keys to house with home ownership documents

Real estate may be owned in your personal name, in a business name, or in a trust. You may have heard of revocable living trusts, corporations, LLCs, series LLCs, or limited partnerships. Here’s a quick guide to where you should own different types of properties.

1. Personal Residence

Your home should be owned in your revocable living trust. A living trust is an excellent choice to own your personal residence as the property can pass under the terms of your trust upon your death and your heirs won’t need to go to probate court to transfer ownership. If your residence is owned in your personal name it can only pass to your children/heirs after you’ve gone to probate court which requires far more legal fees and time than setting up a  trust now. For homes with significant equity you may want to consider a domestic asset protection trust which can protect the equity in the home from personal creditors.

2. Rental Property

Your rental property should be owned in an LLC. Rental properties generate income and wealth but they can also create liabilities. If a rental property is owned in your personal name everything that happens on the home creates personal liability to you and a plaintiff can go after all of your personal assets, income, and wages. On the other hand, if a rental property is owned in an LLC the plaintiff will be required to sue the LLC and can’t go after the LLC owner personally. In certain states where you have lots of properties you may want to consider a series LLC which provides liability protection in the LLC between multiple properties such that if something happens to one property in the series LLC it doesn’t effect the other properties in the series LLC. An LLC owned by one person or a married couple isn’t too difficult to manage and generally doesn’t require a separate LLC tax return. Instead, you report the property and its profit/loss on your personal return in the same way you ‘d report the profit/loss if you owned it in your personal name. In most instances, limited partnerships should not be used to hold rental properties as your tax losses and write offs are restricted when you own them in a limited partnerships.

3. Land or Second Home

Your land or second home should be owned in your revocable living trust. Again, this helps keep your assets coordinated with your estate plans and outside of probate court. For land or second homes with significant equity you may want to consider a limited partnership or domestic asset protection trust which can protect the property from the owner’s personal liabilities. Generally, an LLC is not used unless the property itself creates liability. For example, if you rent your second home or cabin you may want an LLC for liability protection but most second homes or parcels of land do not create liability  and therefore do not need an LLC.

4. Where Should Properties Never Be Held

Except for short short term real estate holds (under one year) properties should not be owned in a s-corporation and should never be held in a c-corporation. Additionally, we rarely recommend clients use land trusts to own property for asset protection purposes as land trusts provide little actual asset protection beyond making the owner of the property difficult to determine at the county records.

There are lots of options and many nuances to how you should own your real estate. For a more detailed and specific analysis for your properties please contact the law firm for an estate and asset protection plan that fits your needs. We can also assist with deed transfers to get your properties into the right place.