My grandfather recently passed, his name is on the deed. Now my Grandmother is very sick and we are trying to get all of her affairs in order. She wants to deed the house to me and my mom (we live with her). We don't want to incur her debts and such. If she removes my grandfather and her name and puts our name will we have to pay anything besides land taxes. I live in NY. Also, I've heard about gift deeds and grant deeds if we do one of those will we be charged taxes and such? :confused: Thank you for your help.

She can do many things, first she can remove his name easily, and just write a will leaving the property to both of you.
Next is there a loan on the home ?

No, there is no loan. The only thing we pay on the house is the land taxes. When I spoke with my mom she wanted to know if there is anyway to avoid paying inheritence taxes?

How big is her estate? Doesn't sound like its much. And the threshold on inheritance taxes is $2 million. I assume you intend on continuing to live in the house after grandma has passed. So it would probably be best if she just willed the property to you and your mom.

Does she have any major debts?

The estate is just her house. But, she has at least $50,000 in credit card debt if not more. We are planning on fixing up the house and then selling it.

So the only asset is the house? In that case I would add your mom to the deed as joint tenants with right of survivorship. This will have the house pass to your mom outside the estate. Since there are no assets other than the house, then the credit card debt would be paid only by the estate of which there is none.

I would, however, discuss this with an estate planner to make sure everything is done legally.

Thanks, that was helpful. Do you know if it matters if she has Medicare or not.

It might matter, since transferring a home to avoid medicare reimbursement is illegal.

:eek: Okay, She has Medicare and HIP which she does pay monthly. If she has been paying them money how do we owe them anything at all? And how do you find out how much we owe?

I would consult an estate or elder law attorney.

Thanks!