[WSBAPT] Canadian Owner of Washington Real Estate

[Thomas Fiscus]

Hi Listmates – 


This may be a common problem for attorneys ofour ilk in Washington, but new to me. Client and her sister are Canadian. The sister owns Washington real property in which the client lives withher U.S. citizen husband and two U.S. citizen daughters.  Sister wants to transfer the property to myclient, or the client’s daughters, with minimal costs in fees and taxes. Sister doesn’t want to sell the property, so as to avoid FIRPTA.  RCW 11.20.090 would appear to allow theSister to create a revocable living trust in Washington and distribute the propertyat death to the daughters, whom I believe could claim a stepped up basis atthat time.  The property would probablystill be under the Washington estate tax threshold.  The Sister could instead bequeath theproperty to the daughters via Will, but I’m unclear about the Canadian taxconsequences of that.  Anyone have anidea how best to minimize hassle and taxes in this situation?

Thanks
Tom Fiscus


Law Office of Thomas J. Fiscus
Box 1167Eastsound, WA 98245Ph 360-376-3988
WSBA # 44741
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