Have a very specific scenario that I wanted to see if anyone has ever run across. My wife and her sister are inheriting their grandmother's home. Their grandfather is alive and will continue to live there though (their grandparents were married later in life, so they kept a lot of assets separate).

Since the home is not the primary residence of either my wife or her sister, is there any property tax relief they can apply for similar to a homestead exemption. Since the grandfather has a right under Texas law to remain there as long as he pays for certain things (they wouldn't kick him out anyway), I would think the state would have something in place related to property taxes.

Most of the time the grandfather would still retain some ownership of the property which would qualify his portion for a homestead exemption.

I'm not aware of anything that allows Grandma to single-handedly pass the property to her grandchildren while bypassing her husband completely in the property tax code. Usually the husband, even if they were remarried later in life, would retain some possession of the property.

I guess I'm confused as to what exactly is happening and what you want to do.

It sounds like Grandma may have already passed while Grandpa is still living in the house. The grandkids got the house over Grandpa. Grandpa will live in the house until he passes but the grandkids retain 100% ownership. They want to keep the homestead exemption on the house because it'll be expensive for them to keep the house for Grandpa's life estate.

If Grandpa retained interest in the house, which would be what happens in 99% of these situations, then his portion would have the homestead exemption. I'm unclear how Grandma bypassed Grandpa completely and I'm curious if that was drawn up with an estate lawyer. If not, I'm not entirely sure that was legal.

No relief, I would hope that the law would make him pay "rent" to them or atleast pay the yearly taxes.

The Dog Lord said:

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Have a very specific scenario that I wanted to see if anyone has ever run across. My wife and her sister are inheriting their grandmother's home. Their grandfather is alive and will continue to live there though (their grandparents were married later in life, so they kept a lot of assets separate).

Since the home is not the primary residence of either my wife or her sister, is there any property tax relief they can apply for similar to a homestead exemption. Since the grandfather has a right under Texas law to remain there as long as he pays for certain things (they wouldn't kick him out anyway), I would think the state would have something in place related to property taxes.

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If the property was left to your wife and her sister, the grandpa has no "right under Texas law to remain there." Not sure where you came up with that.

No, there is no homestead exemption available based on what you described in your OP.

The only way a homestead exemption would be available would be if they conveyed to him, either in fee or as a life estate.

This is an interesting scenario

My grandpa had significant assets before remarrying like 5 years ago after he was over the age of 80

I'm sure he would likely want his assets to go to his actual children rather than everything going over to the new wife's children to which he has no relation based on some conversations I've heard when she eventually dies

I think all the family would be fine letting his new wife live there if that was both her and my grandpas wishes

I see this very frequently, where the owner of record has been long dead and the county was never notified by the kids so they can keep the low tax rate intact.

I'm guess it could cause some issues down the line.

My cousin is living in a house in a historic district where the owner has been dead for now close to 20 years. No one wants to put the effort into probating the will. As long as the property taxes are paid by someone , the county doesn't seem to care.

It sounds like this was Grandma's separate property, in which case she could leave it to the granddaughters. Grandpa would have homestead rights to stay in the house as long as he is alive and can remain in the house. He has to pay taxes and maintenance.

Martin Cash said:

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It sounds like this was Grandma's separate property, in which case she could leave it to the granddaughters. Grandpa would have homestead rights to stay in the house as long as he is alive and can remain in the house. He has to pay taxes and maintenance.

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This is it exactly. The below link describes the situation for those that haven't heard of this. Will definitely be following up with the attorney we are working with but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with it as well. As mentioned, grandpa has the responsibility to pay taxes while he remains, so I'm hoping his age is what will matter in all of this.

https://silblawfirm.com/real-estate-law/surviving-spouse-homestead-right/

I brought this very thing up to a State Rep a few years ago and he thought I was crazy. I know many situations where the county was never notified and the relatives kept paying the taxes.
Wonder what the math on that would add up too!!

Shayboy3 said:

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I brought this very thing up to a State Rep a few years ago and he thought I was crazy. I know many situations where the county was never notified and the relatives kept paying the taxes.
Wonder what the math on that would add up too!!

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I have one example I know of in my hood where they should be paying $30k, but the kids are paying $5k.

My dump is costing me more than that. It just gets spread around to others.