Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Tax on property on will

If your girlfriend inherits the property at your death, she will not owe any income tax.

However, she will need to probate your holographic will, and she will need to pay a filing fee for that probate based upon the gross value (e.g. appraised value) of the home at your death.

It is also likely that the mortgage lender will require her to refinance the property at your death.

If you add her to title now, you are making her a co-owner, which means you will need her permission and cooperation if you want to sell or refinance the house; and she would be entitled to a share of the proceeds of the sale, even if you are no longer a couple.

Typically, the cheapest way to transfer property at death is through a living trust - a living trust is more expensive to set up at the beginning, but if it's set up correctly no probate will be required at death.

There is effectively no way to transfer property at death in California that doesn't cost money - it's theoretically possible that you could teach yourself enough by reading books at the library to write your own living trust; but that only makes sense if you enjoy that or if your time has no value. Also, the downside to that approach is that if it fails for some reason, cleaning up the mess will probably be 2-10 times as expensive as just doing it right in the first place; or else the wrong person will inherit your property and your girlfriend gets nothing.

Re: Tax on property on will

Mr. Broiles give you an excellent answer. I wonder if you were careful in your hand written Will that nothing, including the date, is not in your hand writing. If you have any relatives, you should mention their existence and why you are not leaving them anything. You might also want to put in a clause as to your girlfriend inheriting only if you are still together at the time of your death. If you break up, you probably are not going to change your will for some time. Also,what happens if she dies before or at the same time as you; who gets the assets then? There are various books written at a non-lawyer level on Wills and you can probably think up all the possibilities.