Ask the Expert: Ensuring kids get the house

My husband and I are both on the deed to our house; if he died first, it would be mine. But he is not my children's biological father, so I need to ensure that if I die first, the house will eventually go to them. How can I do that? Could the children be added to the deed without their knowledge?

There' a better solution. Even if you could secretly add your kids to the deed, they could find out about it by doing a search for property in their names, says Eric Kramer, an estate lawyer in Uniondale.

You're right - if your husband inherits the house, he can leave it to anyone he wants; indeed, if he remarried, his new wife might have a legal claim on it. But all of this also would be true if he were the children's biological father. State law prohibits us from disinheriting our spouses, but a parent is always legally free to disinherit his or her children.

To ensure that the house ultimately goes to your kids, Kramer suggests you and your husband transfer the deed to a joint revocable trust, naming the children as the trust beneficiaries. ("Revocable" means this transfer can be undone during your lifetimes, but only if you both agree.) The trust document can give both of you lifetime rights in the house. When one of you dies, the trust becomes irrevocable. If your husband is the survivor, he could remain in the house for the rest of his life. At his death, it would belong to the children. Kramer estimates that setting up a joint trust and transferring the deed into it would cost about $3,000.

The bottom line Children aren't legally entitled to inherit from their parents.

Websites with more information bit.ly/K7cud and bit.ly/a30T8G