Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

I have lived on my dad & stepmother's land for 34 years, the home I bought & have paid the taxes on. They now are deeding the land over to me & my husband, but in the deed it states that all heirs have the use of the land, does that mean I still don't own the land & the only thing I really got was more taxes to pay?


Asked on 12/05/13, 10:55 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Living on land does not give you any rights to own the land and if you put a house on land that you did not own that was not very intelligent.

What I would do is subdivide the land into 2 tracts. Get your parents to deed you the parcel of land a reasonable amount of acreage surrounding the house so that you will own this solely. The remaining parcel can be left to the other heirs or to you and the other heirs to use.

Depending on the value of the land, there could be gift tax consequences to your parents. This should be worked out with them and you should get a real estate lawyer. As an alternative, your parents could make a will leaving you the land on which the house sits and giving the other acreage to their other children. In such case they would need to discuss with an estate planning attorney.

Doing what you propose is not a good idea. I say this because you will own the land but subject to the rights of others to use it. What if one of the other heirs wants to do something really annoying on the land that you do not approve of (maybe hunt or ride an ATV or something like that)? And, as you note, if your name is on the deed then you would own the land and have to pay taxes. The other heirs would have a right to use the land but what then? They would not have to share in the taxes. I just seem too many problems with your proposal. It would be better for you to own your little piece outright and let the other heirs do what they want with their piece.

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Answered on 12/05/13, 1:02 pm


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