Month: October 2021

Have you ever sold a home where the owner of record is in a trust? What does that mean? How is that different? What does title do differently, and how do you know when a property is in a trust?

A trust refers to the fiduciary relationship created to appoint one party to manage assets on behalf of a third party. This relationship is established between the creator of the trust (the grantor) and the trustee, who holds and administers the property within the trust on behalf of the beneficiary designated to receive the property. The trustee is appointed to administer the trust while acting in the best interests of the grantor.

So how does this transaction differ from a traditional sale? 

Well, the short answer is … it isn’t that different. There are a few things we (the title company) will need in order to begin the sale. We will need a copy of the Trust Agreement from the Seller. This will include names, permissions, and who is the signing agent of the trust.

The sale contract will have the seller’s name as the name of the Trust and the representative of the trust will sign as Trustee. For example: “Trustees name”, Trustee.

For settlement, we will need to verify the separate bank account that is open in the name of the trust.

Our Client Relations & Marketing Manager, Brian Harper-Lewis, will walk you through the process and ensure that your transaction is handled smoothly and efficiently.
 

What do you do when your next listing is in an estate? And what does that mean for title?

While selling a property held in an estate is slightly different from your traditional sale, it doesn’t have to be difficult! The best way to sell this kind of property is to be prepared.

When an owner of a home passes away, typically, that home goes into the individual’s estate. The first thing we do is verify the Personal Representative of the Estate by using the Maryland Registers website.

Once we know who the PR is, Assurance Title will request some documents, so it is important to let the Personal Representative listing the house know upfront that we are going to need the following items:

• Death Certificate
• Letters of Administration from the PR
• EIN # for Estate

From there, everything proceeds as normal. When selling an estate property, you’ll want to have the seller on the contract of sale as “The Estate of *Name of Deceased.*” You’ll also want to make sure that the Personal Representative is signing as “*PR Name* as the Personal Representative.”

Happy selling!