Mom died leaving various real estate investments to her children in trust. The children were also named as co-trustees. Unfortunately, mom made pre-death transfers to some of the children. The co-trustees engaged DeAngelis Legal to assist them to sort out the issues with these transfers. The issues addressed included: (1) determining if the pre-death transfers were gifts, compensation for services or titled in the children’s name for convenience only, (2) whether the property received a step-up in basis, (3) whether the assets should be held by the trust or the children individually, and (4) fairly allocating the remaining real estate among the various trusts. DeAngelis Legal reviewed the assets, current title, each party’s intent and preferences and proposed documentation allocating the assets among the children’s trusts.
