Christopher S. Mulvaney,

Attorney and Counselor-at-Law

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THIS WEBSITE INCLUDES GENERAL INFORMATION & THE OPINIONS OF CHRISTOPHER S. MULVANEY. IT IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE A BASIS FOR QUESTIONS RELATED TO YOUR PARTICULAR FACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES — BEFORE YOU ACT.  THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU WANT LEGAL ADVICE, PLEASE MAKE A ZOOM APPOINTMENT TO SPEAK WITH ME.

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The use of email or this form for communication with MULVANEY LAW OFFICE, PLLC does not establish an Attorney-Client Relationship. If you don’t think I have responded, please check your spam folder. Time-sensitive information should not be sent through this Form or through email. Sensitive information can be uploaded to an encrypted Dropbox folder in your client file. Google Review Link Yelp Review Link

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Gonzaga University School of Law – Spokane, Washington – Class of 2002 – Cum Laude The Latin phrase “Deo patriae, scientiis, artibus” translates to “For God and country through sciences and arts”.  The initials A.M.D.G. on the seal of Gonzaga Law School stand for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, which is Latin for “For the Greater Glory of God” the Motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits): a Catholic religious order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

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Before 2014 when the Transfer on Death Deed Statute was enacted, the only way to avoid Probate on real estate was a Quitclaim Deed to transfer title to your home into your name as Trustee of your Trust while you are living.

However, this has disadvantages, especially for landlords. If you want to refinance a property in a Trust you have to Quitclaim the property to yourself, get the loan, then Quitclaim back to the Trust, which is expensive. This is necessary because the Trust does not have a credit rating to qualify for the loan.

If you were a landlord before 2014 then you had a choice, you could either Quitclaim your property into an LLC to limit liability or Quitclaim to a Trust to avoid Probate, but you couldn’t do both. Now, you can Quitclaim to an LLC with the Member interest as Trustee of your Trust during your life to limit liability and record a Transfer on Death Deed during your life which does not change the title when recorded. When you pass away, your Successor Trustee records a certified copy of your Death Certificate and the County Recorder transfers the property to the Trust without a Probate Court Order. This is similar to the transfer without Probate for surviving spouses who just record the Death Certificate of their lost partner and the County Recorder removed the name of the deceased and re-titles the property in the surviving spouse’s name as an unmarried individual as sole & separate property.

Transfer on Death Deeds are preferred because they transfer title to your home to your Trust after you pass away and avoid the disadvantages of a property being in a Trust during your life.

Transfer on Death Deeds apply even if the property is in an LLC, so if you have recorded a Transfer on Death Deed on a property, if you later Quitclaim the property into an LLC, the Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed is still effective.

Here is a link to Transfer on Death Deed information.

Quitclaiming to a Trust can be useful if you want to give someone a Life Estate, which is the right of a person to live in a house until they die, but not own it so that the proceeds of the sale go to someone else. An example of when this might be used is if a spouse wanted to give their surviving spouse the right to live in the house until they die and then have the proceeds of the sale go to the adult children from a prior marriage. Without the Life Estate, the step-children may have been disinherited.

Explanation of Quitclaim Deeds and Life Estates Download

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Washington State residents can meet with me in Zoom/DocuSign from anywhere in the world, and I can notarize their electronic signatures because I am a remote online notary.  Just email me an image of your photo ID.

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