08/25/2026
**I hear some version of this question almost every day:**
“Should I put my house in a trust?”
“Do I need a trust for my house?”
“Is it better to put my house in a trust or just use a Transfer on Death Deed?”
Different ways of asking essentially the same question.
**The short answer: Not everyone who owns a house needs a trust.**
If your only goal is keeping the house out of probate, a properly prepared Transfer on Death Deed may be enough.
A trust starts earning its keep when the goal is bigger: managing the house and other assets if you become incapacitated, coordinating how everything passes at death, or deciding who should control things after you're gone.
A trust can also make more sense when you're leaving the house to several people who may be in very different places in their lives. One child may want to sell it. Another may want to keep it. Another may need some protection or help managing what they inherit.
That's when simply putting several names on a Transfer on Death Deed may not really solve the bigger problem.
**The real question isn't whether your house should avoid probate. It's how you want it to avoid probate, and what you need to happen after it does.**
Sometimes a Transfer on Death Deed is enough.
Sometimes a trust makes more sense.
And sometimes probate isn't the disaster the internet makes it out to be.
**The documents are supposed to fit the plan, not the other way around.**
