Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Re: naming a beneficiary on a house deed

On a deed, you do not actually name a beneficiary. However, there are several things you can do to achieve the same result. First, you may deed the property and keep a life estate. Essentially you are deeding out the property, but retain a right to use same during your lifetime. The downfall is that you give up your right to sell/transfer the property to any other person. Next, you may name another person as a joint tenant. In this case, upon your death, the property automatically transferes to your joint tenant. The downfall of this is that you essentially give up a half ownership prior to your death. The most preferrable vehicle,in my opinion, is a realty trust. This is a simple document with which you establish an entity to take title of the property. With sucgh a trust , you do name beneficiaries. This would most likely be yourself during your lifetime & whoever you wish upon your death. Since the beneficiary page, while controling, is not recorded at the Registry of Deeds with the trust and deed, the beneficiaries are shielded from many third parties,

Re: naming a beneficiary on a house deed

Yes, you can do it on a deed but there's a better way to do it; use a trust; a lawyer can draft one for you and with rare exception it would cost less than $1,000.

There are some forms of joint ownership (joint tenancy) which will not accomplish the task correctly. Do plan to use a lawyer and discuss the pros and cons with him or her. Contact me directly if you like at (617)527-0050 or send me e-mail and include your phone number(s).