Best Strategy for $200K Gift From Parent – Looking for Advice

Hey BP Community,

I could use some insight on the best way to approach a financial gift situation.

My fiance's mother wants to gift her around $200K for real estate investing. From what I understand, the annual gift tax excludes $18K per person (2025 limit), and anything above that either gets reported against her lifetime estate/gift exemption or requires some additional planning.

I’m trying to figure out the most tax-efficient and practical strategy here. Options I’ve seen mentioned:

• Splitting the gift across multiple years

• Structuring part of it as a loan (and possibly forgiving later)

• Using a 529 plan contribution (not really applicable in my case but curious if relevant to others)

• Setting up a trust or custodial structure

• Or just taking the lump sum and filing the gift tax form, since it would fall under her lifetime exemption anyway

The goal is to use the money toward real estate investing—either as down payments on rentals or possibly paying off some existing debt.

Has anyone here gone through something similar? What’s the smartest way to handle a large one-time gift like this to minimize headaches down the road? Also, are there creative strategies I might be overlooking?

Appreciate any advice or firsthand experiences. I’ll be talking to a CPA and possibly an estate attorney, but wanted to get the BiggerPockets perspective first.