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Transcript
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Introduction
Hi folks, it’s Andy Stautz at Stautz Law and we are back with a follow up hard on the heels of our last discussion.
We just talked about joint tenancies–joint tenancies are where two or more people own a property all together: not in separate shares, but together.
And now I’m talking about survivorship affidavits
How Survivorship Works for Indiana Joint Tenancies
As we discussed in our last video with the joint tenancy, if one of the joint tenants dies, the other owners step up; they get the property automatically. There’s no need for probate. There’s none of this other stuff.
How an affidavit of survivorship works
The only thing you need is a little one page doc called an affidavit of survivorship, and I’ve got a sample copy. There are tons of sample copies on the Internet. Marion County, Indiana, if you’re doing Indiana estate planning, you know, we’ve got examples.
I’ll link one in the text version of the post. [As promised: here’s a link to Marion County’s sample affidavit of survivorship. Courtesy of Indianapolis government!]
It’s a one-pager and it basically says. You know, my name is such and such. I owned this property jointly with whomever. That person died. The property is mine now. Boom.
Do you need to record the affidavit of survivorship?
And that gets recorded. Just like a sale deed. Except it’s not a sale. It just it says “OK, County recorder, this property that was a joint tenant is now just mine or is now just we remaining owners”.
And you’ve got to do this. You’ve got to do this because what the affidavit of survivorship does is changes the title, the title of record. From both of you or all three, you know however many: from both of you to just one of you–to just your name.
And that lets you sell the property or dispose of it in your will or you know basically clears up the title and clarifies the fact that it used to be a joint tenancy, now it’s yours.
Why do I need to retitle joint property after death?
If you don’t do that, bad things can happen. Or unexpected things. So I had a probate consultation with a man who . . . had a will that gave him a house. But the person who wrote that will owned the house in question as a joint tenant with right of survivorship. With someone else. So the will, you know… it wasn’t… the first of the joint tenants to die doesn’t get to give away the property. It goes to the survivor. So that really messed up the estate plan there.
And that’s why you should always make sure you know keep up on your property titling. So anyway, don’t be scared of the affidavit of survivorship. It’s an easy document to make. I can help you with that. You want to do it right. So there are DIY forms, but… I think you should call me.
Anyway, if you need help with that or any other estate planning, Andy Stautz at Stautz Law; you’re on my website so you know all of my contact information. I’m going to do one more video on this topic. And it’s going to be you know, pitfalls, traps, considerations, whether planning with joint tenancies is actually a good idea or not. So stay tuned. Bye for now.
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