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Prop 13 county property tax increase?

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209Keith

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

My father passed away last year and willed his assets 25% to each of his 4 children. 7 years ago my grandmother passed and willed her home 100% to him (as the only remaining child) in which she owned since the 1930s resulting in property taxes to this day under $1,000 annually. There was no county property tax increase when my father received the home based on CaProp 13 laws. That home is valued somewhere in the $800k range and has no liens. He also owned another home outright valued $800k and stocks that are being cashed out at $900k bringing value to the estate at approx $2.5m. I am requesting to keep my grandmothers home for myself and using my portion of the inheritance to apply towards that and completing a loan for the remaining balance since the home is valued at more than 25% of the estate. My siblings have accepted this offer.

I was just told that prop13 will only apply toward my 25% and once my siblings release ownership of their portion then the county will increase my property taxes on the 75% received from siblings. That would be roughly 1.2% based on $600,000 (75%) of the value which is $7,200 annually just in property tax increases if I understand that correctly? Is there any ways to keep the tax rate low and still be able to remove my siblings from ownership interest? I was really hoping to keep the home in the family but it looks like the government might push me out....so much for prop 13 when you're not the only survivor.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

My father passed away last year and willed his assets 25% to each of his 4 children. 7 years ago my grandmother passed and willed her home 100% to him (as the only remaining child) in which she owned since the 1930s resulting in property taxes to this day under $1,000 annually. There was no county property tax increase when my father received the home based on CaProp 13 laws. That home is valued somewhere in the $800k range and has no liens. He also owned another home outright valued $800k and stocks that are being cashed out at $900k bringing value to the estate at approx $2.5m. I am requesting to keep my grandmothers home for myself and using my portion of the inheritance to apply towards that and completing a loan for the remaining balance since the home is valued at more than 25% of the estate. My siblings have accepted this offer.

I was just told that prop13 will only apply toward my 25% and once my siblings release ownership of their portion then the county will increase my property taxes on the 75% received from siblings. That would be roughly 1.2% based on $600,000 (75%) of the value which is $7,200 annually just in property tax increases if I understand that correctly? Is there any ways to keep the tax rate low and still be able to remove my siblings from ownership interest? I was really hoping to keep the home in the family but it looks like the government might push me out....so much for prop 13 when you're not the only survivor.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Your understanding is correct. The prop 13 cap only applies to transfers from parents to children, or, in certain cases, from grand parents to grandchildren. Transfers between siblings are not eligible for an exclusion from reappraisal. See here for more info: http://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/faqs/propositions58.htm.

You will want to talk with a real estate attorney or, perhaps, a tax expert to see if there is any way to put the property in your name without triggering reappraisal. I am not aware of any way around this, other than to keep the property in everyone's name.

I was really hoping to keep the home in the family but it looks like the government might push me out....so much for prop 13 when you're not the only survivor.
Proposition 13 is fundamentally unfair in the first place anyway. If it wasn't for Prop 13, your house probably wouldn't be worth $800K in the first place.
 

tecate

Member
In probate estates, there is usually no authority to distribute assets non pro rata. So when the beneficiaries make a deal to do so otherwise, the taxing authorities usually treat that as a pro rata distribution followed by a swap among the beneficiaries.

If this were a living trust, state law and the trust itself usually permit non pro rata distributions.
 

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