Legal Question in Family Law in New York
I am in the middle of a divorce, tenants by the entirety of the home we share. I will be executing a deed turning the house over to my wife as a condition of the divorce and will receive some compensation. If after a few years she decides to sell the house and does so at a gain would I be liable for any of the capital gain?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I am unsure of what you mean by "liability". When we speak of liability, we are talking about a loss. If she sells for m,ore, we are talking about a capital gain. I suggest e-mailing me at [email protected] so we can speak. We are talking about potentially a great deal of liability or capital gain. You have certain rights to "lock in" your capital gain up until today, and if you lose money, a big potential liability to the lender if this is not handled properly e.g. when a lender "forgives part of the debt, that is treated like "income" and you owe taxes on it as if you earned it working. To me, owing the IRS is far far worse than owing a lender arrears so I counsel my clients to be very careful and I fight to have the transactions handled a certain way.