Smith County Enhanced Life Estate Deed - Lady Bird Deed (Individual by Attorney-in-Fact) Form

Texas law closed one door on agents and left another open. A transfer on death deed, the statutory nonprobate deed, may not be created through a power of attorney; Estates Code Section 114.054 requires the owner's personal signature. The lady bird deed, an enhanced life estate deed resting on Texas common law rather than on any statute, carries no such bar. When an owner can no longer sign and an agent holds a durable power of attorney with the necessary authority, the lady bird deed is the instrument that still moves the property outside probate. This form prepares that deed for one Texas owner, signed by the owner's attorney-in-fact.

A deed that gives away nothing the owner cannot take back

The deed conveys a remainder interest to the named grantees while reserving to the owner, for life, exclusive possession, all income, homestead and property tax benefits, and an unrestricted power to sell, mortgage, lease, or give away the property without the grantees' consent, keeping all proceeds. A lifetime disposition divests the grantees entirely; the remainder vests in possession only at death and only in whatever remains. The reservation in this form states that the reserved powers are exercisable by the owner personally or through an authorized agent, so the same power of attorney can support a later sale. The conveyance is made without warranty of title, with the express exclusion Property Code Section 5.023 requires, and it conveys the property itself with words of grant, so it operates as a true conveyance rather than a quitclaim under the Texas characterization cases.

The power of attorney does the heavy lifting

Whether the agent's signature binds the owner depends on the durable power of attorney, and the Durable Power of Attorney Act sets a high bar for gratuitous transfers: gift authority must be expressly granted, a general gift grant is capped at the annual federal gift tax exclusion per recipient unless the power enlarges it, and an agent outside the principal's immediate bloodline cannot deed property to himself or herself unless the power provides otherwise. The deed recites the power by date and recording reference, and Estates Code Section 751.151 requires the power itself to be recorded in the property's county within 30 days after the deed is filed. The guide walks through each provision and the statutory short form acknowledgment for an attorney-in-fact.

Homestead, marriage, and the joining spouse

Because a lady bird deed is a lifetime conveyance, the homestead joinder rule of Family Code Section 5.001 applies: conveying a married owner's homestead takes both spouses' signatures. The form carries a labeled joining spouse signature block with its own notary certificate for that situation, and the blocks stay blank for an unmarried owner or non-homestead property, as the completed example, a widowed grantor conveying to her two children, shows.

Recorded for notice, not for effectiveness

The deed takes effect between the parties on delivery; recording with the county clerk protects the grantees against later purchasers and creditors under Property Code Section 13.001. The first page carries the confidentiality notice Property Code Section 11.008 requires, and the layout meets the county formatting standards. The download includes the fillable blank, a completed example on a realistic Williamson County fact pattern, and a plain language guide covering every section; the materials are informational and are not legal advice.