Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

Re: Home Purchase by Mother and Daughter

I assume you and your mother will be both contributing to the cost of the new home and both making any necessary mortgage payments and sharing otherwise in the maintenance, upkeep and repairs of the home. You will want to consider whether your mother should be a joint tenant with rights of survivorship or merely a life tenant with you as remainderman. In the latter situation mother is protected with a right to remain in the home if you die first while your heirs or devisees are entitled to inherit the home later. Otherwise, if you own it jointly and you die first, mother might have to go to a home and qualify for medicaid and the home sold to pay for her care. You also might find that the two of you do not get along - but that is not really a legal problem until you want to dissolve the type of ownership you have provided for yourselves. If you are not an only child, mother may want her other children to share in her estate which might be only her interest in the house and that can cause problems, the very least of which would be bad feelings down the road.

Otherwise, this is one of the best practical solutions for caring for an elderly relative.

Re: Home Purchase by Mother and Daughter

You can't ask lawyers "what kind of pitfalls" to expect without risking an extremely long, boring response. You might want to consult with a real attorney, who has experience in the area of Elder Law. Maybe you want to do some Medicaid planning before deciding how title will be held - as joint tenants with right of survivorship, as tenants in common, etc. Maybe you have other family issues to consider -- possible claims from your mother's other children or stray spouses. And there may be some income tax consequences from the sale of your present homes (probably not, but possible.) I suggest you learn as much as you can stand about elder law and property law(read some reference books on the subjects at your library) and then arrange to consult with an Indiana attorney in or near the county where you and your mother will be residing.