Not necessarily. In the State of California because of Proposition 13, and in most states governed by a similar proposition, your real estate will not be subject to re-appraisal if it passes to your spouse, parents, children and even grand-children. They in turn may pass it to their spouse, children, grand-children or parents without a re-appraisal. If there are adequate assets, then one may wish to give the family home to that child most likely to live in it and pass it on to their children, while other assets of comparable value are given to the other siblings. In this manner the low property tax is preserved.