To complete a transfer on death deed, confirm your state authorizes them, fill out the correct form using your full legal name and the property’s exact legal description from your current deed, name your beneficiaries (including a contingent one), sign in front of a notary along with any witnesses your state requires, and record the deed with the county recorder in the county where the property sits before you die. Miss any of those steps and the property lands in probate anyway.
Step 1: Confirm Your State Allows a TODD
About 30 states and the District of Columbia currently recognize transfer on death deeds, many under versions of the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. If your state hasn’t authorized them, recording one does nothing. Check your state’s real property statutes or call the county recorder’s office before you spend time on the form. States without TODD laws sometimes offer alternatives such as enhanced life estate deeds (often called lady bird deeds), but those work differently and aren’t interchangeable.
Step 2: Gather the Documents and Get the Right Form
Pull your current recorded deed before you write anything. Two items on it have to carry over onto the TODD exactly:
- Your full legal name as it appears on the title.
- The property’s legal description. That’s the surveyor’s language identifying the parcel by lot, block, subdivision, or metes and bounds. It is not the street address.
Copying a single digit wrong in the legal description can create a cloud on the title that your beneficiary will have to clean up later.
Many states publish an official TODD form, and several require you to use it. Check your county recorder’s office or your state legislature’s website. Grabbing a generic deed form off the internet when your state mandates a specific one is a common and avoidable mistake. If your state doesn’t prescribe a form, the deed still has to state clearly that the transfer takes effect only at your death and identify the property and all parties by full legal name.
Check Whether Your Spouse Has to Sign
If you’re married, find out whether your state requires spousal consent. In community property states, both spouses generally have to consent to a transfer of community property, even one that doesn’t take effect until death. Signing a TODD on jointly owned or community property without your spouse’s consent can make it unenforceable. Some non-community-property states also give a surviving spouse rights that override the deed. Get the signature upfront rather than leaving your beneficiary to fight about it.
Step 3: Name Your Beneficiaries With Precision
List every beneficiary by full legal name. Vague phrases like “my children” or “my heirs” create ambiguity and can invalidate the deed. If you want the property split among several people, name each one and, where the form allows, specify each person’s share.
Always Name a Contingent Beneficiary
One of the biggest planning mistakes is skipping the alternate. If your primary beneficiary dies before you and no contingent is listed, the TODD is typically treated as if it never existed and the property goes through probate. Most state forms include a line for a contingent beneficiary. Fill it in. Many states also impose a survival requirement, commonly 120 hours, meaning the beneficiary has to outlive you by at least five days for the transfer to take effect.
If You’re Naming a Minor
You can name a child under 18, but a minor can’t manage real estate. If the child is still underage when you die, a court may have to appoint a guardian to handle the property. You can sidestep that by naming an adult custodian under your state’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, or by setting up a trust for the child and naming the trust as the TODD beneficiary. If you use a custodian, pick someone reliable who lives near the child and confirm they’ll accept the role before finalizing the deed.
Step 4: Sign in Front of a Notary
Every state that permits TODDs requires the grantor to sign in front of a notary public. The notary verifies your identity and acknowledges your signature. Some states additionally require one or two witnesses to sign alongside the notary. Confirm your state’s exact requirements before the signing appointment so you don’t have to redo it.
Step 5: Record the Deed Before You Die
A signed but unrecorded TODD does nothing. The deed has to be filed with the county recorder or county clerk in the county where the property sits, and it has to happen while you’re alive. There is no grace period after death. If the deed is sitting in your desk drawer when you die, the property goes through probate as if the TODD never existed. If the property spans more than one county, record it in each county involved.
Recording fees vary. Expect somewhere between $30 and $100 depending on the county and page count. Some counties charge a flat rate, others charge per page. Call the recorder’s office in advance so you bring the right payment and format.
Changing or Revoking It Later
A TODD gives the beneficiary no rights while you’re alive, so you remain free to sell the property, refinance, or undo the deed. There are three standard ways to undo a recorded TODD:
- Record a new TODD for the same property. A later deed supersedes the earlier one, so if you just want to change a beneficiary, execute and record a replacement.
- Record a revocation instrument. Most states have a specific revocation form. Fill it out, notarize it, and record it in the same county where the original was filed.
- Transfer the property during your lifetime. Selling or deeding it to someone else eliminates the TODD because you no longer own the property at death.
A will cannot revoke a TODD. This catches people off guard. Even if your will says “I leave my house to my daughter,” a previously recorded TODD naming your nephew will control that property. If you change your estate plan, go back and revoke or update any outstanding TODDs to match.
What the Deed Doesn’t Override
A completed TODD isn’t a clean slate, and it doesn’t beat every competing claim. A few boundaries to know before you rely on it:
Joint tenancy wins. If you own the property as joint tenants with right of survivorship, the survivorship right takes priority. When one joint tenant dies, the other becomes sole owner automatically, and the TODD is irrelevant for that transfer. A TODD on jointly held property only matters if both owners die and the deed names a beneficiary to receive the property after the last surviving owner. That makes a TODD useful mainly as a backup in the joint-tenancy context.
The mortgage survives. Inheriting through a TODD doesn’t wipe out the loan. The beneficiary takes the property subject to any existing mortgage and has to keep making payments or face foreclosure. Federal law does protect the beneficiary from a due-on-sale acceleration in this scenario: the Garn-St. Germain Act prohibits lenders from enforcing due-on-sale clauses when a transfer to a relative results from the borrower’s death, provided the property is residential and has fewer than five units.1GovInfo. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions Beneficiaries who want to keep the property should contact the loan servicer promptly with a death certificate.
Creditors can still reach the property. A TODD avoids probate but doesn’t erase the deceased owner’s debts. If the probate estate lacks enough assets to cover outstanding obligations, creditors may be able to pursue property that transferred through the TODD. Many states set a deadline, often 18 months or less after death, during which creditors can file claims. Existing mortgages and tax liens also travel with the property.
Medicaid recovery can apply. States are required to seek reimbursement for Medicaid benefits paid to a deceased person, and some define “estate” broadly enough to include TODD-transferred property. If the grantor received Medicaid-funded long-term care, the state may have a claim against the property even though it bypassed probate. Rules vary sharply by state, so anyone on Medicaid should talk to an elder law attorney before treating a TODD as their main estate planning tool.
A Quick Completion Checklist
- Confirmed your state authorizes TODDs.
- Used the state-specific form if one is required.
- Copied your full legal name and the property’s legal description directly from the current deed.
- Named each beneficiary by full legal name, with shares if applicable.
- Named at least one contingent beneficiary.
- Obtained your spouse’s signature if your state or property type requires it.
- Signed in front of a notary, plus any witnesses your state requires.
- Recorded the deed with the county recorder in every county where the property sits, and kept a stamped copy with your important papers.
If every item on that list is done, the deed will do what it’s supposed to do: pass the property to the people you named, without probate, as soon as the county records catch up after your death.