Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Can a trust

What you need to do is set up the trust so that he has the right to live in the house during his lifetime but he never owns it.

Re: Can a trust

To answer your last question first, there are never any "guarantees" in the law. You can, however, with careful planning and draftsmanship, create a living trust which will state all of your specific desires regarding the managment, control and disposition of your home, as well as provide mechanisms to assure that those desires are carried out after your death. The scenario you propose presents a number of inherent conflicts between your boyfriend and your family, with respect to the future occupancy and/or sale of your home, indicating the need for an independent trustee, or joint control of the trust by multiple trustees, after your demise. There are also potential Federal estate tax consequences to consider, depending on the nature and extent of your other assets. To find out more about living trusts, visit our website @ labusinesslawyer.com.

Re: Can a trust

The answer is "yes," you can accomplish what you want to accomplish. You have a variety of choices, but a trust written to meet your wishes is certainly a possibility and probably the best way. You could give the boyfriend the right to stay in the house for life, and then after his life to your family. You could put in a provision that if the boyfriend and your family decide to sell the house that each person gets a certain percentage of the sale price. Let me know if you need help.

Re: Can a trust

You can place the home in a trust with instructions to the trustee (not your boyfriend) how to proceed with the home after your death. I would suggest that you grant your boyfriend a life estate in the home with the proceeds to be divided as you want in the event that someone you choose to make the decision decides to sell. There are other avenues. You should see an attorney to get some estate planning done. One big concerns is that your home has a large amount of equity and if no proper estate planning is done, it is probably under existing tax laws that the home would have to be sold to pay estate taxes. There are a myriad of other reasons for estate planning including establishing living wills (how you are cared for if terminally ill) powers of attorney (who makes decisions for you if you are unconscious or gone) and other things.

Re: Can a trust

Sounds like the best way to accomplish your objectives would be using a revocable trust. You can do all of the things you want to do, and you can also change your mind later and revoke some or all of it.

Make sure you address items which could later become problems: who pays the mortgage, if any; who pays the taxes, maintenance, and upkeep; what happens when he no longer wants to live there or can no longer pay the expenses (if any) associated with living there?