<p>Here’s one … 1,900 sq. ft. … $1,850,000 … and no beach.</p>
<p>[Bar</a> Harbor, ME, 04609 - MLS #985878 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®](<a href=“http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Bar-Harbor_ME_04609_1120789617]Bar”>http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Bar-Harbor_ME_04609_1120789617)</p>
<p>Regarding estate taxes:</p>
<p>I read a story in Reader’s Digest not long ago telling the (supposedly) heartwarming story of a farm couple who left CD’s, that’s Certificates of Deposits to all the people in the area who had done good deeds for them over the years. $100,000 to one, $200,000 to another, and on and on. </p>
<p>Only in one small paragraph did the article say that the person who inherited the house and farm, a nephew, I think, had to sell it to pay the estate taxes. And he got very little. </p>
<p>The taxes don’t come out of the specific bequests, they came out of the residuary legatees bequest. That is, the bequest of all the remainder not specifically allocated.</p>
<p>Naturally, not just on CC. MY husband has relatives that are as poor as they come. Very little income, no money in the bank, but they are land rich as they have inherited properties on which they live, off of which they live, that are now worth a lot when at one time they had little market value and marketibility only to the poor folk who lived in that are. A friend of mine has relatives in the same situation on the West Coast. Believe me, if you saw these folks, you would agree that they are dirt poor. I have no idea what they would have to claim on any financial forms as to what their assets are since a number of family members live on the property. Each year, there is a scramble to pay the property taxes and everyone living there pitches in. They are about 5 years behind and pay just enough to keep from foreclosure as the increase in property taxes has made it expensive for them to live their with practically no income. I have no idea who owns how much or what of that property and who gets what when who dies. And I don’t know anyone who does. It seems like they have always had their own code of progression that is honored by everyone there. </p>
<p>It would be ironic and ridiculous if one of the kids there wanted to go to college and that property had to be listed as an asset. Not that any of them have ever gone anywhere other than a course or two at the local community college.</p>
<p>A friend inherited a house from a man she worked for (he had no kids) but the attorney did not set it up to cover estate taxes, so it had to be sold. Sadly it was appraised for taxes in a high value time, but by the time it sold the value had dropped dramatically. I wonder why who pays the estate taxes is not addressed in the will? In this case, the man wanted her to have a home, she had been homeless for a while. Instead she sold at a fire sale price and squandered most of the money she did get, not his intention.</p>
<p>NewHope, even on Mt. Desert I would expect more than that for $1.8 million!</p>
<p>Somemom:</p>
<p>Usually, how the estate taxes are paid is addressed in the will. The will will say something like “all burial expenses, probate fees and costs, taxes and other debts” are to come out of the residuary legatees bequest. </p>
<p>So in the beach house situation, if parents write the will to give Johnny the beach house and Janie the cash as residuary legatee, Janie could end up paying the estate taxes on Johnny’s house and get only what’s left after the taxes and other debts are paid. </p>
<p>My sister was a residuary legatee once. The lawyer’s fees, the probate costs, the taxes, all came out of her inheritance. The people given specific things like the house, specific amounts of cash, etc. got the entire bequest.</p>
<p>^^ Well, my point was that a vacation home … in a vacation-destination area … doesn’t have to be a mansion in order to generate a hefty estate tax.</p>