QUESTION
What is the best way to preserve this property asset?
Asked on Oct 29th, 2014 on Estate Planning - Michigan
More details to this question:
My sister and I received a parcel of property upon our parents' deaths. There is a home and a guest house on the property. We use both houses as vacation homes. The deed has been transferred to both our names jointly. We are both married and we are both in our fifties and we both have adult children. We want this property to remain in our blood relative family (it has been in our family for 4 generations) and we want to protect it from nursing home costs, if that situation were to occur in the future. What is the best way to preserve this property asset and keep it in our family for future generations?
1 ANSWER
This is a complex issue that cannot be addressed adequately in this type of setting. As a general matter, however, creation of a limited liability company in which family members would be the members and the Operating Agreement would set out the rules for use of the property deserves consideration. Under Michigan's Limited Liability Company Act, members have no ownership interest in any property of the limited liability company and third parties cannot become substituted as a member without the other members' consent. Among the many things to consider is the effect on property taxes of a conveyance of the property from the present owners to the limited liability company.
Answered on Oct 30th, 2014 at 8:26 AM