So my wife and I moved in with her grandparents about 3 years ago in
Location: Pennsylvania,
as they were in declining health. Gma and Gpa were married at one point until they became legally divorced about 20 years ago. Gma moved out around that time. About 5 years later, she moved back in. They never got remarried but they stayed together and acted as a couple. When we moved in, gma was slipping heavily into dementia and eventually died because of her alzheimers. She passed away 3 years ago. Her death certificate says divorced. The house was in both gma and gpas name. The advice we were given by a lawyer is that because gma passed away, her half of the house must be transferred to gpa and it would be 15k in taxes as it’s a certain percentage of the value of her half, that gpa doesn’t just get full ownership without that payment. He’s pushing 90 and my wife and I are supposed to inherit the house when he passes. Idk if we could just pull together 15k like that. I’m in disability and that’s almost my entire years worth of income. Is there anyway around this 15k payment to get the house into gpas name fully?
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> The advice we were given by a lawyer is that because gma passed away, her half of the house must be transferred to gpa and it would be 15k in taxes as it’s a certain percentage of the value of her half, that gpa doesn’t just get full ownership without that payment.
No one here is in the position to second guess an attorney who has the facts. Grandmas estate needs to go through probate.
There is either missing info or something you aren’t aware of. If both names were on the house, your grandpa should inherit it. Who is this lawyer? Is he her estate trustee? Did her estate have debt that needed to be paid off?
Did Gma have a will? When they divorced their joint tenancy probably converted to a tenancy in common, which means her half of the property would pass through her will (if she had one) or through intestate succession. There may be a tax associated with this. Even if they were common law “re-married” this would not change – Gma’s half would still be her half and pass through her will or intestate. And if she left it to Gpa then he would have to pay the real estate transfer tax.
If you’re having trouble coming up with the taxes to be paid, reach out to the state to arrange a payment plan or have Gpa get a home equity loan to pay it off.