• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

House QuitClaim'd to Nephew

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

M

McKelvy

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Michigan
Two years ago my Uncle had me sign a Quitclaim deed to his house. He died a month ago, and his brother (handling the will & taxes) just recorded the deed. My question is, what basis do I use when I sell the house? From reading other threads here it looks like it should be the orginal purchase price 30 years ago.
 


D

divgradcurl

Senior Member
McKelvy said:
What is the name of your state? Michigan
Two years ago my Uncle had me sign a Quitclaim deed to his house. He died a month ago, and his brother (handling the will & taxes) just recorded the deed. My question is, what basis do I use when I sell the house? From reading other threads here it looks like it should be the orginal purchase price 30 years ago.
Click to expand...
Your suspicion is correct. The only get the step-up in basis if the house transfers through probate. Since the transfer in this case was an inter vivos (during life) gift -- even though the recording occured after death -- the house was not part of the probate estate, and is therefore not entitled to the step-up.
 
D

divgradcurl

Senior Member
McKelvy said:
Location: Michigan -- Would this be considered an inhertance or a gift for tax purposes?
Click to expand...
A gift -- the deed was quitclaimed while the Uncle was still alive. That's why you use the original basis for tax purposes, and not a step-up basis.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
divgradcurl said:
A gift -- the deed was quitclaimed while the Uncle was still alive. That's why you use the original basis for tax purposes, and not a step-up basis.
Click to expand...
I am adding this to my "how to save money by not hiring a tax pro" book.
 
M

McKelvy

Junior Member
State: Michigan "And now, for the rest of the story." I haven't seen the Quit Claim deed yet and that's another story, but I did get some more information from my uncle. The verbiage on the deed indicates the following. Deed is TO my uncle AND me as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship… grantor reserves the power to sell... no rent .. natural life and life estate. With this additional information I am back to my original question:

Two years ago my Uncle had me sign a Quitclaim deed to his house. He died a month ago, and his brother (handling the will & taxes) just recorded the deed. My question is what basis do I use when I sell the house?
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
McKelvy said:
State: Michigan "And now, for the rest of the story." I haven't seen the Quit Claim deed yet and that's another story, but I did get some more information from my uncle. The verbiage on the deed indicates the following. Deed is TO my uncle AND me as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship… grantor reserves the power to sell... no rent .. natural life and life estate. With this additional information I am back to my original question:

Two years ago my Uncle had me sign a Quitclaim deed to his house. He died a month ago, and his brother (handling the will & taxes) just recorded the deed. My question is what basis do I use when I sell the house?
Click to expand...
Read the prior posts by div.
 
G

Greg 2

Member
McKelvy said:
State: Michigan "And now, for the rest of the story." I haven't seen the Quit Claim deed yet and that's another story, but I did get some more information from my uncle. The verbiage on the deed indicates the following. Deed is TO my uncle AND me as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship… grantor reserves the power to sell... no rent .. natural life and life estate. With this additional information I am back to my original question:

Two years ago my Uncle had me sign a Quitclaim deed to his house. He died a month ago, and his brother (handling the will & taxes) just recorded the deed. My question is what basis do I use when I sell the house?
Click to expand...
Something doesn't 'sound' right here; ie one signs a Quit Claim deed to remove their name from a deed to RE, thus if you signed a quitclaim deed, then you have nothing to sell. When the deed was recorded then you declared that to the public and lost any interest in that house/RE. His estate now owns the house.
Q2- You state you havn't seen the quitclaim deed yet, so did you sign it without looking at it? ie a 'blank check'?
 
M

McKelvy

Junior Member
Greg 2 said:
Something doesn't 'sound' right here; ie one signs a Quit Claim deed to remove their name from a deed to RE, thus if you signed a quitclaim deed, then you have nothing to sell. When the deed was recorded then you declared that to the public and lost any interest in that house/RE. His estate now owns the house.
Q2- You state you havn't seen the quitclaim deed yet, so did you sign it without looking at it? ie a 'blank check'?
Click to expand...
I am sure this was not my Uncle's intention. I am sure he felt that the deceased party would be the one giving up the rights to the property. I had no legal rights to the house prior to the Quit-Claim Deed.
 
D

divgradcurl

Senior Member
McKelvy said:
I am sure this was not my Uncle's intention. I am sure he felt that the deceased party would be the one giving up the rights to the property. I had no legal rights to the house prior to the Quit-Claim Deed.
Click to expand...
Greg2 is correct -- what you've written doesn't make any sense. If the uncle quitclaimed to YOU and HIM the property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, then my answer still holds -- it's a gift. When you have a rights of survivorship situation, the property changes ownership immediately upon death, is not part of the decedent's estate, and does not go through probate -- and you also don't get a step-up in basis.

But if, as Greg2 suggests, you quit claimed your rights to someone else, then you don't have anything, unless you acquired something via probate.

You need to figure out what is going on and then post back here. Have a title company run a search to see who actually owns the property.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
McKelvy said:
I am sure this was not my Uncle's intention. I am sure he felt that the deceased party would be the one giving up the rights to the property. I had no legal rights to the house prior to the Quit-Claim Deed.
Click to expand...
Your uncle's intentions were what he put in writing.

What did he put in writing?
 
M

McKelvy

Junior Member
divgradcurl said:
Greg2 is correct -- what you've written doesn't make any sense. If the uncle quitclaimed to YOU and HIM the property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, then my answer still holds -- it's a gift. When you have a rights of survivorship situation, the property changes ownership immediately upon death, is not part of the decedent's estate, and does not go through probate -- and you also don't get a step-up in basis.

But if, as Greg2 suggests, you quit claimed your rights to someone else, then you don't have anything, unless you acquired something via probate.

You need to figure out what is going on and then post back here. Have a title company run a search to see who actually owns the property.
Click to expand...
Hey, thanks for putting up with my unclear questions. Let me see if I can provide the information a little better this time. My Uncle, will call him U1, helped his bother, call him U2, make a will. U1 got this Quit-Claim Deed setup that Quit-Claim'ed U2's house by U2 to U2 AND me with the verbiage stated above. U1's wife is deceased and U2 owned the house outright. I do beleive that the house is mine and that it is a gift. U1 just wanted to avoid probate. No one is upset with the situation, I am just trying to determine how to handle it from this point on. If the house were in the estate, then U1 would have to deal with it and probate. This would have been fine with me. I told him not to file the Quit-Claim Deed and just leave it in the estate and handle it based upon the will. He filed it the next day. What can I say. I now have a house that's 120 miles away that I to have deal with. Does this help or am I still in limbo here?
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
McKelvy said:
Hey, thanks for putting up with my unclear questions. Let me see if I can provide the information a little better this time. My Uncle, will call him U1, helped his bother, call him U2, make a will. U1 got this Quit-Claim Deed setup that Quit-Claim'ed U2's house by U2 to U2 AND me with the verbiage stated above. U1's wife is deceased and U2 owned the house outright. I do beleive that the house is mine and that it is a gift. U1 just wanted to avoid probate. No one is upset with the situation, I am just trying to determine how to handle it from this point on. If the house were in the estate, then U1 would have to deal with it and probate. This would have been fine with me. I told him not to file the Quit-Claim Deed and just leave it in the estate and handle it based upon the will. He filed it the next day. What can I say. I now have a house that's 120 miles away that I to have deal with. Does this help or am I still in limbo here?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you own the house. Get a real estate agent and sell it. Run a title report first (you get those from a title company).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top