HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE – ADD YOUR TRUST AS AN ADDITIONAL INSURED
(January 2025)
With the homeowner’s insurance “climate” Californian’s face today, there is opinion that some insurance claims may be in dispute of being covered and/or totally denied, because title to the property is held in a revocable trust - but the insurance policy is under the individual homeowner’s name
Though generally there is no “beneficial change in ownership” when an asset is titled in a “revocable” trust, the insurance companies may use anything they can to deny claims.
If your house or any real property is in a trust, we urge you to immediately contact your insurance company and add your trust as an “additional insured” for each real property. Be sure to get confirmation in writing from your insurance company that this task is completed.
There is usually not a fee to do this, however, that too could change depending on your carrier. They may charge a small fee.
Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors!
PROPERTY TAXES & PROP 19 (Effective 02/16/2021)
Proposition 13 was a proposition that helped California homeowners maintain their property tax basis with limited increases. Proposition 60 was another proposition allowing homeowners to transfer their assessed value, if
- the home owner was over 55,
- their new home and the one they were selling was their primary residence,
- the new home was of equal or lesser value than their old home,
- and they could only do this transfer once in their lives.
Proposition 90 had all the same rules, but it only applied to certain counties. Therefore, counties within California could choose to opt in or out.
THE GOOD NEWS:
Proposition 60 and 90 became inapplicable and Proposition 19 became the new law of the land, automatically including all counties within California. So a homeowner can now move anywhere within California and apply the tax transfer from Proposition 19. Furthermore, homeowners now get three transfers within their life instead of one. In the past, married couples only got one transfer between them, even after a divorce. This new proposition is helping to correct that.
Proposition 19 also allows homeowners to purchase a new home up to a million dollars over the selling price of their old home and still get to transfer their property tax amount. However, they only get to transfer the property taxes up to the amount the home sold for. Anything above that selling price gets taxed at the present day amount.
The new rules for Proposition 19 have always applied to severely disabled people. However, the new proposition will extend to people affected by natural disasters (i.e. CA wildfire victims). These homeowners will not have to match the same criteria as everyone else when transferring property taxes. This is a great benefit for people who have second homes. If the second home is destroyed by a wildfire, they are now able to buy a new one and transfer the taxes.
THE BAD NEWS:
