A Canoe, a Dog House, and Pancakes
If you are traveling down the road in a canoe, and your bumper falls off, how many pancakes can you stick in a dog house?
Pause, wait for response, then answer.
None. Frogs can’t fly. Great joke by kids circa 1977. Brad Latting. And even after that dumb joke or maybe great joke, however, you look at it, we are still friends, and as a sidenote, he is the owner of Trifecta Home Inspections, operating in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. He takes his job and his business seriously, and that is what you want when you are looking to hire someone for something. Also, double side note, kind of like Double Shot Coffee downtown. I love coffee and you can’t take it more seriously than they do. No need for me to figure out where to buy the beans from what part of the world, how to get them delivered, and how to properly roast them. They know more than I do and they do their best to do their best. That is why I buy my beans there.
Now, back to our original joke,
What is the problem with that joke? Well, as I see it, the one and only problem with that joke is that you can’t drive a canoe down the road. And that is why the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s Form # 771, dealing with transfer on death deeds for motor vehicles does not apply to boats. It applies to things that have a motor that go down a road. And boats don’t. Even a boat that has a motor doesn’t go down the road unless it is on a trailer, and that doesn’t count.
But, we are still appreciative of Form #771. It makes the old debate of whether or not you put your vehicle in trust or not, moot. And that is usually what we are talking about, cars, motorcycles, etc. But for some of those title assets that do not travel down the road, such as boats, planes, travel trailers, and some motor homes, that statute and form are not helpful. For those, you have to make a decision how you will pass those assets to your loved ones without the necessity of probate, and that is largely done on a case-by-case basis.
