Real estate and retitling

Read the last recorded deed

Look at the county where the land is, not only at the trust binder. If the grantee is the trustee ("Pat Lee, Trustee of the Lee Revocable Trust dated…"), the land is a trust asset. The successor trustee can later sign a trustee's deed to sell it or to distribute it, using the powers the trust gives and the certification of trust a closing attorney will request.

If the deed is still in the decedent's individual name, the land is generally a probate asset. The pour-over will can leave it to the trust only after the will is probated and a personal representative signs a deed. Do not sign as "trustee" for land the trust does not own, and do not sign in your personal name either.

Sales, mortgages, and other states

A sale of trust-owned South Carolina land is an ordinary closing. The closing attorney will want the trust, a certification, your identification, and the death certificate. Keep the mortgage current while you decide whether to sell or distribute. Lenders have their own notice rules when a borrower dies. Do not assume the loan can be ignored because a relative inherited the house.

Land in another state follows that state's deed and tax rules, even when a South Carolina trust owns it. A camp in North Carolina is not handled by a Greenville Register of Deeds.

Other title that is easy to get wrong

Vehicles often sit in the decedent's name even in a careful plan. The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has its own packet. Watercraft, a burial plot, and a closely held business each have a different office. Make the inventory tell you which office, and do not retitle an asset into a beneficiary's name until you know the trust actually gives it to that person outright.