Ownership by Trustee’s / Executor’s Deed

A trustee is the entity (be it an individual or business) that manages a trust. As a quick detour, a trust is a legal entity that is defined in several (related) ways in Indiana law, namely:

A trust is a fiduciary relationship between a person who, as trustee, holds title to property and another person for whom, as beneficiary, the title is held;^[1] (or)

A trust may be defined as a property right held by one party for the use of another;^[2] (or)

[A]n equitable right, title, or interest in property real or personal, distinct from the legal ownership thereof; that the legal owner holds the direct and absolute dominion over the property, but the income, profits, or benefits thereof, though in his hands, belong wholly or in part to others).^[3]

Basically, a trustee manages the property owned by a trust for the benefit of other people or entities. Therefore, a trustee’s deed is a deed transferring ownership of real property out of a trust.

An executor is an individual who is charged with collecting assets of a deceased individual after that individual’s death and transferring those assets pursuant to a will or intestacy statutes. In Indiana, this individual is more commonly known as a personal representative, and therefore, the instrument of transfer is a personal representative’s deed.

[1] Ind. Code § 30-4-1-1

[2] Keplinger v. Keplinger, 185 Ind. 81, 113 N.E. 292, 293 (1916)

[3] Holsapple v. Schrontz, 65 Ind. App. 390, 117 N.E. 547, 549 (1917)