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If you have a will. You have said what you’d like. Then your estate will go through probate and the state will have a judge and lawyers tying things up in court for them to decide.
It’s actually worse: at least proper riveting technique doesn’t change depending on what state you live in.
If your the pilot, that does little to no good for liability protection
Terry, just a curiosity, but given that the “builder” of your airplane is your LLC, who did the FAA issue the Repairman’s Certificate to…the LLC or you? I had previously thought the FAA required builders to be individuals and not corporate entities. Best, Mike
I realize I said builder in my previous post, but I think the actual verbiage is "manufacturer" which isn't really the same thing.
I would hazard a guess that this will trigger an assessment and a tax impact, unlike transferring it from yourself to yourself as a trustee (which at least here in California, does not).
That makes sense to me.
The tax implications would be dependent on the state you live in. In KS for example, there's no property tax on experimental or antique airplanes but you do have to proactively fill out the exemption application. Nor is there an inheritance tax. God bless the heartland.
Internet legal advice is THE BEST. [<— sarcasm]
Absolutely agree, especially the sarcasm. The internet medical advice I've seen is at best laughable and at worst tragic. The problem is that your (my) average run of estate planning attorneys know ZIP about the mysterious ways of the FAA and their registration process. My estate attorney had no problems advising me what to do with boats, motorcycles, and cars but she was clueless about airplanes. I like her a lot and she's (mostly) really sharp, but airplanes is one subject where she was not helpful.
It is interesting that you say this as I just had a meeting with my estate planner/lawyer. I also talked to the nice folks at the FAA in OKC.
If I buy your aircraft for a dollar. Do I have to pay taxes on it?
Yeah, but they'll never let you pay taxes just on that $1 purchase price. They'll do a market estimate.
In Georgia I have the privilege of paying taxes on it every year, just because I own it
In most states, AFAIK, property taxes are *local* (in CA, they are county taxes) while auto (and in some states, aircraft) registration fees are state fees, so two different things.
Indeed.
Whatever you call it, my point was that the responsible level of government is *different*...property taxes are local/county, so the proper people to get cheesed off at would be your local elected government. Auto registration fees (in states that have them) are state fees, so your state legislature is responsible.
Right. Property tax on airplanes in California is levied by the county. Property tax on automobiles in Minnesota, which was my point, is levied by the state of Minnesota.
I'd
(Emphasis added)
I was told that (At least in Fl.) motor vehicle transfers on death were very different for an aircraft as the FAA controlled the procedure. Needed to use a trust which had its own complications. Wish there was the same beneficiary designation for aircraft vs a motor vehicle but seems not. I know you are in Texas but did your attorney allow you to use a motor vehicle beneficiary designation?
Yep, different in different states. I talked to an estate attorney and in Indiana, it is kind of a pita because and airplane doesn't have a "title" like any other vehicle does...
Thanks, and understand. I was "hoping" someone had come up with a strategy to place their airframe in a structure that allowed an airframe to pass to a designated person without going through probate. (Or trust) The FAA "Heir-At-Law" document seemed to pass the smell test, and I had it notarized and placed with my estate documents. I love the financial/equity beneficiary documentation process. It's too bad that the FAA cannot come up with a similar process.
No. At the moment of your death, everything you own is frozen and probate courts decide what assets go where and nothinggoes ANYWHERE until the govt weighs in and decides how much they will be taking. Assuming a simple will or no will. Any asset in the trust bypasses this and the trustee can do whatever they want with the assets, including transferring it to themselves. With a will, If you are listed as dead, your wife can’t go in with that form and execute a transfer.
What you really want is to add your wife as co owner on the aircraft registration. This is not a sale, so should not be taxable. Faa should be able to easily remove an owner upon death. Well, easy relative to death issue paperwork, which really aren’t easy. This may still get held up in probate, but otherwise simple and non taxable. Suspect FAA won’t do it untill they see direction from probate.
The person who gets the airplane (perhaps from designation in a Will or trust) is who is to fill out and sign the heir at law form, and submitted after you have passed. I have used it several times for clients to successfully transfer aircraft title post death. Example would be a widow who is a sole heir of the decedent, she would be the heir at law in California, entitled to the airplane and the form worked just fine.
, and thank heavens nobody I know who owns a plane is, but if the aircraft is registered to a *trust*, there's no transfer whatsoever to be made (and no probate, at least as far as anything in the trust...the whole *reason* for most revocable living trusts in the first place). The trust owns the plane, the SO and I are the trustees of said trust, and if we both kick off, the trust still owns the plane and the successor trustees administer the trust, including doing whatever they wish the plane (and everything else in the trust, subject to various clauses regarding separate vs. marital property, accounts, IRAs, specific instructions on dispositioning certain assets, etc.).
What if the widow or widower or whomever is *not* the sole heir? Or if an executor or administrator of the estate has been named? This seems like it would apply only in a small minority of cases: sole heir, no executor, etc.
A will is supposed to be a directive on how you would like your estate to be passed to your loved ones. Probate involves the court system, public records, and offers opportunities for things to go sideways.
I’m not a lawyer. It was my understanding that one of the purposes of a trust was to place additional roadblocks in that road to liability.
As others have said, you really need to speak with a professional as in this discussion, there is some validity to many comments, but with caveats, limitations or explanations needed, including when and how to use that form. There is no silver bullet, nor a single answer answer that works for all situations.
As you likely are aware, it’s best referred to as the “alleged” Montana license plate dodge.
miltonlawgroup.com
