Effective January 1, 2022, the California State Legislature enacted noteworthy changes to the state's laws governing transfer-on-death deeds—also called TOD deeds. A California TOD deed is a legal document that conveys real estate to a designated beneficiary when the current owner dies. TOD deeds—which have become a popular tool in California estate planning—allow property owners to transfer real estate outside of probate. The recent legislative amendment's principal objective is to mitigate … [Read more...]

I see lots of confusion from clients about deed titles. Some clients request a lady bird, then get confused when I send them a deed that doesn’t say “Lady Bird Deed” in big letters across the top. Others say that they want the owner to be responsible for title issues but also want a quitclaim deed. This article attempts to clear up this confusion by explaining the differences in terminology and deed titles. Most Deeds are Named After Their Warranty of Title With few exceptions, deeds are most … [Read more...]

A living trust is a popular estate planning tool designed to avoid probate. Because a living trust only governs property transferred into the trust, it will only avoid probate for property that you transfer to the trust. Trust funding is the process of transferring property from your name, individually, into the name of your trust so that the property avoids probate at your death. To transfer real estate into a living trust, you need a deed for each parcel of real estate that you want to … [Read more...]