Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
veterans discount on property taxes
A mother dies and her house is left to her adult child. The mother was receiving a veterans discount on her property taxes when her spouse died, who of course was a veteran. The adult child has lived in the house all her life. It was recently discovered that her relative, who's veteran father has died, is currently receiving her father's veteran discount as she has inherited her father's house. Can the veterans benefit be passed on to the adult child being that her father, the veteran, was her natural father? If so, how can she find out about that?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: veterans discount on property taxes
I am not aware that this discount is available to other than the veteran and/or the spouse, if the house was owned jointly. One of 2 possibilities: the tax office never corrected its records when the house was transferred to the realtive, or the relative never advised the tax office of the change of ownership on the father's death, presuming the Will was sufficient to transfer ownership and not recording a new Deed. I suggest you call the tax office and ask a blind question as to what happens when the veteran and spouse die.