Father wants to gift me money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s a joint account and the father passes, the bank freezes the account. Happened to us when my dad died. That account was joint with my sister who lived with him and it was where all the automatic payments for household bills came from.

I had a joint account with my mother, and when she passed the money became mine. It was joint with right of survivorship. There are other kinds of joint accounts that work differently, and you don't want one of those.

DP. My post was messed up but this was the same in our case.

The post-about Frozen accounts is wrong. Check whether their accounts are survivorship accounts. I had a parent who was ill and passed a few weeks ago so these are things we reviewed this years All accounts have been transferred to surviving parent.

There is so much information on this post already. OP needs to read carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you all know you will have to pay taxes on anything over the $19,000 allowed to be gifted tax free? If you have a spouse, he can give you both double for a total of $38K.

If you go over those amounts, your dad will have to report it to the IRS and possibly someone will need to pay tax on it. It would be a waste of money if you were to gift the money back to him and have to pay tax a second time. I've never heard of someone keeping the money in case the parent needed it.

This is wrong. The excess over the yearly exclusion amount will be applied to your father's lifetime estate tax exclusion. If his estate is smaller than that very large amount, then the excess gift won't increase anybody's tax liability.

+1. No matter how many times this is repeated somehow people still think they owe gift tax for the amount over 19k/38k.

But it's true if he goes over he has to report it to the IRS and it does go against the estate lifetime limit. And yes most won't hit that, but some of us are legitimately concerned about it

If you will have $30M you should pay someone to handle it if you will not have $30M the IRS will never care enough to investigate your gifts of sightly over $38K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad (age 78) would like to start closing some of his accounts and gift me and my sister money. It would probably be around 50,000 each for now. While my father has accumulated some wealth and has saved well for the future, he would like me to keep the money in an account that could someday be accessed in case he and my mom need it (not enough for assisted living/memory care etc). What is the best kind of account to keep it in for now. Most likely it will be mine to keep, but of course if they needed help I would use it to help them.
Thank you.

I'd say NO on any gift that he wants to be available for use of M/F. Morally you'd help with expenses later but that means this 50k is not really a gift. Like you can't use it to renovate a decrepit kitchen or towards a new vehicle or any for new siding or a roof. And frankly he could decide to use the $ on stuff like that for his residence or vehicle.

If he wants use of the gift then what about any 529's for your children with themselves as account owners? If so $ can be taken out and they pay penalties/taxes. But still get use of the cash.

[Anonymous]

So many idiots thinking they are getting more than 30 million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Smd the point is to hide assets from Medicaid?

Yes, apparently. And it’s sad that peoole have to do this

They don't have to. They want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wtf? That’s such a dumb idea. Either it’s a gift or it’s theirs, they are making this too complicated. I’d refuse the gift if there’s going to be these strings. Maybe you can set them up with a financial advisor who can help direct them how to best invest their money? There are lots of options for growth that are relatively stable.

No, I get it. If there’s trust and love, this isn’t an issue.

Agree. Simplifies transfer on death, if the money isn’t spent. Also possibly taxes depending on state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But from OP's post, it sounds like the father is worried about something happening to them so the account is really there in case money is needed quickly, not to help OP because they aren't supposed to touch it. I don't think this is scamming, just worry about assets being locked up in case something should happen, maybe?

Easiest would be to do a joint account, but I don't know about the implications of that for OP -- like if they have that account do they have to disclose that for financial aid or something?

But the reason why I said estate planning is that he is 78. Ideally the father should sit down with OP and discuss all their assets, accounts, life insurance, etc. plus share estate planning docs and discuss their wishes. They could set up a POA that could be springing as that would let their child help with ALL their finances/healthcare decisions not just this random account.

But that's the point. If something were "to happen" to the 78 year old man, i.e. he needs medical care, which is likely, Medicare would look at what resources that man has available. That's why people are accusing the OP's parent of trying to shift their assets to look poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Smd the point is to hide assets from Medicaid?

Yes, apparently. And it’s sad that peoole have to do this

If you have $$$ why should the govt and my taxes pay for your elder care?!?!?! Take some responsibility for your self and save for your own LTC or purchase insurance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad (age 78) would like to start closing some of his accounts and gift me and my sister money. It would probably be around 50,000 each for now. While my father has accumulated some wealth and has saved well for the future, he would like me to keep the money in an account that could someday be accessed in case he and my mom need it (not enough for assisted living/memory care etc). What is the best kind of account to keep it in for now. Most likely it will be mine to keep, but of course if they needed help I would use it to help them.
Thank you.

is this a part of Medicaid planning?