Estate Planning Advisor Should Your Home Be Owned by Your Trust? - PDF document

miller nash graham & dunn llp | Spring 2015 brought to you by the trusts & estates practice team Estate Planning Advisor Should Your Home Be Owned by Your Trust? Second, incapacity planning must Transfer Into Trust be a consideration. None of the forms The upside of transferring a home of real estate ownership address the into trust is that doing so can be great by Lori K. Murphy capacity of the individual. If the owner for an individual. If an individual owns lori.murphy@millernash.com becomes incapacitated, the property 541.749.3305 a home solely, then transferring the cannot be sold unless a durable power home into trust will be effective to avoid of attorney was executed before the on- When we work with a client to probate entirely. The additional benefit set of incapacity or until a conservator is design a comprehensive estate plan, to the individual is that the trust can court-appointed for the individual. Ad- we consider the importance of owning include express provisions allowing ditionally, none of these forms of own- a home in a trust. Several factors must the home to be maintained, rented, or ership address what happens in case of be given weight in deciding whether to sold in case of the individual’s incapac- the death of both owners of a property. deed a person’s home into his or her ity. This alone can bring great peace For example, if the couple expire simul- trust. of mind to my clients and is often the taneously, then the real property must guiding decision factor. Also, upon the First, how the home is currently go through probate in order to pass to person’s death, the trust could provide titled must be reviewed. Homes can the couple’s heirs, despite owning the that the home be maintained in trust be owned by tenants in common, by home as tenants by the entirety. for a particular beneficiary, rented as an joint tenants with right of survivorship, Third, probate avoidance must be income-producing property, distributed and by tenants by the entirety. When considered. Probate is the court’s over- directly to particular heirs, or sold and property is held by tenants in common sight of a person’s estate to ensure that the proceeds earmarked for heirs. and an owner dies, that owner’s inter- the property goes where it is supposed est must pass through probate. When (continued on page 5) to go, whether that be in accordance property is held by joint tenants with with a person’s last will and testament right of survivorship, the property does or in accordance with the intestate heirs not pass through probate; it passes inside this issue as delineated in each state’s estate laws. automatically to the survivor upon 2 Miller Nash Graham & In some cases, probate is an appropri- the filing of a death certificate in land Dunn’s Trusts & Estates Team ate venue in which to handle a person’s records. Couples may own property 3 Ethical Will: An Ancient estate. In other cases, clients are well in the third form of ownership, called Tradition Made New Again advised to avoid the probate process, “tenancy by the entirety.” This form 4 Why Does It Matter Where probate expenses, and time delays. of ownership allows the home to pass I Live for Estate Tax directly to the spouse upon the filing of I prefer that clients either transfer Purposes? a death certificate in land records, and it a home into a trust to avoid probate also allows the couple to enjoy superior and all that it entails or make use of a creditor protection during their joint transfer-on-death deed. lifetimes. millernash.com

Miller Nash Graham & Dunn’s Trusts & Estates Team 2015 promises to be an exciting year for our Trusts and Estates team. On January 1, the two long-standing Northwest firms of Miller Nash and Graham & Dunn combined to form Miller Nash Graham & Dunn. With nearly 160 attorneys and offices in Washington, Oregon, and California, the combined firm offers our clients broadened capabilities. The combination also resulted in an expanded Trusts & Estates team, allowing us to better serve our estate planning clients. Our Expanded Team I am very pleased to introduce Marcia Fujimoto, a partner from the legacy Graham & Dunn firm. I have known Marcia for a number of years, and in addition to being a terrific person, she is a well-respected and accomplished estate planner. Three paralegals also joined our team: Nicki Brown, who has extensive experience in probate administration; Kim Sand- strom, who assists with drafting documents; and Elizabeth Pitman, who is new to our area of law and focuses primarily on probate administration. Below is a brief biography of Marcia. Marcia has more than 30 years of experience counseling individuals and families about wealth transfer and succession planning, including estate planning and administration, probate, trusts, and related tax matters. She attended the University of Michigan for both undergraduate and law school. She is a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has been included in Washington Super Lawyers magazine and listed as one of the top 50 Women Washington Super Lawyers. She is a frequent speaker at profes- sional conferences and is active in the Seattle charitable community. The legacy Miller Nash Trusts & Estates team members all look forward to working with Marcia K. Fujimoto our new colleagues and introducing them to our clients. marcia.fujimoto@millernash.com 206.777.7475 Sincerely, Adrienne P. Jeffrey, Editor, Estate Planning Advisor adrienne.jeffrey@millernash.com 206.777.7512 Estate Planning Advisor | miller nash graham & dunn llp | 2