Are you thinking about leaving your home in a 55+ community to someone who may inherit it before he/she is 55? If so, you should know that although your heir can inherit a home in a 55+ community, whether he/she can actually reside in it is a very different matter. The distinction is well illustrated by a legal battle playing out in Florida right now.
In 2020, Bethany Michel’s father was residing in an assisted living facility in Florida. When the Covid pandemic struck, the facility could not adequately care for him, so Michel moved to Florida to care for her father in a safer environment. He purchased a home in Arbor Mill in Jacksonville, a 55+ community. The seller assured him that his daughter would be “grandfathered in” after he passed on. “This is going to be for you one day,” he told her.
Michel lived with her father and cared for him through a terminal illness for three years. He died in 2023, when she was 28. Just three months after inheriting the home, the homeowners association advised her that she was violating the community’s age restrictions and she had to move out. She was prohibited from using the pool and other amenities. The HOA cited the Housing for Older Persons Act, under which 80% of all occupied homes in a 55+ community must be be occupied by at least one person age 55 or older. The HOA has some wiggle room with the remaining 20% of the units with regard to caregivers, younger spouses and inherited homes, but this does not give an automatic pass to an underage resident.
Michel has been fighting the HOA ever since. She has told the press: “I have nowhere to go. “This is my home. I’ve lived here for 6 years and I mean, what do you do at that point?”
Some Arbor Mill residents think she should just sell the house and move on. Others are sympathetic to her case. But even among the sympathizers, a recent turn of events may well erode their support: In July the HOA levied a $155,000 special assessment on homeowners in order to cover the cost of its lawsuit against Michel. This comes to $1,000 per unit. Many of the residents, on fixed incomes, say they cannot afford to pay the assessment. Ironically, Michel herself will be required to pay the assessment, thus helping to pay for the HOA’s lawsuit against her.
Takeaway
There is an element of risk if you want to leave your home in a 55+ community to someone who may inherit it before attaining age 55. Will they be able to reside there?
If you have yet to purchase a home in a 55+ community and want to ultimately leave it to a child or other loved one when you pass on, get a written commitment from the homeowners association or condo association that your heir will be allowed to live in the home, even if he/she has not yet attained age 55. Do NOT rely on the seller’s representation or the real estate broker’s representations.
If you are already living in the home, try the same steps. Obviously, at that point there is less likelihood you can secure assurance that you child can live there, but at least you and your heir will have the facts, and you can tweak your estate plan accordingly.
Also, talk with your child to make sure he/she really wants the home. Talk with your estate planning lawyer about your desires and the details of how they can be incorporated into your planning. If the house must be sold, how will the proceeds be split among your heirs? Or if you are leaving the home to one child who intends to live there, you may want to leave that child funds to pay the taxes and upkeep until he/she is old enough to reside in it.
