[WSBARP] A *complicated" Quitclaim Deed situation.

[Kary Krismer]

Lots of issues here.

If the husband's inability to sign goes to mental capacity, did he have 
capacity when he signed the POA?  If it doesn't go to mental capacity, 
could he sign with a mobile or remote notary (assuming the QCD is a good 
idea)?  Also, who was the notary? Sometimes title companies care about 
such things, although I suspect that concern would be lessened when the 
grantee is a spouse.  Also, where was the POA signed?  Canada?  That 
might be an issue.

I sort of doubt foreigners are subject to death/gift taxes, unless maybe 
they are resident aliens, and if they are subject to the tax I strongly 
suspect the exception for transfers between spouses would apply.  That 
should be easy enough to check by looking at the exemption statute.  
Tougher is whether the step-up in basis still applies after the transfer 
to the surviving spouse, and that is important because US income taxes 
do apply.

I like the declaration of no probate idea to avoid both the POA and tax 
issues, but wouldn't that require knowing whether a probate will be 
required in Canada?  I don't know that the declaration of no probate 
applies if there's just no ancillary probate in Washington.  I would 
suggest contacting a title company about what they might accept on 
whatever the PC's facts are.

Kary L. Krismer

206 723-2148

On 7/6/2021 5:36 PM, Carol Li wrote:
> Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend!
> Drafting a QCD should be one of the easiest tasks, but I am running 
> into a complicated one here. PC and her husband own two properties in 
> WA. They are both Canadians. Now the husband is sick(very sick) and PC 
> has the POA. PC is seeking legal help to transfer the properties to 
> her own name only. I immediately thought of using quit claim deed to 
> transfer the title as gift under WAC REETA exemption. Now two 
> questions pop up: 1. Can PC sign as grantor on behalf of the husband 
> to gift half of the title to PC? (It sounds almost like conflict of 
> interest or PC taking advantage of her sick husband?) And 2. As 
> Canadians/foreigners, does the husband need to file federal gift tax 
> certificate or is there any other federal tax consequences ...
> Thank you in advanced!
>
> ***Disclaimer: Please note that RPPT listserv participation is not restricted to practicing attorneys and may include non-practicing attorneys, law students, professionals working in related fields, and others.***
>
> _______________________________________________
> WSBARP mailing list
> WSBARP at lists.wsbarppt.com
> http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbarp
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20210707/9f840e29/attachment.html>