Life estate deed

[Kaybru20]

My sons dad ( we were never married) gave himself a life estate and named me as remainderman on the house/deed….It’s been 15 months since doing this. He was very sick at the time and wanted to make sure his son and I have a place to live so he did the quit claim deed…He named me as remainderman because our 45 year old son doesn’t know anything about paying bills, taxes, etc. So that’s why he named me to take care of things…My question is, if I have my name removed from the deed and he has it put back in his name without a life estate, will he have to pay a gift tax or will I because I’m quit claiming it back to him?? He quit claimed it to me for $1.00 and I will be doing the same back to him…. We live in RI .  Thank You

[M-MTax]

See Re: Life estate deed

[M-MTax]

I responded to the other thread you started prior to reading your post in this thread.

Given the fact that the initial transfer was motivated by his illness (that presumably could result in death), it could be argued that a gift was not the intent unless he passed during the time you were the remainderman. In other words, that the "gift" of the remainder was contingent upon his passing but not effective if he did not pass. A gift contingent upon an event occurring is NOT a completed gift and is not treated as such legally unless and until that event actually does occur.

Regardless of how this matter is treated, the only thing you need to be concerned with in the transfer is filing a 709 for the gift of the remainder back to the grantor (the son). If you haven't exceeded your lifetime exemption, you will owe no tax.