Yeah, that makes zero sense. In the even of JoePa dying, she had joint ownership and so his half would go to the other owner...his wife. Even if he owned all of the house, it would have to be explicitly stated in his will that he wanted the house to go to someone else for it to even begin to be an ownership issue. She is next of kin.
Tax lawyers examined the documents and could see no tax benefit whatsoever.
Tax lawyers also said that the only benefit they could see was in the event of PERSONAL LIABILITY...
Hmmmm...