As a real estate lawyer, I occasionally have clients approach me who want their homes or other pieces of real estate placed into their trust. The process is relatively simple, and involves the preparation of a “Deed into Trust”. This deed works like any other deed. It is designed to convey the property from the individual owner to their trust.
Here is a brief overview of the steps involved in moving a piece of real estate into a trust. As always, this article is not designed to be legal advice. It’s designed to provide you with a general overview of the process. Improperly preparing a deed can have serious consequences for the parties involved, and for that reason I always recommend hiring a lawyer to prepare deeds of any kind. It does not cost much to have a lawyer prepare a proper deed.
Review the Trust and Current Deed
The first step is to review the current deed for the piece of real estate in question, and to look at the trust to ensure that it is a valid trust and allows the owner of the trust to place real estate inside it.
We look at the current deed to verify who the owner is, and to ensure that it matches the trust. Hopefully there are no surprises! Once we are satisfied with the trust and the current deed, we can move to drafting our document placing the real estate into the trust.
Prepare the Deed into Trust
Once we have done our homework and confirm that this property can be placed into a trust, the next step is to prepare the deed itself. This is relatively straight forward, but requires the lawyer to carefully review all documentation to ensure that the deed is drafted properly.
Review and Execute the Deed
After the deed has been drafted, the next step is to sit down with the client and execute the deed. I like to do this in person with local clients, but there are a lot of out of state property owners in Sarasota County. In those situations I mail the clients the deed along with detailed instructions for reviewing and executing the document.
Record the Deed
After the Deed into Trust has been properly executed, the final step is to record the deed with the local Clerk of Court. There is a small filing fee associated with this step that is paid to the Clerk. The Clerk will take the deed, record it in the public record, and then mail the original deed back to my office or to the client.
After the Clerk has recorded the deed the real estate is officially inside the trust and the job is done.
Deeds into Trust – Final Thoughts
I hope that this article have provided you with a good overview as to how to add a house to a trust. Placing a deed into a trust is a routine and straight forward task for a real estate lawyer. It can be done quickly and cost effectively. Please feel free to call my office at (941) 882-4367 or send me an email if you would like to discuss placing your real estate into your trust. I assist clients in Sarasota, Charlotte, and Manatee Counties with preparing deeds.
