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BACKGROUND OF EFFORTS TO PROVIDE
CALIFORNIANS
WITH A
REVOCABLE TRANSFER-ON-DEATH BENEFICIARY
DEED
Emeritus Attorney Mary Pat Toups, Esq., a few years ago read a two
paragraph article in AARP’s Modern Maturity magazine which described a
legal means for the elderly to give their homes directly to their heirs,
avoiding an expensive Trust and Probate. It described an interesting,
inexpensive Revocable Transfer-on-Death Beneficiary Deed, which allows the
home to be transferred similarly to how title passes in a Joint Tenancy
Deed at the time of death.
Toups, for over 15 years, has served Senior Citizens, as provided
by the Federal Older Americans Act, which mandates that all U. S. citizens
age 60 and over must be provided a free lawyer, while appropriating tiny
sums of money to fund the program, and mandating those most in need must
be served first. To locate
the legal services program responsible for providing these services in
your area, please call (800)
677-1116.
For 15 years Toups had listened to clients tell her that they could
not afford a Trust, but they wanted to protect their loved ones from
Probate. These clients are low-income seniors with a small estate - the
family home, and not much else.
Toups told them she could not help them. She told them if they lived in 7
other states they could pass their family home to their loved ones with a
Revocable Transfer-on-Death Beneficiary Deed. She advised them to NOT
transfer the home now, before death, describing negative Capital Gains Tax
consequences, and other problems. She advised them to avoid Trust Scams,
that promise to prepare a trust and many other legal documents for a very
small sum of money. Seniors
get ripped off when they deal with Trust Scams.
Toups continued working and researching Revocable Transfer-on-Death
Beneficiary Deeds. She
realized that most California Trust & Probate lawyers oppose allowing
real estate to transfer by any means other than a Trust or Probate.
Finally, she asked her about-to-be-elected Assemblyman Chuck
DeVore,
R-Irvine, Assembly District 70, to submit a Revocable
Transfer-on-Death Beneficiary bill to the Assembly, so that Californians
could utilize this method of transferring real estate. On December 6, 2004, the day he
was sworn in, DeVore submitted AB12 Beneficiary Deeds.
For additional information on Emeritus Attorney Mary Pat Toups, click HERE to be taken to the web site of The
California Bar Association (www.calbar.ca.gov) to read
an article regarding Emeritus
Attorney Mary Pat Toups.
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