Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: gift taxes on a home

from the facts given, devising your son your home in your will is a viable option to effectuating your testamentary charitable intent. however, you want to make sure the language is quite clear on your intent within the will or precatory language, i.e. "he CAN donate the $300K, could be contested at some point. even tho the devising of your home or outright sell of your home to your son now will have probate and/or property tax consequences, your best bet might be to set up a trust now with the home being the corpus of the trust to be distributed how and when you would like to have it distributed to your son. this might give your son the best tax breaks overall and your son then may be able to even refinance the home up to the $300K to be distributed to charity in which this amount could be looked more as loan proceeds rather than capital gains once he takes possession of the home in the trust as per your instructions to the trustee. if you would like additonal legal assistance in setting up your will or trust, feel free to email me with additional information.