Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Life Estate - Quit Claim Deed
My father Quit Claimed to me, his daughter, his two properties (condo & home) in 2001.

The deeds were notarized. signed and filed with the local County Assessor's Office in a California county..

On the face of the documents, directly under the words'' Quit Claim Deed'' is typed the following paragraph::

''The unersigned grantor declares that the Documentary Transfer Tax is $0. This is a transfer by Grantor Parent to his daughter, in which he reserved a life estate, and qualifies for the parent-child exclusion''.

My father just died. How do I go about tranferring the property into my name? Is this a simple procedure? Please enlighten me on exactly what I do now?

Asked on 2/11/08, 8:33 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

0 users found helpful

0 attorneys agreed

Re: Life Estate - Quit Claim Deed

You don't have to do anything. You own the condos. You are entitled to a stepped up basis for income tax purposes, so that your tax basis for capital gains purposes is the value of the properties at the date of death. He transferred to you the remainder interest reserving to himself a life estate. The life estate no longer encumbers the property and you are the sole owner of the property.

Answered on 2/11/08, 9:08 pm

Mark as helpful