Property Transfer Attorney
A property transfer structured incorrectly can trigger a reassessment to current market value. Structured correctly, it preserves the existing base, which can mean six- and seven-figure savings across the holding period. The difference is the documentation made before the deed is recorded.
Get Started →The transfer that fits an exclusion keeps the base year.
A property transfer that is structured incorrectly can trigger a reassessment of the property to current market value, which produces a property-tax bill that follows the property for as long as the new owner holds it. A property transfer that is structured correctly preserves the existing property-tax base, which can produce six- and seven-figure savings across the holding period of a single property. The difference between the two is the documentation and the structural decision made before the deed is recorded.
Delina structures and documents property transfers between individuals, trusts, LLCs, and corporations, with attention to the reassessment-exclusion analysis available under the controlling state property-tax framework. The home jurisdiction operates under a base-year framework with specific exclusions for transfers within families, between an individual and a trust, between an individual and a wholly-owned entity, and other categories. The transfer that fits within an exclusion preserves the base year. The transfer that does not takes a new market value as of the transfer date.
A deed without documentation reads as a change in ownership.
A grant deed transfers title. A grant deed by itself, without supporting documentation, is read by the assessor as a change in ownership, and a change in ownership triggers reassessment to current market value unless an exclusion applies. The exclusion is what preserves the base year. The supporting documentation is what proves the exclusion applies.
Most property transfers the firm sees from non-attorney filers, filing services, paralegal services, the prior owner’s accountant, are deeds without the supporting documentation. The deed gets recorded. The assessor reassesses. The new owner discovers it when the next tax bill arrives, by which point the procedural window for challenging the reassessment has closed or narrowed, and the fix is far more expensive than the original structuring. The firm’s engagement starts with the reassessment-exclusion analysis. The deed is drafted last, after the exclusion path is confirmed and the supporting documentation is in place.
The categories that allow a transfer without reassessment.
Individual to a Revocable Trust
A transfer of real property from an individual to that individual’s revocable trust (or back) is an excluded change in ownership. It does not trigger reassessment, and the property keeps the prior base year. Supporting documentation includes the deed, the trust instrument, and the recorded affidavit of change in ownership.
Transfers Between Spouses
Inter-spousal transfers are excluded from reassessment regardless of the marital agreement framework otherwise applicable. The exclusion applies during marriage and as part of dissolution. The firm structures the transfer and produces the supporting documentation.
Parent-Child and Grandparent-Grandchild
The exclusion applies to the family principal residence and, subject to a cap, to other family real property. Recent legislation substantially narrowed it, requiring the transferee to use the property as a principal residence within a specific window. The firm runs the post-amendment analysis and structures to the qualification.
Individual to a Wholly-Owned Entity
A transfer from an individual to a wholly-owned LLC, corporation, or partnership (or back) is excluded where the transferor’s proportionate interest in the entity matches the prior interest in the property. This supports placing real estate inside an LLC for liability protection without triggering reassessment.
Between Commonly-Owned Entities
Transfers between entities under common ownership are excluded where proportional ownership is preserved. The firm analyzes the ownership structure on both sides, identifies the percentage interests, and confirms the proportionate-interest test is satisfied before recording.
Estate and Beneficiary Transfers
For estates transferring real property to beneficiaries under a trust or will, the firm aligns the transfer documentation with the underlying instrument and preserves any available exclusion before the deed is recorded.
The transfers the firm structures most often.
Operators Consolidating Into LLCs
Moving personally-held real estate into LLC ownership for liability protection, using the proportionate-interest exclusion so the structural move does not trigger reassessment.
Family Operators Transferring Generations
Transferring real estate parent-to-child or grandparent-to-grandchild, with attention to the post-amendment narrowing of the exclusion and the principal-residence requirement.
Trust Grantors Funding Trusts
Funding revocable living trusts with real estate, where the transfer needs to clear the assessor’s review without triggering reassessment.
Couples Restructuring Ownership
Restructuring real estate ownership between spouses, in or out of an existing trust structure, in connection with marital agreements or estate planning.
Holding-Company Consolidations
Consolidating multiple LLCs or partnerships under a unified holding-company structure, where transfers between entities need to satisfy the proportionate-interest test.
Estates Transferring to Beneficiaries
Transferring real property to beneficiaries under a trust or will, where the documentation must align with the underlying instrument and preserve available exclusions.
Analysis first, documentation second, deed last.
The engagement begins with the reassessment-exclusion analysis. The firm reviews the proposed transfer, identifies the applicable exclusion or confirms that none applies and reassessment is unavoidable, and advises on the structural alternatives where the proposed transfer does not fit a clean exclusion. It then produces the supporting documentation: the deed (grant, quitclaim, or trust transfer deed depending on the situation), the affidavit of change in ownership, the supporting trust or entity instrument, the parent-child or grandparent-grandchild claim form where applicable, the proportionate-interest analysis where the transfer is to or from an entity, and any supplementary affidavits the assessor requires, filed in the correct order.
The firm coordinates with the client’s estate planning attorney where the transfer is part of trust funding, the tax accountant where there are income or transfer-tax implications, the title company, the lender where a mortgage is affected, and family-law counsel where the transfer is part of a dissolution. Engagements are flat per scope, and most single-property transfers run two to four weeks from intake through deed recording. Fees are committed in writing before drafting begins. See Fees.
This page is general guidance, not legal advice on any specific property or transfer. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Attorney-client relationships are formed only on a signed engagement agreement.
Further reading on tax strategy.
How to properly use the Augusta rule?
Augusta rule tax strategy explained by a California attorney. Learn the IRC § 280A(g) requirements before you rent your home to your business. Book a paid intake.
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Transferring property and want to keep the base year?
Tell Delina about the property, the current owner, and where the title is headed. The intake scopes the reassessment-exclusion analysis and the documentation that preserves the tax base.
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