Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Len Tillem on KGO radio, 810, is a lawyer who handles these types of cases; first look on his KGO web site to see his prior answer to similar questions and if you still need more information call him on the air [noon time] or e-mail him.

KGO probably doesn't come in too well in 92371. I would strongly advise you NOT to do any transactions such as you are describing. Transferring property to a friend or family member for less than fair value is fraudulent when the purpose, or the effect, is to make it more difficult for a creditor or a potential creditor to collect. MediCal is hip to these transfers and combs property records regularly to find them. Next, a court would set the transaction aside and assess damages against both particupants. Required reading: California's version of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act, codified in the Civil Code as settions 3439 to 3439.12.

Whipple gives sound advice on this one. I would add that this situation calls for some careful financial planning. I suggest you find a good accountant and perhaps an estate planning attorney with a LLM in Tax to come up with a plan for handling your mother's finances for the next several decades in the most beneficial way for tax and government benefit purposes.

Talk to a local Trust and Estate Planning attorney to determine if a trust and transfer to the trust will protect her. Contact the local Lawyers Referral Service if you can't get a personal referral.