Florida: Enabling Bad Estate Planning
I've written quite a bit about why it's a bad idea to give someone the gift of making them a joint tenant on your property -- here is my main post on the subject, which references an article from my website as well as an article from the You and Yours Blawg.
I'm sure Florida's politicians have the best of intentions, but the legislation discussed here is nonsensical. The legislation "would keep a cap on property tax increases when a co-owner is added to a homestead property deed," an issue that "comes up most often when a parent puts a child's name on a deed to try to avoid probate court when the parent dies." Adding a child or other individual as a joint tenant on your home is almost always a bad idea, and isn't something that the state should be encouraging or enabling. The article mentions that the legislation would cost the state $8.6 million per year in lost revenue. The problem is that it's going to cost the people of the state of Florida much more than that when you consider the disputes that inevitably arise from these types of situations.
