To transfer a deed to a living trust, you draft a new deed that names the trustee of your trust as the new owner, sign it in front of a notary, and record it with the county recorder’s office where the property is located. Then you update your homeowner’s insurance so the trust is a named insured, and you let your mortgage lender know about the ownership change. The mechanics are the same whether you use an attorney or handle it yourself, and the details are where transfers succeed or fail.
What to Gather Before You Draft
Pull four things together first. You’ll work from all of them when you write the new deed.
- Your current recorded deed. It shows the current owner names exactly as they appear in public records and contains the legal description of the property.
- Your signed trust document. You need the trust’s full legal name and the date it was created, worded exactly as the trust agreement has them.
- The name or names of the trustee. If you and your spouse are co-trustees, both go on the new deed.
- The property tax identifier, usually called an Assessor’s Parcel Number or tax parcel ID. It’s on your property tax bill, and most county recorders want it on the deed or on a supplemental form.
Drafting the New Deed
The new deed moves ownership from you, the grantor, to the trustee of your trust, the grantee. Both sides have to be identified precisely.
For the grantor, use your full legal name exactly as it appears on the current deed. If the current deed says “Robert J. Smith,” don’t write “Bob Smith.” Married couples who own jointly are both grantors and both must be named.
The grantee is where transfers most often go wrong. You are not transferring the property to the trust itself. You are transferring it to the trustee of the trust. The grantee line should read something like: “Robert J. Smith and Mary A. Smith, as Trustees of the Smith Family Living Trust, dated March 15, 2024.” Include the full trust name and creation date. Some counties also want the state where the trust was established.
Copy the legal description word-for-word from the existing deed. Don’t paraphrase, abbreviate, or retype from memory. Lot numbers, boundary descriptions, and subdivision references have to match. If the existing deed references a recorded plat map, carry that reference over too.
For consideration, trust transfers typically state “$10 and other good and valuable consideration” or “for no consideration.” No money is changing hands, and most jurisdictions exempt these transfers from documentary transfer taxes because you’re moving property into your own revocable trust rather than selling it.
Quitclaim or Warranty Deed
Either can be used. A quitclaim transfers whatever ownership interest you have without promising the title is clean. A warranty deed guarantees title is free of undisclosed liens or claims. For a transfer to your own trust, a quitclaim is usually the practical choice because there’s no buyer who needs title guarantees. Some lenders and title companies prefer warranty deeds even for trust transfers, so if you have an active mortgage, check with your lender or title company first.
Signing, Notarizing, and Recording
Every grantor listed on the deed has to sign it, and each signature must be acknowledged before a notary public who verifies the signer’s identity. A handful of states also require witnesses at the signing. Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina all require witnesses for certain deed recordings, most calling for two. If your property is in one of those states, confirm the requirements with your county recorder before you sign.
Once signed and notarized, take or mail the deed to the county recorder’s office (sometimes called the county clerk or register of deeds) in the county where the property sits. Recording is what makes the transfer official in the public record; until it’s recorded, the transfer doesn’t protect you against third-party claims.
Recording fees vary by county and are usually charged per page. Expect roughly $10 to $50 for the first page, with additional pages costing less. Many jurisdictions also require a supplemental form at the time of recording so the county assessor can decide whether the transfer triggers a property tax reassessment. The recorder’s office can tell you which forms they need and what the fees are.
After recording, the county stamps the deed and returns the original to you. Keep it with your trust documents. That stamped deed is your proof the transfer happened.
Telling Your Mortgage Lender
If you have a mortgage, you may worry the transfer will trigger the due-on-sale clause and let the lender demand full repayment. Federal law prevents that. The Garn-St. Germain Act prohibits lenders from accelerating a mortgage when property is transferred into a living trust, as long as the borrower stays a beneficiary of the trust and doesn’t give up the right to live in the property.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions The protection applies to residential property with fewer than five dwelling units.
For a typical homeowner moving a primary residence into a revocable living trust where they’re both trustee and beneficiary, that’s the whole answer: the lender cannot call the loan. Even so, tell your lender the transfer happened. You don’t want an automated system flagging the ownership change and generating confusion. A brief call or letter noting that the transfer qualifies under the Garn-St. Germain Act is usually enough. The mortgage itself stays in your name, the trust doesn’t assume the loan, and your payments continue exactly as before.
Updating Your Homeowner’s and Title Insurance
This is the step people forget, and it can be devastating. Once the trust owns the property, the legal owner (the trust) no longer matches the named insured on your homeowner’s policy (you, individually). If you file a claim without fixing the mismatch, the insurance company may have grounds to deny it. Courts have upheld denials where the named insured didn’t match the property owner.
Call your insurance agent as soon as the deed is recorded and ask them to add the trust as an additional insured on the policy. Make sure the trust’s name on the policy matches the trust document exactly. Get written confirmation. This usually costs nothing.
Title insurance deserves a separate call. Older owner’s title policies often define “insured” narrowly enough that a voluntary transfer to a trust ends coverage. Newer forms, particularly those issued from the late 1990s onward, tend to extend coverage to trustees and successor trustees automatically. If your policy doesn’t cover the transfer, you can ask your title company for an endorsement naming the trustee as an additional insured, which typically costs $50 to $150. You can also buy a new policy. Either way, sort it out around the time you record the deed, not years later when you actually need the coverage.
Property Tax Reassessment
Transferring property into a revocable living trust where you remain the beneficiary generally does not trigger a property tax reassessment. Most jurisdictions treat the transfer as a change in the form of ownership rather than a true change in ownership, because you’re still the beneficial owner through the trust.
This is where the supplemental forms at recording matter. They give the county assessor the information needed to confirm the transfer qualifies for an exclusion. Fill them out completely and accurately. If the assessor can’t tell from the paperwork that the transfer is exempt, you may get a reassessment notice you’ll then have to contest.
Property in More Than One State
If you own real estate in more than one state, transferring each property into the trust spares your estate ancillary probate in every state where you hold property. You have to follow the deed transfer process in each state separately, though. Recording requirements, deed formats, supplemental forms, and fees all vary. What one county accepts, another may reject, so check with the recorder’s office in each county where you own property.
What Refinancing Looks Like Later
If you refinance down the road, expect an extra step. Many lenders will ask you to temporarily transfer the property out of the trust and back into your individual name before closing, then transfer it back to the trust with a new deed after closing. That’s two additional deed transfers and their recording fees, but it’s routine work for lenders and title companies.
Some lenders will refinance property held in a trust without the transfer out, particularly when you’re both trustee and borrower. Ask early so you know what to expect. If you do transfer out for the closing, transfer back in promptly afterward. It’s easy to forget in the relief of finishing a refinance, and then the property is sitting outside the trust again.