Deeds are legal instruments used to convey an interest in property.

It's very common for families to use deeds as a way of managing ownership of family real estate. There are two ways to transfer real estate- by deed or by dying. One strategy is for a parent owning real estate to transfer the real estate to their children and reserve a lifetime right to the same real estate or, similarly, they transfer the real estate to themselves and their children with rights of survivorship assuming they, the parent, will die first.

Simply put, deeds are effective only to the extent of the parties to the deed- not beyond. And, deeds as a strategy does not avoid heirs property issues and often creates heirs property issues. While it may be less expensive to use deeds instead of a succession plan, it's not likely less expensive in the bigger scheme of things and could even lead to loss.