Best Deed for a Revocable Living Trust: Full Guide

[00:00:01]what's the best deed to use to transfer Real Estate into your revocable living trust uh I get this question a lot because you know creating a living trust is one of the smartest things that you can do in order to protect your family and your assets but here's a common problem many people set up a trust and then they forget the most important part A lot of times which is to transfer the house into the trust because without this step your property might still end up in Probate um defeating one of the main goals of your living trust and what's even more important is the way you transfer your your property um the type of deed you use can really affect everything from ownership rights to Future taxes and even title insurance so you have to understand the differences between the different Deeds that you can use so in this video I'm going to guide you through the process step by step so you know exactly which deed to use why it matters and how to make sure your trust works the way that it's supposed to so by the end of this video you have a clear plan to safeguard your properties and your family's future uh before we get started uh make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss practical estate planning videos like these all right so um why is it important to transfer Real Estate I just mentioned it um your trust won't work if you do not transfer title so if you own a home if you own a rental property you have to put things into the trust so think about a trust as like a legal container or a bucket whatever's in the trust will be controlled by the trust so if your trust says if I die I want these all these assets go to the go to these people then you better put those assets into the trust or else it's not going to uh go to the people that you want it to go to so the trust is a container or a bucket or a box and you have to put things into that bucket okay so that's really important to understand even if you have the best trust in the world it's signed correctly it's done correctly but if you don't transfer assets into the trust the trust is no use because it doesn't control those assets so now that you know that you have to transfer the house into the trust you have to understand what a deed is and why it matters so a deed is just a legal document that transfers ownership of real estate right when you buy a home you usually have a grant deed that says you're the new owner the former owner is transferring title to you and so that's the same thing with your trust okay your trust needs to own the house in order to control where the house goes when you die and therefore your deed needs to reflect that that the trust is the owner before you pass away okay that's really important and so you have to prepare a new deed to transfer title so that's the importance of a deed and here's three common types of Deeds that I've seen used uh by people who are transferring title into the trust number one is a quick claim deed okay a quick claim deed basically just transfers whatever ownership interest that you the owner has in the property without making any guarantees about the title so this type of deed is really easy to to put together really easy to record um but it's just saying that uh you're not warranting the title of the transfer okay uh quick HDs are often used between family members or for very low stickes transfers um however uh you know some attorneys say that these Quick Lane Deeds are not ideal for transferring property into the trust due to the lack of title guarantees so you can still use it uh we've used it before um but just be cautious about the difference between a quick claim deed and a difference between for example the warranty deed so the warranty deed when you use a warranty deed you're guaranteeing that the that the grantor the owner you have clear title to the property and so you're putting the warranty out there deed out there saying that hey I am the owner and I'm transferring title into the trust a lot of attorneys use the warranty deed okay the warranty deed is what most um most people use in in many different states you can also use What's called the grant deed so the granteed is is what we use for clients in California um we use warranty deeds or even quick claim deeds uh for other states or even Grant Deeds so it depends on your state which deed is best for your particular transfer so these are the three Deeds that you can use the quick Lan deed the warranty deed and the grantee deed so which is the best deed for your revocable living trust and it and it really depends okay it depends on many factors and um to be safe okay if you want to be safe you can do the warranty deed or you can do the quick claim deed okay or you can do the uh grant deed right these are the three Deeds that you can think about what I would suggest that you do is you do your own research and you research this topic for your state right in the state of New York which deed should I use to transfer title into my revocable living trust and you should find many articles from law firms from title companies that are very helpful to make your decision okay and and a lot of them might say oh it doesn't matter which one you use um but do your own research and it depends on your uh your state it depends on your situation okay so if you're unsure about this the best thing to do is to uh contact an attorney to transfer title for you okay uh don't call us because we don't just transfer title for strangers uh we only transfer titles for our clients who are our uh uh estate planning clients and so unfortunately we won't be able to help you but I'm sure there's plenty of attorneys out there title companies out there that can help you or you can do it yourself so for example once you figur it out okay this is what I want then you can uh put together your own deed okay so for for example let me show you an example actually I'm going to go to law depot.com law depo.com has a warranty deed that you can use and you can do this in 5 10 minutes but I highly recommend that you do your own research first before right you just answer a bunch of uh really easy questions you put who the owner is you put uh your trust information and you'll be able to transfer title uh into your trust so uh and uh they have a 7-Day free trial where you can go on and make this deed in seven days or less and do it for free if if you do U um you know wait eight days nine days then it's like 40 bucks a month that you can um that you can cancel any time so you can do your own deed for free by going to the uh law depot.com I'm going to put a link on the bottom of this video so then you can um you can check this out out okay and also I have a u free class let me fast forward a little bit where I walk you through how to make your own living trust without hiring attorney and in this class I point out some of the mistakes I see when it comes to Deeds so if you're going to do this yourself you need to do your own research and I provide you with information it doesn't make me your attorney it doesn't make me your client everything that I give you today and in that class is just general information if you need um Leo advice you should definitely talk to an attorney okay all right so let me go back to some other details that I would love to share with you today so how do you transfer title into the trust okay uh I'm going to give you some steps here and again you can check out my free trust class at free trust class.com where I share more details and more mistakes that I see number one if you want to transfer title into the trust with a warranty deed a quick claim deed or a uh grant deed first you want to review your title okay this is really important you need to make sure that you do have title meaning you are the owner sometimes are our clients tell us oh you know I'm the sole owner but when we look at the title it looks like there's a co-owner that they didn't even know was there and so you have to double check your title by uh contacting a title company to pull title for you you or going to the county to pull title okay every county has what's called the recorder's office you'll go to your County's recorder's office and get the latest Deeds then you're going to prepare your deed so for example go to law deo.com to prep prepare your deed um I want to put a link on this on the bottom of this video that's going to uh link you to the warranty deed that law Depot provides so you can check that out and once you prepare the deed you're going to sign the deed notorized it some states require you to witness it so make sure that you understand your State's requirements and then you're going to record the deed with your county recorder's office go back to the record's office record it to make sure that it's on public record and uh the house is in the trust you also want to update your insurance policies so contact your homeowners insurance uh provider let them know that the house is in the trust now and they're going to put the trust as an additional insured now here's some common mistakes to avoid and I go through more of these in the free class failing to record the deed if you don't do this your house will end up in Probate okay even if you have a trust triggering a du on sale Clause uh if you have a rental property and uh you want to transfer it into your trust you want to make sure you double check with your lender and make sure it doesn't trigger an acceleration clause or do on sale Clause okay uh make sure you don't ignore state laws there are certain unique requirements for deeds and Trust transfers uh for example there's certain uh forms that you have to fill out for each County each county is very different so call your county call the recorder's office and say hey um transferring title into the trust what uh forms do I have to fill out okay and if you're doing this yourself you should record the Deeds personally in person not mail it because number one you might make a mistake and therefore they're going to tell you to do certain things it's going to take them weeks or months to get back to you so you want to make sure that you um uh go in person so if there's any mistakes they can catch it for you and you can correct those mistakes without having to wait neglecting your title insurance so do you have title insurance if you don't you should get title insurance right that that's really important now uh in these situations I I always recommend hiring a professional to help you uh because you have to number one choose the right deed right you can do it yourself you can research yourself to find the right deed but it's always nice for the professional to say yes use this deed so it gives you peace of mind also uh ensures the transfer is legally valid okay I see a lot of people Mak a lot of mistakes when it when it comes to transferring their house into the trust so when you have an attorney or title company to help you it's much better uh also you have to make sure you don't trigger any uh reassessment of your property taxes or like I said do on sale Clause acceleration clause on your mortgages that's very important so you have to be very careful of that okay and so so if there's any title issues anything like that you have to get those things resolved okay so I would encourage you to protect your legacy with the right deed make sure you get that done today if you already have a trust but you have no idea if you put the house into the trust make sure you pull title and make sure that it's in the trust okay this is by far probably the top three mistakes that I see when it comes to people making their own trust which means that your house could end up in Probate or it could even go to someone that you did not intend it to go to so again I have a free class check out my free classes on the bottom of this video or you can just type in www.f freeass where I walk you through some of these details now I want to share Proverbs with you um because this verse really emphasizes the importance of preparation and intentionality you know when it comes to estate planning transferring your home into the trust is one of the wisest things you can do to prepare okay so here in Proverbs 24:27 it says prepare your work outside get everything ready for yourself in the field and after that build your home so build your house so um when you transfer your house into the trust when you set up a trust you are preparing your home right you're getting things ready you're getting things ready in the in the event that you pass away that you don't leave a mess for your kids that you don't leave them a problem that they have to resolve after you die which going to be very costly a lot of times many times when people do it wrong it cost their kids tens of thousands of dollars to correct those mistakes or your assets might go to someone else so here in Proverbs you know God is always reminding us that we have to prepare right because it ensures your assets are secure your loved ones are cared for and your house is truly in order so just just like the verse teaches about preparing well for building a home taking the step with the right deed and actually submitting a deed for the house sets a strong foundation for your family's future so I would encourage you to get this done as soon as possible okay don't wait um I've had uh many clients who passed away recently in the last few weeks and um their families are very happy that their parents prepared and so the question is are you prepared are you prepared for your passing are you prepared to provide um an inheritance to your kids right because uh another proverb says that a good person leaves an inheritance to their children's children and that means not leaving a mess for them right and the ultimate inheritance that God has given us is this wonderful will that God wrote did you know that in in the Bible it says that God wrote us a will and the will says that all of my children I give eternal life because uh as as many of you know John 3:16 it says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in his son Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for our sins will not perish but have eternal life and so God has written us this will that says that when my son dies which he did 2,000 years ago by with his blood with his death this we will is sealed that our Salvation our eternal life is secured by what Jesus did so that's the ultimate will and trust it's from God you know God does not want us to perish because of our sins all of us have sinned right and fall short of the glory of God and the consequence of sin the Bible says in Romans 6:23 is that it's death it's Eternal separation from God it's hell but God showed his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us and so that's the beauty of God's this day plan he has given Christ to us Christ died for us so that we can be saved and all we do is is we receive this truth we believe it in faith that Jesus died for our sins and that the only way to the father to eternal life is is through Christ Jesus and if we believe that and if we repent of our sins and turn to God then we are part of God's family we're part of his children we're adopted into God's family and now we're part of this will and this will says all my children will have eternal life so that's the beauty of the Gospel we don't need to do anything to earn it right your kids are not doing anything to earn their salvation their I'm sorry earn their inheritance their inheritance is secure once you die and the and the trust will be valid will be in effect at that time to pass on your assets to them same thing with God right God died for us in Christ and now we have eternal life that's the greatest inheritance that anybody can give us so as you're thinking about uh this Earthly inheritance that you're giving your kids I encourage you to think about the Heavenly spiritual inheritance that God has prepared for you in Christ Jesus okay so uh I pray that you will uh repent and turn to God and that uh you experience the love and peace that comes only from our faith in Jesus Christ so God bless you all have a wonderful rest of the day if there's any um questions you have for us please ask us uh in the comments below it doesn't make me your attorney it doesn't make me or it doesn't make you our clients this is just general information we can't promise I'm going to you know go through all the questions but it does help us make awesome videos like this so thank you guys God bless you and I'll see you later