Business
What wealthy parents need to know about giving real estate to their kids
A local house with a porch in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA.
Wolfgang Kaehler | Lightrocket | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The great wealth transfer is leading to a great real estate transfer, with up to $25 trillion in real estate owned by older generations that could get passed down — and fought over — in their families.
According to Cerulli Associates, $105 trillion is expected to be passed down by baby boomers and older generations by 2048. Real estate, including primary and vacation homes, as well as investment properties, is expected to be a large component. The silent generation and baby boomers own nearly $25 trillion in real estate combined, according to the Federal Reserve.
Yet with property comes conflict. Wealth advisors say handing down real estate is increasingly filled with both financial and emotional pitfalls for families, ranging from taxes and maintenance costs to disputes over ownership and usage. The straightforward solution is just to sell it and divide the proceeds.
“Some people want to retain the house and other children don’t,” said BNY Wealth’s Jere Doyle. “I can tell you, as a practical matter, there’s going to be fights. There’s going to be disagreements. You’re not going to have the perfect situation.”
But lawyers and wealth planners say there are measures families can take to more effectively pass down real estate to minimize taxes, costs and family battles. Here are five secrets to successful real estate inheritances, whether it’s an apartment on Park Avenue, a beach house on the Vineyard or a ranch in Montana.
1. Transfer real estate in your will or through a trust to avoid a major tax bill.
Passing down vacation homes is the most fraught, said Elisa Rizzo of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Her clients often downsize their primary residences later in life, but families stay attached to their second homes.
“That vacation home, often for our families that are very mobile, becomes the centering place,” said Rizzo, head of family office advisory at JP Morgan. “The vacation homes are where people go, and they make really special memories with one another, whether it’s a ski house up in Vermont or a vacation home on Nantucket.”
Doyle advises against gifting long-held real estate before you die. If your heirs choose to sell the property, they have to pay capital gains taxes on the property’s appreciation since the parents originally bought the property.
“If you give during your lifetime, the kids take your cost basis,” said Doyle, senior estate planning strategist for BNY Wealth. “One of the things that people have to bear in mind is that the senior generation probably didn’t pay an awful lot for the property.”
There are ways to minimize the tax burden, such as using a qualified personal residence trust. However, if you can afford to wait, it is best to leave real estate to your heirs in your will or in a trust at death, according to Doyle. If the heirs later sell the property, they only have to pay capital gains taxes on how much the home has appreciated since they inherited it.
2. Use LLCs and trusts to shield the home from lawsuits.
Rather than having the heirs own the property directly, lawyers recommend placing homes in a limited liability company and setting up a trust for the kids’ benefit that holds interest in the LLC.
These legal maneuvers protect assets in several ways. For instance, if a vacation home is rented and a tenant slips and falls, the heirs are not held personally liable for any damages.
“Your other assets, stocks, bonds, are not subject to any creditors’ claims,” Doyle said.
It also shields heirs from the liabilities of their siblings, according to Dan Griffith, director of wealth strategy at Huntington Private Bank. For instance, if one heir files for bankruptcy, the LLC structure prevents the creditors from putting a lien on the shared home, he said.
You can also save on transfer taxes by gifting interest in an LLC that owns the property rather than putting heirs’ names on the deed, Griffith said. Since these fractional interests are illiquid, parents can claim a discount on the taxable value.
3. Outline who gets to use the home and how.
Parents can put rules in place with an operating agreement for the LLC. Clients can use the document to make sure the home doesn’t end up in the hands of their children’s spouses, which is a common concern, according to Northern Trust’s Laura Mandel.
“Typically families want to retain these properties along the bloodline,” said the chief fiduciary officer.
Parents can restrict an LLC interest from transferring to surviving or former spouses of their children. With a well-drawn trust, it would be difficult for the spouse to contest it in court, Mandel said. These operating agreements often include buyout provisions that allow the heirs to buy out the spouse.
Parents can also use the document to guide how the property is used, such as laying out how many holiday weekends each child gets, who has the right to redecorate or whether the home can be rented out or used for weddings.
Leaving these issues unaddressed can cause fights among siblings. Mandel recalled a set of four siblings with a large ranch out west that they rented out frequently. After complaints that the ranch felt like a “VRBO,” Mandel helped the siblings reach an agreement on how the property could be used.
4. Set aside liquid assets for the house’s upkeep and insurance.
Money is the most common trigger for family feuds, Griffith said. An inherited home can quickly become a financial burden unless the parents also set aside cash to pay for the upkeep.
“What ends up inevitably happening there is that one person pays the bills, and then enormous resentment grows, because either that person has to ask their siblings or cousins for money and sometimes those people don’t pay,” he said. “Or they say, ‘Hey, I’m the one paying all the bills. How come I don’t get to use this more often than any of the rest of you?'”
Doyle recommends that parents use liquid assets like marketable securities or take out a life insurance policy in order to endow the trust. This outlay makes it possible for siblings to hold onto the home even if they can’t afford to share the expenses.
“In a lot of cases, you may have some kids that can afford to pay the maintenance expenses, and others can’t, so how do you treat them equally?” he said.
However, the operating agreement should still include a contingency plan for dividing expenses if the trust runs dry. This is especially important for waterfront homes that are expensive to insure or susceptible to erosion.
5. Prepare for the likelihood that some heirs may want to cash out.
Parents often assume that their children will want to keep the home, according to Mandel. However, even if heirs initially agree to, they may change their minds later. Perhaps they grow tired of sharing a home with their cousins or a death in the family changes the equation, she said. For instance, Mandel worked with a ranch-owning family where the only sibling with working knowledge of the property passed away unexpectedly, which upended the living siblings’ plan to run the ranch.
It’s important to plan for the likelihood that some or all of the heirs will want to cash out. Doyle suggests creating buyout provisions that allow heirs to buy their siblings’ LLC interest even if they don’t have the liquidity, such as taking out a promissory note. The assets in the trust can also be used to buy siblings’ interests in the LLC.
“What you’ve got to build into any plan is an understanding that people’s circumstances and situations can and will definitely change,” he said. “Maybe they’re going to have kids, or their job changes, or their health changes. Things change.”
This can be hard for parents to reconcile, but keeping heirs’ hands tied defeats the purpose of a vacation home, Griffith said.
“If your grandchildren don’t have any ties to this place, no one lives here, no one grew up here, nobody cares, then do you really care if they sell the place?” he said. “If somebody else who really does care about it gets to enjoy it, is that such a bad thing?”
BP has warned it expects to book up to five billion dollars (£3.7 billion) in write-downs across its gas and low-carbon energy division as it also said oil trading had been weak in its final quarter.
The oil giant joined FTSE 100 rival Shell, after it also last week cautioned over a weaker performance from trading, which comes amid a drop in the cost of crude.
BP said Brent crude prices averaged 63.73 dollars per barrel in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 69.13 dollars a barrel in the previous three months.
Oil prices have slumped in recent weeks, partly driven lower due to US President Donald Trump’s move to oust and detain Venezuela’s leader and lay claim to crude in the region, leading to fears of a supply glut.
In its update ahead of full-year results, BP also said it expects to book a four billion dollar (£3 billion) to five billion dollar (£3.7 billion) impairment in its so-called transition businesses, largely relating to its gas and low-carbon energy division.
But it said further progress had been made in slashing debts, with its net debt falling to between 22 billion and 23 billion dollars (£16.4 billion to £17.1 billion) at the end of 2025, down from 26.1 billion dollars (£19.4 billion) at the end of September.
It comes after the firm’s surprise move last month to appoint Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill as its new chief executive as Murray Auchincloss stepped down after less than two years in the role.
Ms O’Neill will start in the role on April 1, with Carol Howle, current executive vice president of supply, trading and shipping at BP, acting as chief executive on an interim basis until the new boss joins.
Ms O’Neill’s appointment has made history as she will become the first woman to run BP – and also the first to head up a top five global oil company – as well as being the first ever outsider to take on the post at BP.
Shares in BP fell 1% in morning trading on Wednesday after the latest update.
Business
Budget 2026: Kolkata realtors seek tax relief, revised affordable housing cap; eye demand revival – The Times of India
Real estate developers in Kolkata have urged the Centre to use the Union Budget to recalibrate housing policies to reflect rising land and construction costs, calling for higher tax benefits for homebuyers and a long-pending revision of the affordable housing definition to revive demand, especially in the mid-income segment, PTI reported.With the Budget set to be tabled on February 1, industry players said measures such as revisiting price caps for affordable homes, rationalising GST on under-construction properties and easing approval processes could significantly improve affordability and sales momentum.Sushil Mohta, president of CREDAI West Bengal and chairman of Merlin Group, said reforms must align with current market realities. “Revisiting the affordable housing definition, rationalising housing loan interest deductions and streamlining GST rates will significantly improve affordability and demand, especially for middle-income homebuyers,” he told PTI, adding that a policy push for rental housing and wider access to formal housing finance is crucial amid rapid urbanisation.Mahesh Agarwal, managing director of Purti Realty, said continued policy support through tax rationalisation and infrastructure spending remains critical. “A re-evaluation of affordable housing price limits in line with rising land and construction costs, along with adjustments to GST on under-construction property, will enhance affordability,” he said, stressing that simpler tax frameworks and incentives for first-time buyers would help stabilise the market and speed up project execution.Echoing similar concerns, Merlin Group MD Saket Mohta pointed to sharp increases in construction costs since the introduction of GST in 2017, underscoring the need for further rationalisation. He also called for raising the affordable housing price cap from Rs 45 lakh to around Rs 80–90 lakh and expanding unit size norms. “Mid-income housing will be the key demand driver going into 2026, and supportive tax and policy measures are essential to sustain growth,” he said.Eden Realty MD Arya Sumant said the Budget must strike a balance between fiscal discipline and growth-oriented reforms. “Higher home loan interest deductions for mid-income and first-time buyers, an updated affordable housing definition, GST rationalisation and faster approvals will improve project viability and speed-to-market,” he said, adding that sustained urban infrastructure investment would unlock demand across residential and commercial segments.Sahil Saharia, CEO of Bengal Shristi Infrastructure Development Ltd, said policy focus should shift towards large, integrated developments. “Support for mixed-use townships, rental housing and commercial hubs, along with faster clearances and digital single-window mechanisms, can help create self-sustained urban ecosystems and improve execution efficiency,” he said.Developers said clear and stable policy signals in the Budget could help restore homebuyer confidence, attract long-term capital and ensure sustainable growth for the real estate sector in eastern India.
Circular debt in the power sector has increased in the first five months of the ongoing financial year (FY). Sources told that the debt shot up by Rs223 billion since July 2025 to reach Rs1,837 billion in November 2025 within two months of the signing of agreements to reduce the debt by Rs1225 billion.
Despite the fact that the government had signed agreements with banks in September last year to reduce the debt, it increased by Rs144 billion in October and November.
In September, the debt stood at Rs1,693 billion, while it was Rs1,614 billion in June 2025.
Sources informed that compared with November 2024, the debt in November 2025 came down by Rs544 billion.
It was Rs2,381 in November 2024, they added.
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