Let’s face it – Proposition 19 isn’t Proposition 58… However, we can still make use of favorable property tax relief benefits under Prop 19, such as inheriting CA property taxes; as long as we abide by the new rules & regs.  Under California’s Prop 13, the County Assessor’s office is not allowed to increase the appraised value of property except by 2% max. Unless there is a “change in ownership”. Even if the valuation of your home goes up.

Maintaining a Watchful Eye on Your Local County Tax Assessor

As the Albertson & Davidson law firm blog illustrates in an example – “If you bought a house in 1995 for $100,000, but that home is now worth $2,000,000; the county tax assessor is not allowed to value your home at $2 million for real property tax purposes. Instead, the value is limited to $100,000, plus a small percentage equal to the consumer price index or 2%, whichever is less…

….as such, the real property probably has an appraised value of around $125,000. The real property tax is approximately 1% of the property’s appraised value. In this example, the real property tax on a house valued at $125,000 is $1,250. Whereas, the real property tax on a house valued at $2 million is $20,000. Proposition 13 effectively saves the real property owner around $18,750 in tax ($20,000 – $1,250). That’s a huge savings… etc.”

Protecting Your Family From Property Tax Reassessment 

In fact, if the original purchase of your inherited home goes back three or four generations, back to your grandparents, or even great grandparents – the tax hike could crippling. Even for an affluent family with higher than average cash flow.  Sure, if you’re on the 1% list, you can absorb this kind of tax hike… But how many people do you know on that list? Are you on that list?

Probably not, as we’re talking about roughly 1% of the public… maybe 2% to 3% of all homeowners in California. And of course this depends on geographical locale – what neighborhood your home is in. If you’re in Santa Barbara, or Santa Cruz, or San Jose, or in the Hollywood Hills, or in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills… you’re likely to be able to weather that type of tax hit.

It sounds complicated, but in fact it’s actually pretty simple.  When someone passes away, say your parents, and the property is transferred as an inheritance to their grown child-beneficiary, the home retains a low valuation, as long as you avoid triggering property reassessment at “fair market” or current rates, by a “change in ownership”… with the help of an estate attorney and a trust lender – through a parent-to-child exclusion… inheriting CA property taxes from parents; avoiding CA property tax reassessment… and saving your family tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, now and in the coming years ahead!

Proposition 13 and Proposition 19 will still enable you to retain your parent’s low original tax rate with a valuation of the property’s original low valuation. However, if you don’t do this correctly, your local friendly local County Tax Assessor will reassess the property forward to its’ current value, and inheriting CA property taxes from your parents, at their low base rate, will no longer be possible. 

Getting Financing & Guidance from a Reliable CA Trust Lender

No matter where you live or what your particulars are… If you’re set on keeping an inherited home from your parents, you have to file a parent-to-child exclusion document. In fact, the best way to make sure you do not trigger property reassessment and run into this sort of financial pit-hole, is to work with a reliable trust lender, specializing in loans to trusts and estates – like Commercial Loan Corporation in Newport Beach, where you can get all the help you’ll need to make sure everything goes properly and smoothly…

So you can safely and securely buyout your siblings; and retain sole ownership of your inherited family home – if indeed that’s what you want to do.  Either way, at least you’ll know what your options are, to keep yourself and your family informed and secure… keeping your  most valuable asset – your home – protected!  This is precisely why eligible California homeowners are moving quickly on new CA property tax relief opportunities

Plus, your trust lender and estate attorney (for good measure) will make sure Proposition 19 works perfectly in conjunction with an irrevocable trust loan to result in minimizing reassessment and establishing a low property tax base. Likewise, most Californians agree, without reservation, that Time is Ripe to Become Better Acquainted With the Parent to Child Property Tax Transfer

The #1 Win-Win Property Tax Solution for CA Families

Everyone wins with an irrevocable trust loan beneficiary buyout solution… and that’s not just marketing-talk. Your co-beneficiaries will end up selling out to a beneficiary intent on keeping the family home, and walking off with an extra $14,000 to $15,000 as opposed to using a realtor to accomplish the same type of property sale.

Also, if your parents are deceased, and the family home is transferred from a grandparent to a grandchild, then the grandchild can access the same exclusion as the Proposition 19 parent-child exclusion.

If you’re an average middle class or even upper middle class homeowner, and not a member of the 1% high net worth club – you’re probably going to want to take advantage of an exclusion from reassessment.  Plus, you’re going to want to be able to access your right to keep a low property tax base by avoiding property tax reassessment, to be able to transfer parents property taxes with a property tax transfer — to keep parents property taxes through a parent-child transfer… ultimately inheriting property taxes from parents.

However, there are some pitfalls you need to look out for… The parent-child exclusion has to be filed with the County Tax Assessor inside of three years from your decedent parent’s passing. If you miss this critical deadline you’ll be hit with a “supplemental assessment” that will impose a higher property tax hit on you that includes all the years you did not request a parent-to-child exclusion. Again… it’s always that fine print you need to be aware of!

Whatever happens, if you are set to receive house or other real property from your parent, be sure that your parent-to-child exclusion form gets filed properly and on time. If you miss the deadline, and don’t complete this form correctly, the ramifications can be financially crippling. So be careful!