The importance of recording a Beneficiary Deed

By recording a beneficiary deed naming your children to inherit your property, you've made it easy on your kids. When the time comes, they will be able to take over ownership of the property without the hassle and delay of probate court proceedings. By contrast, if you left the house through your will, probate almost certainly would be necessary.

Transfer on death (TOD) deeds have a lot of advantages. They are simple to prepare; they are pretty much like ordinary deeds except that they must state clearly that they don't take effect until your death. You must sign the deed in front of a notary public and record (file) it with the county land records office.

If you ever change your mind about how you want to leave the property, you can revoke the beneficiary deed at any time. To revoke it, you can record a simple statement (signed and notarized) saying that you revoke the earlier deed. Another way to revoke is just to prepare and to record another beneficiary deed, naming someone else to inherit the property. You CAN'T, however, revoke the deed in your will.

Missouri is one of only 10 states that currently allow TOD deeds. (The others are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin.) The number slowly has been increasing, though, and a few other states now also are considering whether to offer property owners this very useful option.