- Jurisdiction
- New York
Hello,
The background is that my father owns our home and my wife and I live there as well. We all live together. The house is in NY state.
We recently changed the deed to a life estate deed where he transferred the house to my wife and I while still maintaining a life estate for himself.
My questions revolve around liability and who actually owns the asset for insurance reasons.
1. Who technically owns the home?
2. If my wife or I are sued, is the house an asset that someone can come after?
3. Right now, my father has a large auto insurance policy but do my wife and I now need a similar policy for ourselves now that we are on the deed?
I've done lots of reading about how the life tenant (my father) is responsible for all taxes and insurance, etc, which leads me to think that he still has the liability but then again, having my wife and I on the deed must certainly place some liability on us as well, right?
I almost feel like I wouldn't have these kinds of thoughts if it were the scenario of that we lived in our own home elsewhere and my father setup the life estate in a typical estate planning scenario. But, I feel like this scenario of us actually living there changes some of this. Or maybe not. I don't know. I can't completely wrap my head around it.
I understand some of my questions are about insurance and there is a dedicated insurance section on the site but I feel like this is the most appropriate place to start and hopefully understand the ownership/liability.
Thank you for any advice you can give.
The background is that my father owns our home and my wife and I live there as well. We all live together. The house is in NY state.
We recently changed the deed to a life estate deed where he transferred the house to my wife and I while still maintaining a life estate for himself.
My questions revolve around liability and who actually owns the asset for insurance reasons.
1. Who technically owns the home?
2. If my wife or I are sued, is the house an asset that someone can come after?
3. Right now, my father has a large auto insurance policy but do my wife and I now need a similar policy for ourselves now that we are on the deed?
I've done lots of reading about how the life tenant (my father) is responsible for all taxes and insurance, etc, which leads me to think that he still has the liability but then again, having my wife and I on the deed must certainly place some liability on us as well, right?
I almost feel like I wouldn't have these kinds of thoughts if it were the scenario of that we lived in our own home elsewhere and my father setup the life estate in a typical estate planning scenario. But, I feel like this scenario of us actually living there changes some of this. Or maybe not. I don't know. I can't completely wrap my head around it.
I understand some of my questions are about insurance and there is a dedicated insurance section on the site but I feel like this is the most appropriate place to start and hopefully understand the ownership/liability.
Thank you for any advice you can give.