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Alex Anninos is a Beverly, Massachusetts real estate agent with a proven track record meeting client needs as a founding member of the Mavroules Team. Emphasizing the highest level of responsiveness, Alex Anninos works to ensure that properties are ideally positioned for sale. A recent Mavroules Team blog article brought attention to the importance of early decisions when purchasing a property, maintaining title to real estate, and avoiding probate.
There are five basic ways of titling residential real estate: sole ownership, tenancy in common, joint tenancy with the right of survivorship, a living trust, and tenants by the entirety. Of these, two can help avoid the lengthy and often expensive probate process in the event of an owner’s death.
Joint tenancy with the right of survivorship is a structure whereby two or more people purchase the property, with each holding an equal interest in it. With each person listed on the deed, one passing away triggers a transference of his or her share to the other. In cases where there are several people’s names on the deed, the share of the decedent is equally divided among the remaining people. In many cases, this does not require a probate process.
Another method of avoiding probate is by setting up a living trust, through which a beneficiary is named and the property passes directly to that person upon the owner’s death. Keep in mind that a pour-over will, in which the property transfers automatically to the trust upon one’s passing, may not eliminate the need for probate. For this reason, it’s best to consult closely with an attorney or financial advisor when setting up such as structure.
