Homeowner’s Insurance After Putting Your House in a Trust

Short answer: Deeding your house into your revocable living trust doesn’t cancel your homeowner’s insurance, doesn’t let your lender call the loan, and doesn’t raise your property taxes. But it does leave one loose end almost everyone skips: your insurance policy still names you personally, while the county records now say a trust owns the house. One call to your insurance agent closes that gap. Federal law (Garn-St Germain Act, 12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(8)) stops the mortgage company from accelerating, and Revenue & Taxation Code §62(d) stops the assessor from reassessing.

Figures verified against 12 U.S.C. §1701j-3, the ALTA 2006 Owner’s Policy Conditions, and Rev. & Tax. Code §62(d), 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

The call people skip: your homeowner’s insurance

Here’s the honest version first: there is no California statute that tells you what to do with your homeowner’s policy after you fund your trust. This is practice-based guidance, not a code section. But the logic is simple. Your policy insures the named insured’s interest in the property. After you record the trust deed, the legal owner of your Camarillo house is “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Smith Family Trust” — and the policy still says “Jane Smith.” Most carriers will pay a claim anyway, because you’re the trustee and the trust is revocable. “Most” and “anyway” are not words you want anywhere near a house fire.

So make the call. Ask your carrier to add the trust (or you as trustee) as an additional insured — some carriers use “additional named insured.” That way both the dwelling coverage and the liability coverage follow the title. Nearly every carrier does this for free, on a phone call, with no change in premium.

While you’re on the phone, mention any umbrella policy too — it should track the same names. The fine print of your specific policy is your insurance agent’s lane, not ours.

Your mortgage: the lender cannot call the loan

The answer here is unusually clean. Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause — transfer the property and the lender can demand the full balance. Federal law carves your living trust out of that clause. The Garn-St Germain Act, 12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(8), says a lender may not accelerate a residential loan (fewer than five units) because of “a transfer into an inter vivos trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary and which does not relate to a transfer of rights of occupancy.” Translation: deed your own home into your own revocable trust, keep living there, and the due-on-sale clause cannot touch you. You don’t need the lender’s permission. Related carve-outs protect transfers to your spouse or children ((d)(3)) and to a surviving spouse at death ((d)(5)).

The one caveat is baked into the statute: the protection tracks occupancy. An arrangement that hands someone else the right to occupy the property isn’t covered. For the ordinary homeowner funding an ordinary living trust, that caveat never comes up. If you later want to refinance, see our guide to refinancing a house in a living trust — lenders sometimes ask you to deed out and back, and that round trip is fine.

Title insurance: check the year on your policy

Your owner’s title policy insured you when you bought the house. Does it still cover you after you deed the house to your trust? For most people, yes — automatically. The standard ALTA 2006 Owner’s Policy defines “Insured” to include a grantee who takes title for no consideration and is “a trustee or beneficiary of a trust created by a written instrument established by the Insured … for estate planning purposes” (Conditions §1(d)(i)(D)(4)). If your policy was issued on the 2006 form or later, your estate-planning trust steps into your coverage with no paperwork.

Older policies are the trap. Before the 2006 form, transferring title — even to your own trust — could end the coverage, and a California court enforced exactly that result in Kwok v. Transnation Title Insurance Co. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1562: the owners moved the property out of the insured entity, and the coverage didn’t follow. If your title policy predates 2006, ask the title company for a CLTA 107.9 endorsement (the “Additional Insured” endorsement) naming the trust. It’s belt-and-suspenders on newer policies and genuinely important on older ones.

Property taxes: no reassessment

Transferring your home into (or out of) your revocable trust is not a change in ownership under Rev. & Tax. Code §62(d), so there’s no Prop 13 reassessment — your base-year value rides along untouched. We cover the details in does my property get reassessed when I put it into trust. Nothing to fix here.

The after-you-fund-it checklist

• Homeowner’s insurance: call the carrier; add the trust or trustee as additional insured. Ask for written confirmation or an updated declarations page.
• Umbrella policy: same call, same request.
• Title insurance: find your owner’s policy. 2006 or later — you’re covered automatically. Earlier — request a CLTA 107.9 endorsement.
• Mortgage: nothing to do. Garn-St Germain protects the transfer. Keep making the same payment.
• Property taxes: nothing to do. §62(d) blocks reassessment.

If you’re still working through what else goes in the trust, start with how to fund a trust — the house is usually step one, and these follow-up calls are the part of step one that gets skipped.

Do I need to tell my homeowner’s insurance company that my house is in a trust?

Yes. No statute requires it, but the policy names you personally while the deed now names your trust, and that mismatch is exactly the kind of thing a claims adjuster can raise after a loss. Call your carrier and add the trust or trustee as an additional insured. It’s typically free and takes one phone call.

Will my mortgage lender call my loan if I put my house in a living trust?

No. The federal Garn-St Germain Act (12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(8)) forbids a lender from enforcing a due-on-sale clause when you transfer a residential property (under five units) into a living trust in which you remain a beneficiary and keep your occupancy rights. You don’t need the lender’s consent, and you don’t need to notify them before recording the deed.

Does putting my house in a trust void my title insurance?

Not if your policy is on the ALTA 2006 form or newer — those policies automatically extend “Insured” status to your estate-planning trust (Conditions §1(d)(i)(D)(4)). Pre-2006 policies are the risk: in Kwok v. Transnation Title (2009), a transfer out of the insured’s name forfeited coverage. For an older policy, ask for a CLTA 107.9 endorsement naming the trust.

Will my property taxes go up when I transfer my home into my trust?

No. Under Rev. & Tax. Code §62(d), a transfer into a revocable trust by the trustor is not a change in ownership, so there’s no Prop 13 reassessment. The same protection covers moving the house back out for a refinance.

What should my insurance policy say after the house is in my trust?

You stay the named insured, and the trust (or you in your capacity as trustee) gets added as an additional insured or additional named insured — carriers vary on the label. The goal is that dwelling and liability coverage match the name on the recorded deed. Your insurance agent can confirm the right endorsement; that part is their call, not a lawyer’s.

The bottom line

Funding your trust with your house is the right move, and the scary-sounding consequences — the loan getting called, taxes jumping — are handled by federal and state law without you lifting a finger. The insurance piece is the only one that needs an actual phone call, and it’s the one nobody makes. If your house is in your trust and you never updated the policy, make the call this week. And if you’re not sure the deed ever got recorded in the first place, or what else should be in the trust, Talk to Eric — a quick look at the title takes minutes and settles it.

Sources: Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act, 12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(3), (d)(5), (d)(8); ALTA 2006 Owner’s Policy, Conditions §1(d)(i)(D)(4); CLTA Endorsement 107.9 (Additional Insured); Kwok v. Transnation Title Insurance Co. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1562; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §62(d).