What Happens to My Real Estate When I Die?

Without an effective estate plan, ownership interest in your real estate assets can be decided by the state and/or by an undesired third party. Yes, you read that correctly, if we do not plan effectively, our real estate holdings may not go to those we intend.

Available Estate Planning Options

Wills are helpful in directing our assets to those we love, and they certainly still have their place in many areas related to estate planning. However, an asset passed via a will is still likely subject to an expensive and time-consuming probate process.

Trusts are excellent legal vehicles used to minimize the probate process, but a trust is not always the most efficient or effective option when the primary asset(s) are real estate property. A comprehensive trust or trusts can cost up to a few thousand dollars to properly execute, and there may also be other negative implications to using a trust for passing real estate assets.

What is a Lady Bird Deed?

As a result of the aforementioned challenges, the Lady Bird Deed is a popular estate planning tool to make sure your loved ones gain your desired interest in real property when you die, without involving the state or other third parties. The Lady Bird Deed is quite cost effective to execute and record compared to a trust. For example, Stout Law commonly executes Lady Bird deeds at a reasonable rate.

The Lady Bird Deed is also revocable until you pass. This gives you great flexibility during your life to maintain control of your real estate assets while also ensuring that your wishes are executed exactly as you desire after you pass. Your loved one simply needs to record your death certificate and they immediately gain an interest in the property.

Next Steps

We highly encourage you to set up a complimentary consultation with Stout Law to discuss your estate planning needs in greater detail. We want to help make sure that your assets make it to your intended loved ones with as little outside interference as possible and in a way that is most efficient and effective.

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