If I put my child on the title now, will they lose the step-up in basis and end up paying more capital gains tax when the house is sold? – North Carolina Short Answer Often, yes. In many common North Carolina deed setups, adding an adult child to the home’s title during the parent’s lifetime…
Do I need a specific amount to offset what one child already received, or can I use a percentage split to make things fair? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a will can be drafted to “equalize” what children receive, but it needs a clear method. A percentage split alone often does not…
Once a power of attorney is signed, how do I use it to manage my parent’s bank accounts and other financial matters? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, using a signed power of attorney (POA) usually means presenting the bank with a properly executed copy of the POA, completing the bank’s internal agent…
What can I do to reduce the risk that someone later challenges my trust by claiming I lacked capacity or was pressured? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, the best way to reduce a later trust challenge based on lack of capacity or pressure is to build a clean, well-documented signing process. That…
Can I add my adult child to the deed of my house while I’m still living, and what problems could that cause later? – North Carolina Short Answer Yes. In North Carolina, a homeowner can usually add an adult child to a house deed during the homeowner’s lifetime by signing and recording a new deed…
How do we choose between a joint revocable trust and a will with a trust created at death for our children? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a joint revocable trust is often used to manage assets during life and to reduce what must go through probate at death, but it only works…
How do I decide whether to leave an equal share versus a percentage to make the distribution feel fair? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, “equal shares” and “percentages” can both work, but they can produce different results when the group of beneficiaries can change (for example, when a beneficiary dies and their…
What happens to our LLC ownership interests and business operations if one of us dies? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, what happens when an LLC owner dies depends first on the LLC’s operating agreement. Many LLCs are set up so the deceased owner’s economic interest can pass to an estate or trust,…
If I put my houses into a revocable trust, will that keep those properties out of probate? – North Carolina Short Answer Usually, yes—if North Carolina real estate is properly titled in the name of a revocable trust before death, that real estate is generally not a “probate asset” that must pass through a North…
How can I leave one home to one child and a different home to another child using a revocable trust? – North Carolina Short Answer In North Carolina, a revocable trust can leave specific real estate to different children by (1) transferring each home into the trust during life and (2) writing clear “specific gift”…
