Hi All,
I am doing some estate planning with my parents and want to get some opinions on the ramifications of the plan on my kids financial aid eligibility. My parents would like to transfer two properties they have in the Czech Republic to me as the legal owner. However, I would not retain any legal or financial ability to execute any transactions on the properties while they are living. So in effect it is ownership in name only. That being said I am not sure how this should be handled on the FAFSA. Yes legally it will be my asset but I will not have any control over it. It will not even be in a trust. If anyone has had experience with foreign assets any guidance would be much appreciated. Or if you could provide any information about what kind of accountant I need that has and understanding of the FAFSA that would be helpful as well.
Thanks
It sounds like your parents would transfer legal ownership of the properties to you, but retain for themselves what is equivalent to life estates. In my opinion, when it comes time for you to help your kids complete financial aid documents, these properties would need to be reported as parent assets using their current fair market value, even though you would not be able to access the equity in the properties until both of your parents are deceased (unless the life estates are voluntarily terminated).
Can you ask your parents what objective is being met by transferring the properties to you?
And before you get tied up in knots over financial aid/FAFSA, do you know that absent the property ownership you even qualify for federal aid??? It might not even be relevant based on income, other assets, etc.