Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: transfer of deed

I think you are asking how do I transfer ownership of a property from one memember of my family to another.

The simple answer is have a new deed drafted and executed and reocrded. But that does not include all the issues raised by such a transaction.

First, if there is a mortgage on the property and there is a transfer of the entire property, the lender can call the Mortgage, meaning make you pay it off immediately.

Second, to the extent there is equity in the property there is a gift and unless it is the spouse, there probably will be a gift tax, but unless you have exhausted the gift tax credit, will not be paid now, but the value will go into the gifter's estate for tax purposes.

Third, if this is being done to protect the home from a future medicaid lien, remember the gift will not be free of inclusion if the person requires medicaid (not medicare) within 5 years of the gift.

Before doing anything, I suggest you contact an attorney to determine what the repercussions of what you want to do will be and more imporatantly, if there is a better way to do what you want.