Usually a trust. We are not attorneys or tax advisers, so treat this as a map and confirm the details with an estate attorney. A properly set up living trust lets you direct exactly what happens to the home, including splitting it by percentages among your kids, and it keeps the property out of probate, an expensive and slow process for the people you leave behind. While you are at it, put the rest of your end-of-life planning in place too, healthcare directives included, so your family is never guessing. There is also a significant tax feature to understand: the stepped-up basis. When heirs inherit real estate, their cost basis generally resets to the property's value at the time of your death rather than what you originally paid. A home bought decades ago that has appreciated substantially can, in many cases, be inherited at today's value and sold shortly after with little or no taxable gain. These rules matter and can change, so run your plan by an estate attorney and a tax professional for your situation. The headline: a trust plus a little planning spares your kids probate and, often, a large tax bill.