![]() Oh, and by the way, you also have the right to challenge that transfer." Essentially, "Mom left me the house and not you. This notice must abide by the probate code and explain the transfer on death deed's effects and inform those heirs of their right to contest to contest that transfer. For example, my parents can execute a transfer on death deed wherein their house goes to my trust rather than me, or to an LLC we may own together.įinally, the most significant change is that a beneficiary under a transfer on death deed, now has a legal duty (meaning they must) provide notice of the transfer on death deed to the property owner's heirs upon the owner's death. Next, a more interesting note, the definition of beneficiary was made more explicitly clear that "beneficiary" includes natural persons (I.e., a live person), trusts, and legal entities. Transfer on death deeds must now be recorded within sixty days of said deed's notarization date, as opposed to sixty days from date of property owner's signing. This is now a stronger execution requirement than trusts, wills, and powers of attorney. The property owner's signature must still be notarized, but the witness signatures do not. Both witnesses must have either been present when the property owner signed or hear the property owner acknowledge the signature is their own. A relatively significant change is that revocable transfer on death deeds now also require two witnesses to sign said deed. Transfer on death deeds are restricted to only residential property with no more than four single family dwellings on it a condo and some agricultural land so long as it is no more than 4 acres and has a single family dwelling on it.īeginning in 2022, the legislature added more requirements to transfer on death deeds in an attempt to real estate fraud. If no beneficiaries survive you, then there is nobody to give the property to - it goes to probate. It doesn't go into the estate of the deceased beneficiary. If you have two beneficiaries and one dies before you, the surviving beneficiary inherits the whole of the property. Keep in mind, all this has to be done every time you wish to or need to make a change to your beneficiary designation. Finally and frustratingly, even though the text of the law doesn't require it, we have had deeds rejected from the county recorder due to a failure to identify the relationship of the beneficiary to the person granting the property. When naming beneficiaries, you must include their name, meaning you cannot simply pick a class of people like "my grandchild" or "my then living children." You must specifically name the beneficiaries. This includes having it notarized and recorded with the county recorder paying the fees associated with the notarization and recording and, due to this recording, that deed will become a part of the public record and accessible to those who know how to look or pay someone to do a title search. They are freely revocable, hence the name, and they are a deed meaning they need to follow all normal deed requirements. However, in case you haven't seen our last video, here's a brief rundown on what a revocable transfer on death deed is: It's a deed that allows for the mostly automatic transfer of one's real property to another right at their moment of passing. Setting aside the fact that we are estate planning attorneys and always recommend setting up a living trust instead, these deeds tie a hand around your back and add too much to keep track of all for the price of maybe saving a few dollars. However, there are a lot of rules to be aware of, including those that went into effect just this year.įor full disclosure, we've talked about revocable transfer on death deeds on our YouTube channel before and we are not a fan. You sign a deed transferring your property to someone else at your death. One would think the process would be simple. Originally set to sunset in 2021, they were instead extended to at least 2032 meaning absent some crazy litigation sending shockwaves through the estate planning or real estate legal worlds – don’t hold your breath – then these deeds are likely here to stay for the long run. Revocable transfer on death deeds have only been around in California since 2016 and are already subject to a lot of bureaucratic minutiae.
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