Real Estate & Construction Services
Proper deed preparation and transfer ensure the transaction complies with Texas law, accurately reflects the parties’ intent, and creates a clear record of ownership in county property records.
Common deed types we prepare include:
We discuss the purpose of the transfer, the relationship between parties, consideration being paid (if any), existing liens or restrictions, and your goals to determine the appropriate deed type.
The deed type matters more than most people realize choosing the wrong one can create gift tax issues, title problems, or fail to accomplish what you intended.
We examine current title records to verify the grantor’s ownership, identify how title is currently held, and confirm the proper legal description before drafting the deed.
We’ve caught title problems during deed preparation that would have transferred those problems along with the property, finding them before drafting saves significant time and expense.
We prepare a deed with accurate legal descriptions, proper grantor and grantee designations, appropriate warranties or limitations, and all required statutory language under Texas law.
We prepare a deed with accurate legal descriptions, proper grantor and grantee designations, appropriate warranties or limitations, and all required statutory language under Texas law.
We ensure the deed is properly signed by all grantors, notarized according to Texas requirements, and includes any necessary spouse signatures for homestead property.
In Texas, both spouses must sign a deed conveying homestead property even if only one spouse holds title. This surprises many clients and failing to get both signatures can void the transfer entirely.
We coordinate recording of the deed with the appropriate county clerk’s office, pay filing fees, and obtain recorded copies showing the official date and time the transfer became part of public record.
Recording isn’t optional, an unrecorded deed can be superseded by a later recorded deed or lien, meaning your transfer may not be protected against third parties until it’s in the public record.
Deed preparation isn’t a one-size-fits-all service. The deed you need to sell your home is different from the deed you need to fund a living trust which is different from the deed needed to distribute inherited property after probate. Our attorneys understand how property transfers connect to your estate plan, your business structure, and your family’s long-term goals. We draft the right deed for your specific situation, not just the most common one.
Texas law allows individuals to prepare their own deeds, but mistakes in deed preparation can create serious title problems that are expensive to correct later. Common errors include incorrect legal descriptions, improper execution, missing spouse signatures on homestead property, wrong warranty language, and failure to address existing liens. Attorney-prepared deeds help avoid these problems.
A general warranty deed includes promises from the seller that they own the property, have the right to sell it, and will defend your ownership against claims from third parties. A quitclaim deed makes no promises about ownership. It simply transfers whatever interest the grantor has, if any. Warranty deeds provide more protection and are standard for most real estate sales. Quitclaim deeds are common for transfers between family members or to correct title issues.
Yes. Any change in property ownership requires a deed. Adding a spouse to title typically involves the current owner executing a deed transferring the property to both spouses. This is common after marriage or when refinancing. For homestead property in Texas, both spouses must sign any deed transferring or encumbering the property, even if only one spouse is on title.
Deed preparation fees vary based on complexity. Simple deeds for straightforward transfers typically cost a few hundred dollars. More complex deeds involving multiple parcels, business entities, or special provisions cost more. County recording fees are additional and vary by county. We provide flat-fee quotes for most deed preparation services.
A Lady Bird Deed (enhanced life estate deed) allows you to transfer property to beneficiaries upon your death while retaining complete control during your lifetime. You can sell the property, mortgage it, or change beneficiaries without anyone else’s permission. The property passes automatically to named beneficiaries when you die without going through probate. Lady Bird Deeds are useful estate planning tools but require careful drafting to achieve desired results.
Some deed types automatically transfer property at death without probate (Lady Bird Deeds, Transfer on Death Deeds). Other deeds transfer property immediately, removing it from your estate entirely. However, gifting property during your lifetime has tax and Medicaid implications you should understand before transferring title. We help you choose the right transfer method for your situation.
Errors in legal descriptions can cloud title and create problems when you try to sell or refinance. We prepare corrective deeds (often called “scrivener’s affidavits” or “correction deeds”) that fix description errors while maintaining the original transfer date. Correction typically requires documentation showing the error and evidence of the correct description.
Deed preparation typically takes a few days once we have all necessary information. After execution and notarization, recording with the county clerk usually takes one to three days depending on the county. We can expedite the process when timing is critical, such as closing deadlines or time-sensitive estate planning needs.
Yes. In Texas, real property does not automatically transfer into a living trust simply because the trust has been created. For real estate to be governed by your trust, and to pass outside of probate when you die, the property needs to be retitled into the name of the trust through a deed.
This step is called funding the trust, and it’s one of the most commonly skipped parts of the estate planning process. A revocable living trust that hasn’t been funded is essentially an empty container. The trust document may say exactly what you want to happen with your home, but if the deed in the county property records still shows you as the individual owner rather than the trustee of your trust, that property will likely need to go through probate regardless of what the trust says.
Funding a trust with real property requires preparing a new deed that conveys the property from you as an individual to yourself as trustee — for example, from “Jane Smith” to “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust dated January 1, 2024.” That deed then needs to be signed, notarized, and recorded in the county where the property is located.
If you have a living trust and you’re not certain whether your real estate has been properly deeded into it, checking the current deed on file at the county appraisal district is a straightforward way to find out.
Both a Transfer on Death Deed and a Lady Bird Deed are tools used in Texas to pass real property to a named beneficiary outside of probate. They accomplish a similar goal (keeping the property out of the probate process) but they work differently, and those differences matter depending on your situation.
A Transfer on Death Deed, sometimes called a TODD, is authorized under the Texas Estates Code. It allows a property owner to name one or more beneficiaries who will receive the property automatically upon the owner’s death. While the owner is alive, the beneficiary has no ownership interest in the property. The owner retains full control and can revoke or change the deed at any time by recording a new document.
A Lady Bird Deed (also called an enhanced life estate deed) is not a statutory form in Texas the way a TODD is, but it has been used in Texas estate planning for decades and is widely recognized. Like a TODD, it allows the owner to retain control of the property during their lifetime, including the ability to sell, mortgage, or revoke the transfer without the beneficiary’s consent. The owner keeps the life estate, and the remainder interest passes automatically at death.
In practice, the two tools are often compared because they serve a similar purpose. One distinction that comes up frequently is Medicaid planning: Lady Bird Deeds have a longer track record in Texas Medicaid contexts and are more commonly used when long-term care planning is part of the picture. Transfer on Death Deeds are a statutory option with clear codified rules. Which one is appropriate depends on the full context of the estate plan, the property involved, and what the owner is trying to accomplish.
Yes, a property owner in Texas can deed real property to another person, including a child, as a gift during their lifetime. This is typically done through what’s called a gift deed, which conveys ownership from the parent to the child without a sale price.
There are several things worth understanding before doing this. First, once a deed is signed and recorded, the transfer is generally permanent. Unlike a Lady Bird Deed or a Transfer on Death Deed, a straightforward gift deed gives the child ownership immediately and irrevocably — the parent typically cannot take the property back without the child’s cooperation.
Second, there are federal gift tax considerations. As of current federal law, annual gifts above a certain threshold may need to be reported to the IRS, though most gifts do not result in actual tax owed due to the lifetime exemption. The tax situation depends on the value of the property and the overall gift history between the parties.
Third, and often most significant, is the impact on the property’s tax basis. When property is inherited at death, the recipient generally receives what’s called a stepped-up basis, meaning the cost basis resets to the property’s value at the time of death, which can significantly reduce capital gains tax if the property is later sold. When property is gifted during the owner’s lifetime, the recipient typically takes on the original cost basis instead. For property that has appreciated significantly, this distinction can have meaningful tax consequences.
None of this means a lifetime transfer is the wrong approach, it simply means it’s worth understanding the full picture before a deed is signed. The structure of the transfer matters as much as the intent behind it.
A deed that has been signed and delivered but never recorded still transfers ownership between the parties involved as a matter of contract law, the conveyance can be valid between the grantor and the grantee without recording. However, an unrecorded deed creates significant practical and legal risks that recording is specifically designed to prevent.
Texas follows what’s called a race-notice recording system. Under this system, a subsequent buyer or creditor who purchases or acquires an interest in the property without knowledge of the unrecorded deed, and who records their interest first, may have a superior claim to the property. In plain terms, if a deed was never recorded, the door is open for the original owner to convey the same property to someone else, and that person’s recorded interest could take priority.
Beyond that legal risk, an unrecorded deed creates practical problems. Title companies conduct searches of the public property records, not private agreements. If your deed isn’t in the records, a title company reviewing the property for a future sale or refinance will have no way to see it. That can cloud the chain of title and make it difficult or impossible to sell or finance the property without resolving the gap.
If you have a deed that was never recorded, recording it, even years later, is generally possible and is the appropriate step to protect the ownership it reflects. If the original grantor is deceased or unavailable, the situation becomes more complicated and may require legal action to establish clear title.
This is a common situation, and it’s worth understanding how it typically works. When a home is titled in the name of a trust and the owner wants to refinance, some lenders will allow the refinance to proceed with the property remaining in the trust, particularly if the trust documents are reviewed and the lender is comfortable with the trustee’s authority to encumber the property.
However, some lenders require the property to be deeded out of the trust and back into the owner’s individual name before they will close the loan. In those cases, the refinance is completed with the property in the owner’s name, and then a new deed is prepared to transfer the property back into the trust after closing.
If that second step, deeding the property back into the trust, is skipped, the trust no longer holds the property. From that point forward, the property would pass through probate rather than through the trust, which may defeat part of the purpose of having the trust in the first place.
If you’ve refinanced a property that was previously in a trust, checking the current deed in the county property records is the most direct way to confirm whether the property is still titled in the trust’s name. If it isn’t, a new deed can typically be prepared to restore the trust’s ownership.
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible. this is a basic principle in every case and cause for success. contact us today for a free consultation.Â
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