Never put your home directly in your child's name. You'll trigger capital gains taxes of 25% to 40% on the appreciated value. A living trust with your children as beneficiaries gives them a stepped-up cost basis when you die, eliminating the tax hit.
Never, ever, ever transfer your home into your kid's name. You're messing up their future. Because when you've owned your property for a long time, the property value has appreciated a lot. So if you give it to your kids in your will, they have to pay all the capital gains taxes on it, which is around 25 to 40% of that property's value. So instead, just put it into a living trust and name your kids as the beneficiaries. Now, when you're gone, they'll get the property tax free through the trust in a special code called stepped up in cost basis.
