Your Home After Signing: Titling, Mortgages, and What to Keep on Hand

Often, yes, without you having to do anything. Many attorneys record the new deed into your trust as part of the estate planning process itself. It's still worth confirming: if you created a revocable living trust, the deed should read something like "[Your Name], Trustee of the [Your Name] Trust" — not just your name alone. If your name alone still appears, it's usually one of a few reasons: your attorney's process didn't include recording the deed, you bought or refinanced the home after your plan was signed, or this was a DIY or online plan that didn't include that step. Whichever it is, it's a straightforward fix — your attorney can prepare and record a new deed.

No — and this is worth knowing plainly, because it stops a lot of people from finishing this step. A federal law called the Garn-St. Germain Act specifically prevents a lender from calling your loan due just because you transferred your primary residence into a revocable living trust, as long as you remain a beneficiary of the trust and keep living there. Your mortgage doesn't disappear — it simply continues, now attached to a home owned by your trust instead of you personally.

In most states, no. Moving your home into your own revocable trust generally isn't treated as a change in ownership for property tax purposes, since you're still considered the real owner. Rules vary by state, and some (California in particular) have their own specific statutes governing this, so it's worth a quick confirmation with your attorney rather than assuming — but for the common case of your own home, your own revocable trust, this usually isn't the landmine people expect it to be.

The protections above are clearest for the home you actually live in day to day. A second home you visit occasionally sits in a grayer area — worth a direct conversation with your lender before transferring it, rather than assuming the same protection automatically applies.

This is a different situation, and worth treating as one. The mortgage protection above is weakest here — a property you don't personally occupy generally doesn't get the same guaranteed shield from a due-on-sale clause. If you own rental or investment property, check with your lender directly before transferring title, and loop in your attorney on the right structure.

Worth checking, yes. Some insurers want the trust listed as an additional insured once the property is retitled, to avoid a coverage gap if a claim ever comes up. A quick call to your insurance agent after retitling closes this loop.

When you die, the tax basis of your home generally resets to its fair market value as of your date of death — not what you originally paid for it decades ago — and this applies to a home held in your revocable trust the same way it would in your own name. Why it matters: this can eliminate most or all capital gains tax for your beneficiaries if they sell the home within a reasonable time after inheriting it. The part that catches people off guard: to actually use this benefit, your beneficiaries need to be able to show what the home was worth on the date you died — in practice, a professional appraisal done at or shortly after death, not something reconstructed years later from memory. Your original purchase price and records of major improvements are still worth keeping; they establish a baseline for that appraisal. This is genuinely a tax question rather than a legal one — worth a conversation with a CPA or tax professional, not just your attorney.

A short, complete list is enough:

• The deed
• Mortgage lender and account information
• Homeowners insurance policy
• Recent property tax bill
• Original purchase documents and records of major improvements
• A professional appraisal, obtained at or shortly after death, to document the stepped-up value

Under Assets > Personal Property > Real Property, add each property you own — Primary Residence, Vacation Residence, Investment Property, or Partnership Property, whichever fits. Set Ownership Type to reflect where things actually stand (Sole Owner, Joint, or Trust), and upload the deed and other documents directly to that entry.