Elder Law Report
Elder Law Report
Ladybird Deeds Made Clear
Want a simple way to keep full control of your home today and pass it to your heirs instantly when you’re gone? We dig into the nuts and bolts of the Ladybird deed—formally called an enhanced life estate deed—and explain why it’s a powerful, court-tested tool in North Carolina and beyond. You’ll hear how it avoids probate, preserves eligibility for long-term care Medicaid, and protects against certain estate creditors, all while letting you sell, refinance, rent, or change beneficiaries without anyone else’s permission.
We start by cutting through the Google noise and clarifying the legal status: yes, enhanced life estate deeds are valid in North Carolina when drafted with the right language. Then we share a real client story that shows the practical benefit: after a parent passed, the heir didn’t face court lines or paperwork tangles—the home was already theirs. From there, we compare Ladybird deeds to traditional life estate deeds, showing how the “enhanced” powers keep decision-making in the owner’s hands and eliminate the need for beneficiary signatures for future sales or mortgages.
We also tackle multi-state naming quirks, why some states don’t list “Ladybird deed” yet still use the same operative clauses, and how these deeds function like a “payable on death” designation for real estate. Along the way, we connect the strategy to larger estate planning goals: shielding the home from Medicaid estate recovery, reducing delays and fees, and coordinating with beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives to build a complete plan. If you want a clear, low-friction path to protect your home and spare your family from probate, this conversation lays out the steps.
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Hi there. I'm Jane Deerwester and I'm here with my colleague Haley Matson. Hi, Haley. Hi. We are here with our Elder Law report today, and we're going to talk about the Ladybird deed. This is something that really it's got like a magic trick almost from a I always say former real estate attorney, but I really feel like all that real estate experience that I have before I joined McIntyre Elder Law has really served me well in doing all kinds of things because people really want to protect their real estate, particularly their primary residence. And a ladybird deed, or that's kind of the nickname for it, also called a um a the enhanced life estate deed. Also called an enhanced life estate deed.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you very much. Welcome. They're called a bunch of things in a couple different name of it.
SPEAKER_01:Is so important and so powerful to leave property to your heirs at your death, but to retain all power and control over your property during your lifetime. So it kind of sounds too good to be true. And we have a lot of people that when we're out speaking in the community or even meeting with clients in our office who say that I read online that you can't do this in North Carolina. So I've had multiple clients show me their phone or show me a screenshot saying, but I Googled it and it said ladybird D's are questionable or they're not valid in North Carolina. Well, we're here to tell you they are real, they are valid. It's something that's been tested through the courts, and we do them all the time, and they work. Uh, one of the first weeks I was here with McIntyre Elder Law, we had a client come in who lost her mom. We had done the ladybird deed, and we were, I was grateful and really saw the power of the ladybird deed that we could tell this woman, you know, she came in asking, what do I do now about the house? And we could advise her, there's nothing you have to do. It's already in your name, it's already good to go. And that's not the only thing that's important. I'll let Haley talk about a few other things and a few other uh realms where we use Ladybird deeds with our estate plans.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, first I do want to go back and tackle the, oh, well, I Googled it and it's not listed. I will let you know that many states have the same thing. So in North Carolina, technically, it's the enhanced life of estate deed. The language in it is what makes it comparable to other states that have the official Ladybird deed titled. So, like just recently, I had a client come in and show us a deed from Washington, DC, and they had a no consideration deed, and the language is exactly the same. But DC doesn't come up either on the list of places that have a ladybird deed. And so there are plenty of places that have it, but they just don't show up because maybe it's not technically called a ladybird deed. So don't be worried if it doesn't come up. You know, you want to go to an attorney who does this all the time and really knows what they're talking about so that they can use those tools to help you. And I mean, the reason why labor deed or the enhanced life estate deed is so awesome is because it really helps you avoid probate. It's a payable on death for your house that still allows you to sell the house or rent it out or whatever you want while you retain ownership of it. And it also keeps your house safe from Medicaid asset recovery because it does, it is payable on death, so it's not a probate asset. So not only just for like Medicaid estate recovery, but also from other creditors. So, you know, you get in a situation where right before you pass away, if you're in a lot of medical debt and that might come back to your estate, you don't have to worry about your house being sold because that's not going to happen because it doesn't go through probate. So it's a really, really great vehicle.
SPEAKER_01:It is, and it's great, as you were saying, Haley, for asset planning, particularly for qualification for long-term care Medicaid benefits. It doesn't count as a present transfer of property because you're not transferring anything now, it's only transferred as of the date of your death. So it doesn't hit that three to five year look back period. Another reason why it's a great planning tool. And just quickly, I want to point out the differences between a ladybird deed or an enhanced life estate deed and a traditional life estate deed. Because we have a lot of people who might have a traditional life estate. And what that is, is where you have a deed where you are transferring a present interest in the property, a remainder interest, where you're saying, I'm gonna transfer this property to my loved ones, but I'm gonna retain a life estate. And if you don't have the magic words, the magic language of an enhanced life estate, then anytime you want to do something with the property, you've got to get your family members, the beneficiaries, to sign off. If you want to mortgage it, sell it, anything you want to do, they are considered you have a present remainder interest in the property. So that you've got to get their signatures and their spouse's signatures. The Ladybird deed doesn't require that. You get to change things and again, maintain full power and control. And it's just such an incredible uh estate planning vehicle. It's something, as a real estate attorney, I never used, I never recommended. Uh I probably I say I never saw them, but I bet I did and maybe didn't realize what I was seeing. But it's not something your real estate attorney is going to recommend. This is really something that an elder law or a state planning attorney is going to recommend. And it really is just such a one-and-done powerful document that is something you should definitely consider and ask about when you come in. Uh, we offer free consultations at all three of our offices. I'm in Hendersonville, Haley's in Charlotte, and we also have another office in Shelby. So we invite you to come in to one of our three offices. And if you're on the outskirts of those areas, but still in the state of North Carolina, you can call us or set up a virtual meeting. Uh, that's why we're here to help you protect your assets, plan for your estate, plan for long-term care. And ladybird deeds are, again, just an incredible way to protect your real property. But just know that doesn't protect everything, right? That's only for your real property. So, for everything else, we're going to talk about other ways that we can protect your property and try to avoid probate. Yep. Well, thank you, Haley, for joining me for another invigorating uh elder law report. And thank you all for joining us. We look forward to seeing you in one of our offices or online very soon. And thanks again. Cheers.