How to Transfer Real Estate to a Trust
Richard Keyt (Rick, the father at 480-664-7478) and his son, former CPA Richard C. Keyt (Ricky at 480-664-7472), are Arizona estate planning attorneys with 294 5-star Google reviews and 407 5-star Google, Facebook & Birdeye reviews. They want to prepare a custom estate plan for Arizona residents that protects their most valuable assets – their loved ones. Call, email, or book a free office, phone or Zoom video meeting.
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Step-by-Step Guide to Transfer Real Estate to a Trust
If you have a revocable living trust, congratulations — you've made one of the smartest financial decisions of your life. A properly structured revocable living trust lets your family skip Arizona probate court entirely, keeps your affairs private, and ensures your assets pass to the people you love quickly and without court costs.
But here's the problem I see constantly in my practice: people create a beautiful revocable living trust and then never put their real estate inside it.
An unfunded trust — a trust that doesn't own your assets — is like buying a fireproof safe and leaving all your valuables sitting on the kitchen counter next to it. The safe exists. It's a great safe. But if the house burns down, everything is still lost.
If you die owning Arizona real estate in your own name — even if you have a revocable living trust — that real estate will likely have to go through Arizona probate court. Your family will face months of delay, thousands of dollars in court costs, and public exposure of your estate before they can do anything with your property.
The solution is simple: transfer your real estate into your trust now, while you're alive and well. This article explains exactly how to do that.
Table of Contents
- Why You Must Transfer Your Property — Not Just Create a Trust
- What “Funding Your Trust” Actually Means
- The Tool That Makes It Happen: A New Deed
- Which Type of Deed Should You Use?
- How to Title the Property in the Trust's Name
- Step-by-Step: How the Transfer Works
- Recording the Deed with the County Recorder
- What If I Have a Mortgage? Will the Bank Freak Out?
- What Happens to My Title Insurance?
- Will Transferring Property to My Trust Trigger Taxes?
- What About Real Estate I Own Outside of Arizona?
- What About Investment Properties and Rental Real Estate?
- After the Transfer: What Changes? What Doesn't?
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Should I Use an Attorney or Do This Myself?
- The Bottom Line
1. Why You Must Transfer Your Property — Not Just Create a Trust
Here is the foundational truth about revocable living trusts that too many people miss:
A revocable living trust only controls the assets that are titled in the trust's name. It has zero power over anything you still own in your own name when you die.
This is what estate planning attorneys call “funding” the trust. Creating the trust document is Step 1. Funding the trust — actually moving your assets inside it — is Step 2. Both steps are essential. Neither one works without the other.
I have seen this scenario play out too many times in my over 45 years of Arizona law practice: a person pays to have a revocable living trust drafted, feels good about it, puts the document in a drawer, and never gets around to transferring their property. They pass away years later. Their family discovers that all the real estate is still titled in Mom's or Dad's name. The trust they paid for does nothing for those properties. Now the family is in probate court, which is exactly what everyone was trying to avoid.
Don't let that happen to your family. If you have a trust, fund it — and start with your real estate, because real estate is almost always your most valuable asset and the one most likely to trigger probate if left unfunded.
2. What “Funding Your Trust” Actually Means
Funding your trust simply means changing the legal owner of your assets from you personally to your trust.
After funding, you no longer own your home as “Jane Smith.” Instead, your home is owned by “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust dated January 15, 2024” (or whatever your trust is named and dated).
You still control everything. You can still sell the property, refinance it, rent it out, or move out of it. Nothing changes in your day-to-day life. The only thing that changes is the name on the title — and that one change is what allows your successor trustee to transfer the property to your beneficiaries after you die without ever setting foot in probate court.
3. The Tool That Makes It Happen: A New Deed
In Arizona, the ownership of real property is transferred using a document called a deed. When you bought your home, the seller signed a deed that transferred ownership to you. That deed was recorded in the county recorder's office in the county where the property is located.
To transfer your real estate into your revocable living trust, you follow the same process:
- You (as the current owner) sign a new deed
- The deed transfers the property from you personally to you as trustee of your trust
- The deed is recorded with the county recorder
That's it. Once the deed is signed and recorded, the property is inside the trust.
In most cases, you are both the grantor (the current owner transferring the property) and the grantee (the trustee of the trust receiving the property). You're essentially signing a deed from yourself to yourself — just in your capacity as trustee.
4. Which Type of Deed Should You Use?
Arizona recognizes several types of deeds. For transferring real estate into your own revocable living trust, the most common options are:
Quit Claim Deed
A quit claim deed transfers whatever interest the grantor has in the property — no more, no less — with no warranties about the state of the title. It's commonly used for transfers between family members, spouses, and for funding trusts because the grantor already knows the condition of the title. It is simple, inexpensive, and gets the job done.
The biggest risk of using a quit claim deed to transfer property to your trust is that it can inadvertently void your title insurance policy.
Title insurance protects you against future claims or hidden defects in the title that occurred before you bought the property. Many title insurance policies state that coverage ends if the property is transferred via a deed that offers no warranties (like a quit claim deed). If someone challenges your ownership down the road, your trust might be left holding the bag without insurance protection.
Warranty Deed (General or Special)
A warranty deed includes promises (warranties) from the grantor that the title is clear. General warranty deeds are typically used in arm's-length sales. For a trust-funding transfer, the warranties are unnecessary since you're effectively transferring to yourself. There's no benefit to using a warranty deed for this purpose, and it creates no additional protection.
Hire us to prepare a special warranty deed for $295 by submitting our online questionnaire.
Beneficiary Deed
To hire us to prepare a Beneficiary Deed to cause the ownership of Arizona real property to pass automatically on the death of the owner(s) to the heir(s) named in the deed and avoid probate submit our online questionnaire.
If you have a trust this is the type of deed you should use because the title does not transfer until the death of a sole owner or the death of both owners if the owners are married. This means you do not have to notify your insurance company to add the trust as an insured. Also if you want to refiance your land you will not have to deed the land back to yourself then backk to the trust after your finish the new loan.
If you do not have a trust the beneficiary deed will cause your Arizona land to transfer automatically on your death or the your death or the death of the second joint owner.
5. How to Title the Property in the Trust's Name
One of the most common errors in trust-funding deeds — including ones people try to prepare themselves — is titling the property incorrectly.
A trust is not a legal entity that can own property directly. The trustee of a trust holds title to trust property on behalf of the trust's beneficiaries. So the deed must name you as trustee, not just name the trust itself.
Incorrect: “The Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust”
Incorrect: “Jane Smith Trust”
Correct: “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust dated January 15, 2026”
The exact name and date of your trust matters. Look at the first page of your trust document to confirm the exact name and date, and use that language verbatim on the deed.
If you have a married couple's joint trust, it might read something like:
“Jane Smith and John Smith, Trustees of the Smith Family Revocable Living Trust dated January 15, 2026”
Again — use the exact name from your trust document. Don't paraphrase, abbreviate, or guess.
6. Step-by-Step: How the Transfer Works
Here is the complete process for transferring Arizona real estate into your revocable living trust:
Step 1: Gather the Information You Need
Before preparing the deed, you need:
- The current vesting deed (the deed you received when you bought the property, showing how title is currently held)
- The exact legal description of the property (found on the current deed or the county assessor's records)
- The Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) — a number like 123-45-678 used by the county to identify your property
- The exact name and date of your revocable living trust as it appears on the trust document
- Your name as it currently appears on title
Step 2: Prepare the Deed
Have an Arizona-licensed attorney prepare a deed that:
- Names you (and your spouse, if applicable) as the grantor(s)
- Names you as trustee(s) of your revocable living trust as the grantee
- Contains the complete and accurate legal description of the property
- States the consideration (the amount paid — for trust-funding transfers, this is typically “$10 and other valuable consideration”)
- Complies with Arizona's recording requirements (proper margins, font size, and format per Arizona Revised Statutes § 11-480)
Step 3: Sign the Deed Before a Notary Public
All grantors must sign the deed in front of a notary public. The notary will acknowledge your signature and affix their seal. In Arizona, the grantor's signature must be notarized — the grantee does not need to sign.
This is not optional. An unnotarized deed cannot be recorded and is not valid to transfer title in Arizona.
Step 4: Record the Deed with the County Recorder
Take the notarized deed to the county recorder's office in the county where the property is located. In Maricopa County, this is the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. You pay a recording fee (currently $30).
The recorder stamps the deed with the date, time, and document number — and from that moment forward, your trust is the legal owner of the property on the public record.
Step 5: Update Your Records
After recording, update your homeowner's insurance policy to reflect the new ownership. Call your insurance agent, tell them the property is now held in your revocable living trust, and ask them to add the trust as an additional insured. This is a routine request — any good insurance agent will know exactly what to do.
7. Recording the Deed with the County Recorder
Arizona has eight counties. Your deed must be recorded in the county where the property is physically located — not where you live, and not where your trust was signed.
- Maricopa County (Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Queen Creek, Glendale, Peoria): recorder.maricopa.gov
- Pima County (Tucson): recorder.pima.gov
- Pinal County (Casa Grande, Coolidge, Queen Creek unincorporated): pinalcountyaz.gov/recorder
- Yavapai County (Prescott, Sedona): yavapai.us/recorder
- Coconino County (Flagstaff, Sedona): coconino.az.gov
Most county recorders also accept deeds by mail. Some accept electronic recording (eRecording) through third-party services. Confirm with your specific county before mailing anything.
One important note: Arizona does not require you to file an Affidavit of Property Value (AQPV) when transferring property to your own revocable living trust, because the transfer is not a sale. You may, however, need to check a box on the deed indicating it is an exempt transfer.
In Arizona, transferring real estate to a revocable living trust is exempt from the standard $2.00 Affidavit of Property Value filing fee and is not subject to a state real estate transfer tax. To claim this exemption when recording the deed, you must cite Exemption Code B8 (or A.R.S. Section 11-1134 B8) directly on the face of the deed.
8. What If I Have a Mortgage? Will the Bank Freak Out?
This is the question I hear most often, and the good news is: in most cases, transferring your home into your revocable living trust will not trigger a problem with your mortgage lender.
Here's the legal background. Most mortgages contain a “due-on-sale” clause that technically allows the lender to demand full repayment of the loan if you transfer the property. However, federal law — specifically the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 — prohibits lenders from enforcing the due-on-sale clause when you transfer your primary residence into a revocable living trust in which you remain a beneficiary.
That's a critical protection. If this is your primary residence and you are a beneficiary of your own trust (which you almost certainly are), your lender cannot call the loan due because of this transfer.
For investment properties or second homes, the Garn-St. Germain protection may not apply. In those cases, I recommend notifying your lender before recording the deed and getting written confirmation that they won't object. In my experience, most lenders don't care — they just want to make sure the payments keep coming. But it's wise to communicate with them in advance.
You should also be aware that some lenders will require you to sign a new deed of trust (Arizona's equivalent of a mortgage) showing the trust as the property owner. This is routine and should not cost much, if anything.
9. What Happens to My Title Insurance?
When you bought your home, you (or the lender) purchased title insurance to protect against defects in the title. You may be wondering whether transferring the property to your trust voids that coverage.
The short answer: usually not, but you should confirm with your title insurance company.
Most title insurance policies follow the property, not the owner. When you transfer ownership to yourself as trustee of your revocable living trust, many title insurers treat this as a continuation of the same ownership rather than a new transfer to a new party. But “many” is not “all.”
Contact your title insurance company — you can find their name on your original title insurance policy — and let them know you are funding your revocable living trust. Ask whether your existing policy continues to cover the property. If they require an endorsement (a written modification to the policy), that endorsement is typically inexpensive.
Don't skip this step. Title insurance is valuable protection, and you don't want to accidentally let it lapse.
10. Will Transferring Property to My Trust Trigger Taxes?
This is another question I hear all the time, and the answer is almost always no — for several important reasons.
No Arizona Real Estate Transfer Tax
Arizona does not have a real estate transfer tax. Many states do — Arizona does not. So there is no state transfer tax triggered by funding your trust.
No Federal Gift Tax
Because you are transferring property to yourself (as trustee of your own revocable living trust), there is no gift. You remain the beneficial owner of the property. No gift tax return is required.
No Capital Gains Tax
Transferring property to your revocable living trust is not a taxable event for federal income tax purposes. The IRS treats a grantor trust (which is what a revocable living trust is during your lifetime) as completely transparent. You continue to report any income, gains, or losses on your personal tax return exactly as you did before. Nothing changes from a tax perspective.
No Property Taxes
Arizona does not reassess property for property tax purposes when you transfer your home into your own revocable living trust. Your property taxes will not increase as a result of this transfer. The assessor's records will eventually reflect the trust as the owner, but the assessed value and tax bill remain the same.
11. What About Real Estate I Own Outside of Arizona?
If you own real estate in another state, you must follow that state's deed requirements to transfer it into your trust. You cannot use an Arizona deed to transfer California property, Texas property, or property in any other state.
Each state has its own deed forms, recording requirements, transfer taxes (if any), and recording fees. In most cases, you will need to retain an attorney licensed in the state where the out-of-state property is located to prepare and record the deed.
This is one of the significant advantages of a revocable living trust over a will. If you die owning real estate in two or three states and your assets pass through a will instead of a trust, your family would have to open separate probate proceedings in each of those states. That's called “ancillary probate,” and it is expensive, time-consuming, and a complete headache. A properly funded revocable living trust eliminates ancillary probate for all states where the property is titled in the trust's name.
12. What About Investment Properties and Rental Real Estate?
Everything described in this article applies equally to investment properties and rental real estate — not just your primary residence. If you own rental homes, commercial property, raw land, or any other real estate, all of it can and should be transferred into your revocable living trust.
From a practical standpoint, the transfer process is identical: prepare a quit claim deed, sign before a notary, record with the county recorder.
One additional consideration for investment real estate: if the property is held in an LLC, the trust should become the member of the LLC rather than directly owning the real estate. If the LLC's operating agreement requires member approval for a transfer of membership interest, you'll need to follow those procedures. This is another situation where having an attorney who understands both estate planning and LLC law is valuable.
If your rental property is owned directly in your name (not in an LLC), transferring it to your trust is straightforward using the same deed process described above. And while you're at it, you may want to consider whether that property should be inside an LLC for liability protection — a separate but very important conversation.
As LLC attorney who have formed more than 10,000 Arizona LLCs we recommend without exception that rental real estate always be owned by an LLC that protects the person or people from liabilities arising from the rental property.
13. After the Transfer: What Changes? What Doesn't?
Once your real estate is titled in the name of your revocable living trust, your day-to-day life with the property doesn't change in any meaningful way.
What stays exactly the same:
- You live in (or rent out) the property exactly as before
- You make mortgage payments exactly as before
- You pay property taxes and report income (if any) on your personal tax return exactly as before
- You can sell the property whenever you want — you sign the deed as trustee rather than as an individual, but the process is essentially identical
- You can refinance the property — most lenders handle trust-owned properties routinely
- You can remove the property from the trust at any time by signing a new deed back to yourself personally
What changes:
- The name on the county recorder's records now shows the trust as the owner
- When you die, your successor trustee can transfer the property to your beneficiaries using a Trustee's Deed — no court, no probate, no delay
- If you become incapacitated, your successor trustee can manage the property on your behalf without a court-supervised conservatorship
The last two points are the entire reason you went to the trouble of creating a trust in the first place. Funding your real estate into the trust is what activates those benefits.
14. Common Mistakes to Avoid
After more than 45 years of Arizona law practice, here are the mistakes I see most often:
Mistake #1: Creating the Trust But Never Funding It
I've said this already, but it bears repeating because it's the most common and most costly mistake. An unfunded trust does nothing. If your real estate is still in your name when you die, it goes through probate — period. Fund your trust as soon as possible after signing it.
Mistake #2: Using the Wrong Legal Description
Every piece of real property has a specific legal description — sometimes a lot-and-block description (e.g., “Lot 15, Block 3, Metes Subdivision…”), sometimes a metes-and-bounds description, and sometimes a description by section, township, and range. That legal description must appear verbatim and completely on the deed. A deed with a wrong or incomplete legal description can cloud title and create serious problems for your successors. Always pull the legal description directly from the recorded deed or county recorder records — don't type it from memory.
Mistake #3: Misspelling the Trust Name or Getting the Date Wrong
If your trust is “The Smith Family Revocable Living Trust dated January 15, 2024,” don't write “Smith Family Trust 2024.” Use the exact name and exact date. Any discrepancy creates a title question that may need to be resolved with additional legal documents.
Mistake #4: Forgetting to Update Homeowner's Insurance
Your homeowner's insurance policy covers the property owner. Once the trust is the owner, you need the trust named as an insured party on the policy. Call your agent right after you record the deed.
Mistake #5: Using an Online Deed Form Without Understanding Arizona Law
Online deed generators exist. Some are better than others. But they don't know the specifics of your trust, your property, your mortgage, or your situation. A mistake on a deed can cloud title, void your trust funding, or create problems that are expensive to fix. The cost of having an attorney prepare the deed correctly is modest compared to the cost of fixing a defective deed years later.
Mistake #6: Forgetting About Other Assets
Real estate is often the largest asset, but it's rarely the only one. Once you've transferred your real estate into the trust, review all your other significant assets — financial accounts, brokerage accounts, business interests, vehicles — and make sure those are properly coordinated with your estate plan as well. For financial accounts, this may mean re-titling the account in the trust's name or naming the trust as the beneficiary. Your estate planning attorney can walk you through the complete funding process for all asset types.
15. Should I Use an Attorney or Do This Myself?
I'll be straight with you: you can legally prepare and record a deed yourself in Arizona. The state doesn't require an attorney to be involved in deed preparation.
But I want you to think carefully before doing this on your own.
A deed is a permanent legal document that affects your property's chain of title. A mistake on a deed — wrong legal description, wrong trust name, improper execution — can create a cloud on title that is expensive and time-consuming to fix. Depending on the error, fixing it may require a court action, a quiet title lawsuit, or the cooperation of heirs and beneficiaries who may be difficult to locate years from now.
The cost of having an experienced Arizona estate planning attorney prepare and record your trust-funding deed is relatively modest. At KEYTLaw, trust-funding deed preparation is included for our estate plan clients. We make sure it's done right.
If you already have a trust that was created by a different attorney and you simply need a deed to fund it, contact our office. We can help.
16. The Bottom Line
Transferring your Arizona real estate into your revocable living trust is one of the most important estate planning steps you can take. It's not complicated. It doesn't trigger taxes. It doesn't affect your mortgage. And it doesn't change how you use or enjoy your property.
What it does is give your family an extraordinary gift: the ability to transfer your home and real estate to the people you love quickly, privately, and without ever setting foot in a probate courtroom.
The process is simple:
- Have a qualified Arizona attorney prepare a quit claim deed from you personally to you as trustee of your revocable living trust
- Sign the deed before a notary public
- Record the deed with the county recorder in the county where the property is located
- Update your homeowner's insurance policy to include the trust
- Confirm with your title insurance company that coverage continues
That's it. Five steps. Done.
If you don't yet have a revocable living trust and want to understand why I believe a trust — not a will — is the right foundation for almost every Arizona estate plan, read more of my articles on Arizona estate planning. Or if you're ready to talk about putting an estate plan in place for your family, schedule a free office, phone or Zoom video meeting with one of your attorneys. We'll answer your questions and explain exactly how we can help.
Your family deserves to be protected. Fund your trust — don't leave your real estate sitting on the kitchen counter.
Disclaimer: I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney. This information is for educational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Arizona laws are unique; always consult a local professional regarding your specific situation.
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Call or email Richard Keyt, the father
Direct phone: 480-664-7478
Email: [email protected]
Call or email Richard C. Keyt, the son
Direct phone: 480-664-7472
Email: [email protected]