On Friday, September 30th Mr. Berger discusses Joint Ownership and is it the solution to your estate plan?

Advantage is when their are two joint owners, when one dies, the survivor becomes the sole owner and there is no need for probate and all you need to do is show the death certificate where the account is held.

When married couples own assets in “tenancy in entirety”. Married couples are each known to own 50% of the asset. So for a house, when the first person dies there is a step up in basis which is an adjustment in fair market value so that there aren’t capital gains.

However, if that second person lives in the home or puts some of her own money into the home then part of that asset really becomes partly hers so that person could be liable for taxes in that situation.

Another disadvantage is that if the second person has creditors then it can affect joint property with the first person. Which in the case of a house, it could mean person A no longer having a home to live in.

There are more protections with tenants in the entirety vs tenants with the right of survivorship.

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