Hi,
Several years ago my mother passed and our family lawyers recommended that my father transfer their home (now his) into my name. He is in great heath, thankfully, but the idea was to protect the house should he need medical care in the future.
A quit claim was done, filed and while he has life use the house has been "mine" since. We were assured we had taken their biggest asset and kept it safe. Since, while not making a huge public announcement, when this comes up friends or relatives who hear of it always rave about what a great move this was because they did the same and it saved them a fortune OR they know someone who should have and ended up having to sell off a home in the family for decades to pay medical expense, etc. for Medicare, etc and they all wished they had done what we did.
So, we felt confident all was wonderful. However, I have read several articles online that make it sounds as if someday when my dad passes and I sell the probably I will have to pay huge capital gains because, on paper, I paid $1 for the house. Heck, my parents paid 1/20th of it's value 50 years ago for it so even if we used what they paid the "profits" are going to be huge.
Our goal here was to protect this for my siblings and myself. I would sell it off and split the proceeds among us. We are a very close family and there would be no chance others would not receive exactly what my parents wanted to the penny.
However, this legally is my second home. Have we sheltered the house from Medicare which we may never need to worry about if dad doesn't need care yet exposed the house to massive capital gains someday when we no longer need it? I'm getting worried.
Thanks!
