Suze Orman

Well, besides that, no.

I have a saying, the less money you have, the more you need a trust.

Mm-hmm.

Because when all you have is a will, you are going to pay.

And if you don't have a lot of money, you're going to have to pay for probate, this and that.

Next, why transfer the name into joint tenancy?

Why would you do that?

And the reason that I say that is this.

All right, now your name is on the house.

Now she's gifted you half the value of the house, the value of when she bought it.

Why would you not want to just inherit it so you actually get a step up in basis?

If she bought that house for $50,000, let's just say she did, and it's now worth $500,000 just in her name, you have a living revocable trust.

where it's held for her benefit while she's alive, your benefit after she has died, she dies.

Now it goes directly to you, no probate.

Two weeks later, it's yours, but you also now get a step up in basis.

So now your cost basis on that house is $500,000.

If you can't live there anymore, too many memories, whatever, you turn around and sell it, guess what?

You don't pay any capital gains tax whatsoever.

Are you kidding me?

And I can go on and on and on about it.