Are Trusts Only for the Wealthy?

Gifting property to adult children is a great thing to do, no matter the tax breaks – and thankfully, if you live in California and inherit property in that state, you do not need to be mega wealthy with $1,200 per hour tax lawyers to be able to avoid property tax reassessment, or to learn how to use a trust to save on taxes or to buy out siblings’ shares in your inherited real estate… with a trust loan.

Putting it bluntly, it doesn’t hurt to live in a state like California, where you get to save tens of thousands in tax breaks every year, compared to other states…. or compared to California the way it was pre-1978 before Proposition 13, and later in 1986 with Proposition 58, when you started to be able to keep parents property taxes when you’ve inherited property and are able to transfer parents property taxes, inheriting property taxes on a property tax transfer with a simple parent to child transfer or as lawyers call it, parent to child exclusion. Or perhaps lucky to be anywhere, if you can keep that house you inherited in your name, and you have a very good accountant! Another point – why trusts aren’t just for wealthy folks to save on income tax. 

There are trust lenders providing trust loans in California to cure family estate problems, with some beneficiaries insisting on selling inherited property – and no one can agree what the property value is, whether the local tax assessor is right or wrong;  or whether to sell or not to sell.  This is most likely one reason, besides saving on property taxes, that many property tax consultants and tax attorneys firmly believe that lawmakers in every state should pass property tax relief bills that make sense.

It would be advisable for homeowners and beneficiaries inheriting property to go to websites focused on CA Proposition 19, Prop 13, Prop 58, and Proposition 60… such as Trust and Estate Loans info-sites  or irrevocable trust lenders, or perhaps niche California focused property tax relief blogs like this one, Property Tax News.  Which is simply to straighten up and learn more about why property tax relief is crucial to California, and would be an economic life-saver to other states, if they were to surprise everyone and gain some genuine leadership, along the lines of what New York has.  So the middle class (not just the millionaires) can live in comfort and security.

As every state in America is now in the throes of a relentless pandemic, with a disastrous affect on businesses and unemployment within local and state economies…  lawmakers in every state would be wise to look at passing a property tax relief bill that would give consumers some financial relief, for example as CA Proposition 13 did in beginning in 1978 and Proposition 58 did in the beginning of that Amendment in 1986, giving Californians the ability to transfer parents property taxes.   

It seemed like a miracle for middle class homeowners in California… and beneficiaries to trusts inheriting a home from parents.  Enabling a property tax transfer solution from parents and grandparents when inheriting a home, and likewise inheriting property taxes – with a parent to child transfer or parent to child exclusion… the urgent need to keep parents property taxes was all of a sudden a reality, thanks to Howard Jarvis and colleagues, regardless of their deeper motivations – and of course the ability to transfer parents property taxes when inheriting property; avoiding property tax reassessment to keep property taxes low, and to have the ability to utilize trusts for a lower tax base – for all Americans; not just for corporate CEOs, VIPs and wealthy families in Beverly Hills, in Santa Barbara, the Marina in San Francisco, or similar locales.