Comments on: Principal Residence, Joint Ownership And Death

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:30:54 +0000

It is a court fee for having the Will confirmed. The point was that the property was re-registered as joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) which would trigger a deemed disposition. Since he acquired the property any future gains were taxable to him on his portion of ownership.

In many cases, it’s best to just leave it along and not bother with JTWROS (unless its with a spouse) and let the house be subject to probate. This is because the deceased can claim the principal residence exemption on death. But now he may incur a capital gain that would be higher than the probate value.

JTWROS with anyone other than a spouse is absolutely poor estate planning and anyone contemplating it for estate planning purposes should seek the advice of a lawyer and an accountant beforehand.

By: CanadianInvestor

CanadianInvestor — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:08:07 +0000

Re, your answer “probate should have been paid”. This surprises me. Isn’t probate a court fee paid for the service of having the will confirmed by the court and not a provincial estate tax on assets?

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:38:33 +0000

Unfortunately, one of the registered owners of the property was the son and the Income Tax Act requires that the purchaser withhold the tax from the proceeds. There is no recovery for withholding tax in this case.

The son should never of have been added in the first place. Too many things can go wrong.

By: dave

dave — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:24:43 +0000

mom and dad own their primary residence in Canada. son was added to the deed without consideration many years ago “to ease and facilitate financial affairs” in case of disability or death of mom and dad. son became US resident. upon sale Canadian tax was withheld because of non resident ownership. how do you eliminate the witholding as the son had no equity rights to the Canadian property.

By: Tax Guy

Tax Guy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:51:24 +0000

@ Bill:

If the home was your mom’s principal residence before her death and the home was left to you and you ordinarily occupy it, then it is your principal residence.

In this case it appears there are no tax consequences.

By: Bill D.

Bill D. — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:05:28 +0000

Dear Tax Guy,
My mother passed away in Ontario, July 21/09, leaving me, her only child all her property consisting of 90 acres and a large home. My wife and I have lived in that home, in order to care for her, for approximately the last 10 years. We have no other principal residence as we sold it in order to live with and care for her. Are we entitled to any tax exemptions because this is currently our principal residence.

Thankyou……..Bill