property deed names

[joemuni]

What is the name of your stat
new jersey

Mother has her name on house deed with father who passed away last year.
Older sister says she wants her name on deed because of probate reasons.
Sister has already added her name onto mother's bank accounts.
She says that this will help me because I need to file for personal bankruptcy because
of my financial problems.

Should I agree to this ? Is there anything that I should consider ?

Thanks for comments.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your stat
new jersey

Mother has her name on house deed with father who passed away last year.
Older sister says she wants her name on deed because of probate reasons.
Sister has already added her name onto mother's bank accounts.
She says that this will help me because I need to file for personal bankruptcy because
of my financial problems.

Should I agree to this ? Is there anything that I should consider ?

Thanks for comments.

Has the house gone through probate yet?

Why does your sister feel she needs to be on the deed now?

Does your mom have a will?

Why is your current financial situation relevant?

 

[joemuni]

Mother presently owns house as heir when Dad passed.
Will states that 3 children will have equal share of house.
Sister says if anything happens to Mom, my creditors will claim my share of inheritance.
But by adding her name on deed, probate will be avoided, and my creditors can't make claims.
Thanks for reply.

 

[divgradcurl]

Mother presently owns house as heir when Dad passed.

So, the deed is in Mom's name only now?

Will states that 3 children will have equal share of house.

Okay.

Sister says if anything happens to Mom, my creditors will claim my share of inheritance.

That's potentially true. But it depends on when it happens, and what kind of bankruptcy you get (7 or 13, or 11).

But by adding her name on deed, probate will be avoided, and my creditors can't make claims.

Totally incorrect, unless either a) the house is totally put into sister's name, or b) house is titled with mom and sis as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Any other way, such as mom and sis as tenants in common, mom's interest would still have to go through probate.

In the case of a), then the will is irrelevant because sis will own the house outright. Same for b) -- once mom dies, sis gets the house free and clear. In either even, niether you nor your other sibling have ANY claim to the house, because your sis will own it completely.

So yeah, your creditors won't be able to touch the house because you will have NO rights to it.

I guess it depends on how much you trust your sister.

There are ways of transfering the house, usually via a trust, that can keep the creditors largely out of the loop, but your mom will need to sit down with an estate planning pro to figure out how best to transfer the house. Plus, avoiding probate is usually a bad thing from a tax perspective if the estate is largely made up of a family home -- there are significant tax advantages to letting real property go through probate in most cases.

 

[joemuni]

I am planning to file Chap.7.
The sister referred to lives out of town with husband, so can she can be considered a tenant ?
I am living at home in same household as Mom.
My thinking is that once my bankruptcy is resolved, the deed can then be put back in Mom's name alone. But I do not trust brother-in-law.
Other considerations may be Medicare / Medicaid which I'm looking into.

Thank You for comments.