I often work with parents of college students who purchase a Midtown Atlanta condo for their son or daughter to live in while attending Georgia Tech. But this article is about a different conversation with Mom and Dad and real estate. It’s about real estate planning and estate planning when it comes to what to do with the family home, or other real estate assets.
This conversation is near and dear to my heart…I just went through it with my Mom (my Dad passed away in 1994) when I was home in Montana a couple weeks ago. We had a family meeting to discuss what remains of our family ranch and such. It was a good meeting (well, it at least got somethings out on the table that some of my family did not know about.)
And then today, the New York Times had an article of the same title. How true it is…the need to talk about family assets and what to do with them…be it sell them, deed them, etc.
They might want to raise cash to pay for possible medical expenses down the line or to reduce assets so a parent needing health aides or nursing-home care will be eligible for Medicaid. They might be eyeing the apartment for their own use.
How do children nudge often-reluctant parents toward making sound and fiscally smart decisions about the future of the family home? How can assets be protected while keeping a roof over the parents’ head? What are the main issues that need to be kept in mind as planning goes forward? How do children, or in their absence, other close relatives, begin the difficult and sometimes painful conversations needed to resolve these issues? In the case of apartments that have sharply escalated in value, how do you guide parents unused to dealing with large sums of money?
Here is a link to the rest of the article in the NYTimes.
Do you need to have a family meeting and discuss the future of your parents? Mom and Dad, let’s talk real estate.
