House transfer from parent to offspring

[slacker]

My father is quite ill, and we want to make sure he puts his affairs in order in case the worst happens.

The house is jointly owned by my mother and my father. It's located in Ontario. Unfortunately my father is not currently in Canada and cannot travel due to his illness. My mom is overseas to care for him. The current plan is for him to sign authorization to my mom, and then transfer this property to me.

My questions:

- Does this make sense at all?
- What kind of tax and fees can we expect?

There should be no capital gains tax because it is primary residence. The main goal is to reduce headaches, taxes, and legal fees in case the worse happens.

Thanks in advance,
Slacker

[Plugging Along]

I am sorry to hear about our father.

My understanding is that if the house was under a joint tenancy, then it will automatically go to your mother. Taxes since its PR.

From Ajax perspective, it would be better to leave it in your mom and dads name since its their principle residence and there is no tax. A the time that our mother passes away, then it would be deemed disposed of, and that would be the market ale for it to be passed on to you. If you already have a house it wold be better o leave it, if you do not, then it's doesn't matter from a tax perspective.

[OhGreatGuru]

Assuming the parents are Joint With Right of Survivor (JWROS) the house will automatically become the wife's on her husband's death, with no tax consequences.The principal advantage to transferring ownership to child before OP's mother dies would be to keep the house out of her estate. This may considerably simplify settling her estate, depending on the circumstances.

PS: Your mother should not be making any hurried financial decisions at this stressful time unless they are necessary ones. Deciding whether and when to transfer title to her child can be done at leisure. Unless it is father's wish to ensure that his share of the property is passed on before he dies?

[Nolan Matthias]

You could also look at the option of putting your name jointly on the title, it shouldn't necessarily need to go entirely in your own name. This is one of those scenarios where you should definitely seek legal advice.

[OhGreatGuru]

I agree that putting it into joint ownership with daughter would be worth exploring, rather than outright transfer. It preserves the mother's interest in the property until her death, and provides for automatic inheritance by survivor. There would be no taxes due at this time, but a record of the Fair Market Value at time of transfer needs to be kept, to establish daughter's "deemed acquisition cost" for calculating possible future capital gains. I didn't want to go ino that kind of detail until the question of why it is being transferred at all at this time is resolved.

OP is likely going to need legal assistance with any title change/transfer, so I also agree consulting a lawyer would be in order if she proceeds.

[slacker]

We decided to not do any transfer, because like others have mentioned, my mom will automatically have full ownership of the house if something happens to my dad.

Our only concern was to minimize legal fees, headaches, and taxes. Looks like leaving things as is will accomplish just that.

Thanks everyone.