Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in South Dakota

Assignment of Land to a Trust

I am a co-Trustee on my mother-n-laws Revocable Trust. She currently resides in Washington state. She is inheriting a 1/4 section of land located in South Dakota from her sister. The sister's Trust reads that it will be issued in my mother-n-laws name. We would like to have this land issued in herTrust name instead. I'm told that we need to prepare an ''assignment'', send it to the sister's attorney who will review and approve it, before the sister's trust is dispersed.

I'm a little confused. Is this ''assignment'' something that we can personally prepare and have notarized as Trustees or does an attorney in Seattle have to complete this form?

Once this form is prepared and sent to the sister's attorney, does he prepare a Warranty Deed for this property to be included in my mother-n-laws Trust or are these two different things?

Thank you for your quick response.


Asked on 6/06/07, 6:44 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bruce Busch Bruce R. Busch, Attorney at Law

Re: Assignment of Land to a Trust

An assignment could work. I agree with Ms. Powell, I would have an attorney review the matter. The deed would most likely be a Quitclaim Deed, not a Warranty Deed, but that is beside the point.

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Answered on 6/08/07, 5:22 pm
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Assignment of Land to a Trust

If your mother and your aunt both have their own trusts, and you are dealing with real property, don;t you think it would be best to have a real, live attorney review the trusts and give you the correct advice?

You can always prepare your own instruments. I don't know how effective they will be, but you *could* do it, theoretically.

There is no form. If your mother is transferring property in which she has an expectancy, nobody will be writing deeds because the transfer from your aunt's trust to your mother's trust sounds as though it does not happen until your aunt dies.

In any event, a transfer of real property located in SD is a SD problem, not WA.

Elizabeth Powell

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Answered on 6/07/07, 12:30 am


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