Deeds

What Does A Transfer On Death Deed in Texas Do? There is a snappy little document called a “transfer on death deed” that is very much in vogue right now.  You can use it to transfer your real property in Texas upon your death, making it a valuable tool if your estate plan is geared toward avoiding probate. If you are leaping to your computer to download an internet form of...

A Disaster for Many.. Transfer on death deeds, legal in Texas since 2015, have been heralded as the latest, greatest method for keeping real property out of probate.  The goal behind them is laudable: provide a simple mechanism for transferring ownership of land to a beneficiary when the owner dies, no probate required. Four years later, how’s that working for us? Not so good. Let’s start with the form:  there isn’t one. The...

Today we revisit the sad saga of Carol (may she rest in peace), her grieving spouse David, and the Texas residence that was titled in both of their names as joint tenants. David, if you recall, had erroneously assumed that as a joint tenant he would automatically own their homestead outright when wife Carol died. So misguided. While the stars may ultimately align in such a way that David does end...

A Lady Bird Deed has nothing to do with the former president’s wife Lady Bird Johnson and everything to do with avoiding recovery by the State of Texas when a Medicaid recipient dies. To understand the reasoning behind a Lady Bird Deed, we must first delve into the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, affectionately known as MERP.  The purpose of MERP is to obtain money to reimburse the State after the...

Let’s talk deeds, as in Warranty Deeds, Special Warranty Deeds, Deeds of Gift and Lady Bird Deeds. It can be a bit mind-numbing. A deed is the document used to transfer title to real estate in Texas. When you sell land, the typical form of the deed used is a warranty deed. There is a basic form in the Texas Property Code. This type of document gives the property with...