When I was a kid we used to get Mr. Yuk stickers at school. The idea behind the Mr. Yuk stickers was to bring them home and your parents would place the stickers on the dangerous stuff around the house a child could get into, with the hope that little Jimmy wouldn’t guzzle the paint thinner. I myself have never guzzled paint thinner or chugged Drano (paint chips- that’s a different story).  On some level the Mr. Yuk stickers on worked, my parents never had to call poison control.   I wish I had a Mr. Yuk Sticker to place on the foreheads of parents who want to hold property as joint tenants with their children. Let’s see, how can I put this? DON’T HOLD PROPERTY AS JOINT TENANTS WITH YOUR CHILDREN. Are we clear? This has been the source of numerous problems for my clients. Aside from the loss of a stepped up basis and gift tax issues (when you put your home into joint tenancy with your kids it is a taxable gift) transferring some or all of your interest in the house over to your children puts your house in jeopardy. Many people feel that by transferring there house or an interest therein protects the home, the effect of this transfer has quite the opposite effect. Your child (as the transferee) could get sued or divorced and this puts your house in serious jeopardy. If you transfer interests in your house to several children, you could easily double, triple or quadruple the liability on that piece of property. There are more effective mechanisms to limit the liability on the property and protect the property from lawsuits and Medicaid issues.