Smith County Special Warranty Deed (Grantor to Own Revocable Trust) Form

Placing Texas real estate into a revocable living trust requires a recorded deed, and this deed carries more legal freight than a plain conveyance. The grantor and the trustee are the same individual; the form conveys from that person as owner to that same person as trustee of the owner's own trust, and it writes the qualifying language that preserves homestead status and property tax exemptions directly into the transfer instrument.

A Warranty Scoped to the Grantor's Own Time on Title

Texas Property Code Chapter 5 permits the parties to calibrate a deed's warranty. This form conveys with the statutory words of grant and binds the grantor to defend the title against claims arising by, through, or under the grantor, but not otherwise. Claims older than the grantor's own ownership fall outside the covenant. That scope suits the transaction: the person conveying and the trust receiving are, in substance, the same, so a general warranty reaching back through the chain of title adds nothing of value, while a bare quitclaim would place a weaker instrument in the chain than the grantor's title supports. Section 5.023 of the Property Code implies covenants of prior non-conveyance and freedom from encumbrances in any deed using the words grant and convey; this deed expressly limits those implied covenants to the same by, through, or under scope as the express warranty, so the deed's stated warranty and its implied one are consistent. A reservations and exceptions section keeps the record accurate about the deed of trust lien, easements, and restrictions that follow the property into the trust.

Homestead Benefits Preserved Inside the Trust

Texas ties two homestead benefits to trust ownership through matched statutes. Texas Property Code Section 41.0021 keeps the creditor protection homestead intact where a settlor or beneficiary occupies property held through a qualifying trust, and Texas Tax Code Section 11.13(j) extends the residence homestead property tax exemption to property held through a beneficial interest in a qualifying trust. Both statutes allow the qualifying terms to appear in the instrument that transfers the property to the trust. This form places those terms in Section 9, the Qualifying Trust Provision: a statement of the trust's revocability, the settlor's retention of the right to use and occupy the property as a principal residence rent free for life, and the condition on which that right ends. The language tracks both statutes and appears on the face of the recorded deed.

The Mortgage and the Joinder

Two legal systems meet this deed at the signing table. Federal law, specifically the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act at 12 U.S.C. Section 1701j-3(d)(8), bars a residential lender from calling the loan under a due-on-sale clause when a borrower who remains a beneficiary transfers residential property into an inter vivos trust; the transfer this deed documents fits that exemption. Texas marital property law supplies the second intersection: Texas Family Code Section 5.001 and Texas Property Code Section 41.0021(c) require a married grantor's spouse to join in a conveyance of homestead property, including a transfer to a qualifying trust. The deed carries a labeled joinder signature block for that spouse in Section 11, with its own acknowledgment certificate, completed only where the property is the grantor's homestead and the grantor is married.

Recorded for Two Purposes

The deed records with the county clerk of the county where the property is located, and recording matters twice: it protects the conveyance against later creditors and purchasers under Texas Property Code Section 13.001, and both qualifying trust statutes contemplate a recorded instrument describing the property with sufficient certainty. The confidentiality notice required by Texas Property Code Section 11.008 appears at the top of the first page. Senate Bill 16 added a photo identification requirement at the recording counter for instruments filed in person on or after December 4, 2025. The download includes the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example on a Bexar County fact pattern, and a plain language guide covering every numbered section; the materials are informational and are not legal advice.