survivorship rights

[adm23]

massachusetts

My mother recently remarried and has told me that she has granted rights of survivorship to her new husband on a home that she had solely owned and has willed to her two children. The home is not a primary residence. In order to receive survivorship rights on a property would joint tenancy have to be granted to a remarried spouse? And to grant joint tenancy would the new husband have to be made a Co-owner of the property by having his name added to the deed.



Can you have survivorship rights without joint tenancy? Maybe by only including the new husbands name in my mother’s will?



My concern is that if my mother passes, the new husband would have the right to transfer or sell his stake in the property to a third party. The house is also a rental property and he would then be entitled to 1/3 of the profits.

 

[anteater]

My mother recently remarried and has told me that she has granted rights of survivorship to her new husband on a home that she had solely owned and has willed to her two children.

You may want to clarify with your mother, but I would interpret that to mean that she already added him to the deed as a joint tenant with right of survivorship.

That would mean that, upon her passing, he becomes the sole owner by operation of law. Any provision in the will dealing with that property would have no effect.

 

[adm23]

So it he becomes the sole owner until the time of his death he would be responsible for the mortage and taxes? What about him selling the property if unltimately the house was willed to the children?

 

[FlyingRon]

Once mom dies, he becomes the owner. He's responsible for it. Your mom's will means nothing. He can sell it if he wants. When he dies, it goes by the terms of his will or the laws of intestate succession to his heirs.
It never goes into your mom's estate, so her will has no say over it.

 

[adm23]

What if the house were in a trust? Would that mmake a difference?

 

[FlyingRon]

If it were in a trust, then it would determine what sort of trust and what the terms of the trust say. Yes, she could have made a trust that would allow him to reside there until his death and then transfer to you. Or, the trust could allow him to transfer it into his own name (or his own trust).

You should suggest mom contact a lawyer to assure that her assets will be handled in compliance with her wishes.

I'd avoid any attitude that you are somehow entitled to the house preferentially to her current husband. While he isn't your father, he is her husband and marriage is more than concern over preserving inheritance to adult children.