Attorney Thomas B. Burton answers a reader question about whether the deed on the house governs what happens to the house, or whether the terms of the Will govern what happens to a house that the reader's father placed in the name of the child before death.
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Transcript of Video: Dad Put House Deed in My Name Do I Have to Give Sibling Anything?
Today's question comes from Unity
Wisconsin and it says the following my
dad passed away he deeded the house to
me it is already deeded in my name do I
have to give my sibling anything
the last will and testament says it is
to be split equal but it is already deeded
in my name so this is a very good
question because we see two issues here
one a transfer during life which was
when the father deeded the home to the
son and two, the last will and testament
which only takes effect upon the
father's death so if your father validly
transferred it to you during his life as
a gift then that asset was removed from
his probate estate because the will
covers everything else everything
without a title or with a title that
otherwise not disposed of so if he
transferred the house to you let's say
as a joint tenant then with rights of
survivorship then you take all of it
upon death however you need to check how
the title was transferred if it was
solely out of his name into your name
then you own it if it was just partial interest then you have that
partial interest and the will would
dictate what happens to the other part
but for my other listeners watching be
careful that what you do during life
lines up with what you want to happen at
death because if this father really
intended that the children split the
house then he shouldn't have transferred
it during his lifetime solely to one
child but to you the questioner you
may own 100% of the house now the will
would dictate what happens to everything
else such as any the other real estate he
owned bank accounts that weren't titled
to pass non probate or anything like
that vehicles etc. so again it sounds
like from the facts you said here that
if it was deeded solely into your name
then you would be the owner of the house
and the will would just dictate
any other assets that had not been
transferred or disposed of by a transfer
on death or a beneficiary designation
at death so good question and thank
you for asking!
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Transcript and captions provided for ease of access for the hearing impaired.
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