A lot of people think that “Okay, I can get away with having a will if I just put somebody’s name on my bank account, or on my piece of real property.” And when you do that, what you’re actually doing is making that person a joint owner, so they can get at those assets. And also any creditors of that person can get at those assets.

So, it may not necessarily be a good idea to do that. Another issue, when you start adding people as joint owners to property is that if you need medicate, or any type of longterm care planning, what you’ve done could actually be considered an improper transfer, and keep you from being able to qualify for benefits that you would otherwise need.