Transferring property among family members - a potential income tax nightmare

I get an awful lot of questions about tax on this blog which I can't and don't answer because I'm not an accountant. It's nice that people think we lawyers know everything, but we don't. Accountants know different material than lawyers, and because of that I sometimes have to tell commenters on this blog that they'd be better off asking an accountant their questions. It's not that I'm unwilling to answer questions, but you need to hear information from experts in specific fields.

Many of the questions have something to do with tax on the disposition of the parents' home. Why people are so darn quick to transfer their home or some portion of it to someone else without knowing the consequences, I'll never understand. But transfer it they do, and that results in all kinds of issues from legal to tax to family dynamics.

I recently came across an article from Mark Goodfield, a Canadian accountant with more than 25 years of experience and whose blog is called www.thebluntbeancounter.com . In the article, Mr. Goodfield talks about the tax consequences of inter-family transfers of property. I strongly suggest that those of you who have added your children's names to your home or your investments read the article by clicking here.  I think you might be in for a surprise in terms of the tax problems you may have created for yourself or your kids.