.
Predicting what will happen or won’t happen is a hazardous game. Who could have predicted back in 2019 that many of the US small businesses would be shutdown allegedly because of Covid-19? Who could have predicted in 2019 that 2020 would see the greatest election voting theft in world history? The military makes a practice of drawing up contingency plans for events that may or may not ever happen — because if just one really bad event happens … there is already some expertise and strategies in place to handle it.
I think that contingency planning is relevant in advance of government regulation, whether from a runaway Congress or horribly misguided executive action. Regarding real estate I had to look up the origin of an old quote that said basically “own nothing; control everything.” It turned out the author was John D Rockefeller whose legacy was generations of heirs who very successfully have preserved wealth.
In that spirit this article about asset protection may become highly relevant — even if it turns out that competing strategies may be superior. I don’t claim to be an expert in asset protection, despite some passing acquaintance with land trusts. See if this article jiggles your imagination (even if you decide some alternate strategy is better for you) in the event that a horrendous loss of the stepped up tax basis becomes a very bitter iron-clad fact:
What You Don’t Own Can’t Be Taken From You
The article also does not discuss the use of long term options to control property without owning it.
–Dee G