By Christopher W. Yugo | The New York Times
Q: My parents own a farm and they want to start gifting it to my siblings and I. What is the best way for them to do that?
A: The gifting of real estate can be complicated. Before gifting interests in land, a person should sit down with an adviser to understand the risks and to come up with a game plan.
The easiest way to make a gift of land is to simply record a deed conveying an interest in the land. However, whenever you start creating small or minority interests in land, issues can arise. For example, do you really want to own 80 percent of the interest in land and have four other people each own 5 percent?
Statement by Laura Bianchi, head of Rose Law Group Estate Planning/Asset Protection Department: “Gifting can be an efficient estate planning tool, however, it’s not without it complications and hurdles, especially when dealing with farmland, which comes with it’s own set of unique issues. It’s important to speak with someone with the requisite expertise to be sure you have thoroughly considered all the options, risks and benefits so you can determine if gifting is the most effective way to attain your goal(s).”
If you’d like to discuss estate planning, contact Laura Bianchi, head of Rose Law Group Estate Planning/Asset Protection Department, lbianchi@roselawgroup.com
