Joint Tenancy or Community Property with Right of Survivorship

I met with Michael Wolff, mortgage broker, yesterday and we started talking about deeds. As an estate planning attorney, I see many people take title to their homes as Joint Tenants. From an estate planning perspective, the benefit of taking title as joint tenants is that, when one spouse dies, the surviving spouse automatically owns the property, so probate court is avoided. However, the surviving spouse is then unable to take advantage of the law of a double step up in basis for property held as community property once he or she sells the house. The result may be a capital gains tax that may have been avoided. If your clients are married, live in CA, and ask you for your opinion, tell them they have the option of taking title as Community Property with Right of Survivorship. This form of holding title gives them the dual benefit of right of survivorship as with joint tenancy and also the double step in basis for property held as community property. This is based on current law, so stay updated. -Kris Paden, Esq. Estate Planning Attorney and Advisor Wills, Trusts, Estate Tax Planning Corporate and LLC Formation http://www.home.earthlink.net/~krispaden/