Transfer upon death deed or living trust?
I am unfamiliar with any critical income or estate tax advantage of one over the other (there are some tax advantages for a living trust but they are typically for huge estates following the Trustors death - as long as a living trust remains revocable, its tax attributes are attributed to its Trustor individually). One benefit of creating a living trust and funding it with your property, relative to that of a TOD Deed, is that if you become incapacitated, your Trustee could continue to deal with your entrusted property. If your property were subject to a TOD Deed, the only way to continue to deal with the property would be either through a Durable Power of Attorney or a Conservatorship of your Estate. One benefit of using a TOD Deed is that, as long as you dont already have a living trust, using a TOD Deed would be much less expensive to create than using a living trust. Another benefit of using a living trust is that you can use it for all of your assets and, if done correcting, avoid a probate at death. A further benefit of a living trust is that it can properly provide for a beneficiary who either is now (for example, a minor) or will become disabled (that is, legally incapacitated). While I was practicing estate planning in CA, it was almost considered to be attorney malpractice to fail to recommend to an estate planning client that he or she use a living trust as ones estate planning vehicle, relative to using a Will, as the primary benefit of using and funding a living trust is to attempt to avoid a probate at death, and especially in CA, the costs of probate are huge. I suggest that you consult with an experienced estate planning attorney in your jurisdiction. There is no right answer - it all depends on your individual circumstances, including the nature of your assets and desired beneficiaries. Richard Wills, retired probate attorney licensed in CA & WA (who, while in CA, used a living trust as his estate planning vehicle and continues to do so in WA)