep it as they wish.
Making your property part of your business
A third way to protect your real estate for your heirs is to transfer ownership of the property to your business or LLC. This means that you will still be able to benefit from the property during your lifetime, but that upon your passing, personal creditors cannot seize the property to settle any debts on the estate.
Protect your home for your loved ones with the expert assistance of a leading estate planning attorney in New Jersey
If you would like further guidance on protecting your real estate assets by creating an irrevocable living trust, LLC or a Last Will and Testament, Frank R. Campisano can provide you with the necessary expert legal advice and professional insight.
In addition, he can also assist you with all other aspects of your estate plan, from drawing up medical directives and Power of Attorney documents to Medicaid planning. For more information on setting up or changing an estate plan, please contact him at the law firm of Sedita, Campisano & Campisano, LLC in New Jersey or visit our website at https://www.scclegal.com/ today.