Hello. I am in the process of purchasing a second home in my hometown, and I am going to let my recently widowed mother reside there rent free. We have very few reservations about this arrangement in light of our overall relationship. We do have one potential issue, though. My mom always had planned to share a little money with me over the rest of her life via substantial birthday and xmas gifts. Are we creating a situation where she can never give me significant sums b/c they will be viewed as rent?
PS - an idea I'm considering is having us enter an agreement making clear that mom can stay in the house until her death without ever paying rent, as that truly is our intent; it seems as if such an agreement might be relevant if future gifts were argued to be rent.
