Many people do not own any assets that are more valuable than their homes. This is true in a financial sense and a sentimental sense. The family home is where you made memories over the years, and that matters to both you and your children.
As you do your estate planning, you may be considering what to do with your home. Do you sell it and leave the money to the next generation? Do you just leave them the house itself?
Many parents are tempted to leave them the house, rather than selling it. They may not want to deal with a sale at that point in their lives or they may want to give the children the option. Maybe they’ll be heartbroken if the house leaves the family, and they wouldn’t want a split of the money. They want the house itself.
One problem with leaving the house to the kids, though, is that they may want different things. The sentimental side may matter more to some children than others, meaning you have a faction of your family that wants to keep the home and split the bills, and you have another faction that wants to sell it and get their cut of the money. One side sees it as an asset, and the other sees it as a liability. If they can’t agree, does this cause some problems? How do they decide who wins the disagreement? Could that dispute change their relationships forever?
Every family is different. Just know that with real estate and other major assets, you really need to consider all of the options you have.
