{"id":6223,"date":"2025-01-02T10:07:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T15:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=6223"},"modified":"2025-01-02T10:07:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T15:07:28","slug":"senior-deed-transfers-is-capacity-in-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/senior-deed-transfers-is-capacity-in-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Deed Transfers: Is Capacity In Question?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When an older adult transfers property, sometimes questions come up about whether the deed holder had legal capacity to transfer it. Did the person grasp the meaning of the transfer? Was the transfer voluntary? A court could undo a problematic deed transfer in a quiet title action<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But deeds are presumed valid. If they\u2019re properly signed, witnessed, delivered, and recorded with the county, they\u2019re good. Getting a deed set aside is no easy feat.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, with those basics laid out, we look briefly at whether a deed can be valid if the deed holder lacked mental capacity when signing it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

When Incapacity Could Come Up as a Question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An older adult signs over a deed to a younger recipient, who later wants to sell or take a loan out against the home. This puts a title search in motion. To insure the title, the title company wants proof of the elder\u2019s cognitive capacity at the time of the past deed conveyance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions could involve a range of scenarios, like these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The transferor had a degree of cognitive impairment at the time of transfer \u2014 but understood the act.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n