Tag: deeds

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lawlibrary Maryland Law

New Maryland Law: Transfer on Death Deed (TODD)

A Transfer-on-Death Deed allows a Maryland property owner to transfer the ownership of their real estate to a named beneficiary when the current property owner dies. This means that property ownership is transferred without going through probate, and the current homeowner keeps control of the property during their lifetime. This law took effect on October 1, 2026.

For more information about this estate planning option, check out the People’s Law Library of Maryland article Transfer-on-Death and Life Estate Deeds as well as the Maryland Volunteer Lawyer Service Guide. Our AACPLL Wiki also provides more information about estate planning and deeds.

To learn about more new Maryland laws effective October 1, 2026, the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2026 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services of the General Assembly of Maryland provides a great overview and discussion of laws passed during the 2026 legislative session, as does this Maryland State Bar Association summary of new laws of interest to its members.

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lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Tangled Title Clinic

Six Anne Arundel County attorneys and one title abstractor joined other Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) volunteers on November 2, 2023 at the Pascal Senior Activity Center in Glen Burnie to provide legal assistance at the Tangled Title Clinic. The clinic seeks to “to ensure that homeowners’ names are on the deed to their home so they can secure benefits like the Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit, water credits and access to home repair programs.” Having deed issues corrected will help in the estate planning process, too. Read this MVLS blogpost to find out more about the value of this program.

Volunteers Tony Christhilf, Carl Tenner, Tasnima Apol (chair of the Anne Arundel Local Pro Bono Committee), Michael Coburn and Merle Maffei helped to assist more than a dozen participants on questions about deeds. Bobby Dunleavy, a title abstractor, was on hand to assist with searching for land records online. I attended after recruiting our volunteers and was able to assist with the clinic registration.

Hon. Erica Griswold, the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County and Erica Matthews, Outreach Coordinator for the office, attended and provided packets with information to assist in estate planning.

The clinic was presented in partnership with Arundel Community Development Services represented by Lisa Sarro, general counsel (Local Pro Bono Committee member) and Anne Arundel County’s Office of Equity and Human Rights with Asha Smith, Director in attendance., along with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.