Real Estate

Real Estate As It Relates To Estate Planning

Owning a home and property are big steps in life. Planning for what happens to your home and property after you are gone shouldn’t be forgotten. Having the right estate planning tools at your disposal will help you transfer your home to your loved ones without going through the probate process if you use one of the following tools.

Joint Ownership

If you own property jointly with another person(s), then your portion of ownership will transfer to the surviving owner(s) after you pass away. Though there is no probate involved in joint tenancy, the surviving owner(s) will have to fill out a “right of survivorship” form.

If you own property jointly with a spouse, then your half of ownership will automatically transfer to the surviving spouse after you pass away through survivorship marital property. Because Wisconsin is a community property (marital property) state, spouses own half of the property and assets accumulated during the marriage.

Transfer on Death Deeds

In Wisconsin, you can use a transfer on death deed (beneficiary deed) to give your property to someone after you pass away. This form allows the beneficiary access and ownership of your property only after you pass away. You will still retain the right to sell, rent, mortgage the property or revoke the deed at any time. Transfer on death deeds also allow you to give your property to beneficiaries even if there’s still a mortgage. If there was no transfer on death deed, then the property would go through probate where it could be sold to pay off debts.  The other benefit of having a transfer on death deed is that it usually takes weeks to settle the property versus taking months or years going through probate.

Revocable or Living Trust

With a revocable (living) trust, you sign your house over to your trust. The first step would be to create a trust and then retitle your property into the name of your trust. In doing so, you will not lose control of your property. You will retain all rights to your property such as making mortgage payments, refinancing, making improvements as you see fit, or even selling.