Capital Gain Relief for Widows and Widowers:
Many widows and widowers will have more time to sell the family home and still qualify for the maximum amount of gain that may be excluded under federal income tax. A recently enacted law will offer relief.
Here’s how it works: lf you sell your primary residence, you typically can exclude as much as $500,000 of the gain if you’re filing jointly in the year of sale and $250,000 if you’re single. To be eligible for the full exclusion, you must have owned the home—and lived in it as your primary residence—for at least two of the five years prior to the sale. Under the new law, a surviving spouse may still qualify for the $500,000 joint-filer exclusion if the sale occurs “not later than two years after the spouse’s death, as long as the requirements for the $500,000 exclusion were met immediately before the spouse’s death and the survivor has not remarried as of the date of the sale.”
Property Tax Reassessment for Registered Domestic Partners:
As of January 1, any transfer of real property made from January 1, 2001 through January 1, 2006 between registered domestic partners is retroactively exempt from property tax reassessment. The recipient of the real property transfer must submit an application by June 30, 2008 to reverse the reassessment.
New Notarization Requirements:
AB 886, Chapter 399 (Runner) now requires notaries to use new language in notarizing documents and also requires identification and thumb print requirements:
•Under this new law, no acknowledgment may be taken or jurat’s executed on the basis of personal knowledge alone-evidence of identification is required.
•A power of attorney document is added to the list of documents that requires a thumbprint in the notary journal.
So don’t be surprised when the notary has to add an additional sheet to the documents being notarized. If the notary language is incorrect, the document will not be validly notarized by the notary and could cause problems for the consumer in the future.
Ms. Macdonald’s practice is limited to Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law. Ms. MacDonald maintains her practice in the Santa Clarita Valley at 27013 Langside Avenue, Suite A, Santa Clarita, California. She can be reached at 661-251-1300.
