Get Along

No perfect solution exists for leaving property to adults who do not get along. The problem with a transfer on death deed is that all beneficiaries receive the property outright, so no one person is in charge of picking a real estate agent, selling the home, and then distributing the funds. The beneficiaries will have to agree on selling the property, who will sell it, who will pay the bills in the meantime, etc or they might end up suing each other in court, one person taking control fo the property, or the asset wasting while they fight it out.   

Some families prefer a trust administration where there is a trustee to make these choices and distribute the funds.   With a trust, unless the beneficiary files a suit, there is one person in charge of moving the distribution forward.  Trust administrations generally require an attorney, and the trustee and attorney bills often add up $4,000 to $15,000 each.   If there is litigation, it is easy to spend $50,000-$100,000 on attorney bills.   

There is not a right or wrong answer, each family is different.   If it is possible to give a house to one person, and cash to another, that sometime is the overall most cost-effective solution even through that rarely results in exactly a 50/50 distribution.   The value of a bank account goes up and down, as does the property.  It’s a guess, but sometimes a guess that means 100% of whatever you had went to a beneficiary and $0 went to an attorney.