The Oregon legislature has passed the Real Property Transfer on Death Act (SB 815), which is effective January 1, 2012. The Act is based on the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act.
The purpose of the act is to provide a reliable and inexpensive probate-avoidance tool to allow an individual to execute and record a Transfer-on-Death Deed. When the owner dies, the act provides for the transfer of title to pass to the designated beneficiary. Beneficiaries must be specifically named and a class or group of beneficiaries cannot be designated as beneficiaries (such as “all my living children” etc.).
A Transfer-on-Death Deed is revocable at any time prior to the owner’s death and the owner retains exclusive control, ownership, and interest in the real estate up until the owner’s death. A designated beneficiary obtains no rights or ownership in the real estate prior to the death of the owner.
Upon the death of the owner, the real estate is transferred equally to the beneficiaries. The real estate property is transferred subject to all encumbrances, liens, and restrictions.
As with a will, the Owner must have “capacity” to execute a Transfer-on-Death Deed.
One of the potential problems created by Transfer-on-Death Deed is that it is likely that “due-on-sale” clauses found in mortgages and other loan documents will be triggered upon the death of the owner when title transfers to the beneficiaries. Lenders may not be willing to waive the due-on-sale provision resulting in the beneficiaries being forced to sell or refinance the property to pay off the debt or risk seeing the real estate going through a foreclosure sale.
Another issue to keep in mind is that there is an 18-month cloud on title following the death of the owner. Creditors and other claimants have 18 months to set aside the Transfer-on-Death Deed. If the owner’s estate has insufficient funds to pay off claims, those claimants and creditors can recover against the real estate. Other claimants can set aside the Transfer-on-Death Deed on the grounds of capacity, fraud, or undue influence. For these reasons, it may be very difficult for beneficiaries to sell the property during the 18 months following the owner’s death.