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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    3

    Default How to Protect Ancestral Property

    I would like to find out how to protect ancestral property; I inherited from my father, so that it can be passed down to my children. The property has been passed down in our family since the civil war. I married my second husband almost 20 years ago both of us were in our early 60s. He moved into the home I had paid off before I met him. The only asset he had was an old car. He has done some odd jobs for spending money prior to drawing social security based on my earnings. I have always paid the bills. My will was written out leaving my entire estate to my children. We have moved from Ohio to Tennessee and I no longer have the home I bought. Most of the money I got from my home he lost through bad investments and drinking. The rest I bought myself a car. The will I had drawn up was in Ohio and the property that I inherited is in Tennessee. We had no prenuptional agreement. Now I recently learned that Tennessee has an elective share provisions protect the surviving spouse. So my understanding is that if I die first he will still get a part of my inherited property regardless of what my will states. If this happens He will only sell it and waste the money. This property is very special to our family and I’m not sure what to do. My children have been paying the land taxes on the property for several years as my income is now limited. How can I stop this from happening?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: How to Protect Ancestral Property

    One means would be to convey the property to your children now, so that it never becomes part of your estate. Depending on its value you may have to file a gift tax return, but I'm not sensing that your estate is likely to have gift tax liability (gifts in excess of your $1 million lifetime exemption). For real estate, you could consider adding them as joint owners with rights of survivorship.

    Another means would be to use a trust, and transfer the assets into the trust; but you have to be careful about your spouse's right to invade the trust or if he has possession of physical items that are "owned" by the trust but which he may not turn over to your heirs. Another option, dare I say, is divorce.

    Note also that if you give away assets now, and you later seek Medicaid benefits, the gift may fall within the lookback period such that your eligibility is delayed.

    Your best bet to figure out the best approach is to work with an estate planning lawyer.

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