Let's say you're brokering a deal between a client who wants to sell a business and potential buyers who are interested in acquiring just such a business. You arrange for your client to meet several of these buyers to discuss whether a deal is do-able. Later, your client tells you that none of them are really serious and he'd like some time to consider his options.
A couple of months go by, and you find out that he completed the sale of the business to one of the buyers you introduced him to....
A growing number of U.S. states have enacted laws that allow a home owner to record a Transfer on Death Deed (also called a beneficiary deed or a TOD) during their lifetime. This form of deed will transfer ownership of their property directly to the beneficiary (grantee) named in the deed when the owner (grantor) dies. This is a low-cost and trouble-free alternative to setting up a living trust in order to keep real estate property out of probate.