To fill out and record a transfer on death deed, confirm your state allows them, use a form that meets your state’s statutory requirements, enter your name and the property’s full legal description exactly as they appear on your current deed, name a beneficiary (and ideally a contingent beneficiary), include language stating the transfer takes effect only at your death, sign in front of a notary with any witnesses your state requires, and record the deed with the county recorder where the property is located before you die.
Confirm Your State Allows TOD Deeds
Roughly 30 states and the District of Columbia recognize transfer on death deeds, and many of them have adopted some version of the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act.1Uniform Law Commission. Real Property Transfer on Death Act If your state doesn’t permit them, the deed will have no effect no matter how carefully you prepare it. Your county recorder’s office or state legislature website can confirm availability where the property sits. The main alternatives in states that don’t allow TOD deeds are a revocable living trust or a life estate deed.
Get the Right Form
Some states publish a statutory form written directly into the state code, available on the state legislature’s website. Others leave it to the owner to draft a deed that meets all statutory requirements. Your county recorder or clerk’s office often stocks blank forms or can direct you to the correct template.
If your state publishes a statutory form, use it exactly as written. Deviating from the required language risks having the deed rejected at recording, or treated as an outright gift rather than a death-transfer instrument, which carries very different tax consequences.
Gather the Information You’ll Need
Pull out your current property deed before you start. Almost everything the TOD deed asks for comes from that document.
- Your full legal name, written exactly as it appears on the current title. A missing middle initial or a nickname can create title problems later.
- The legal description of the property. This is the metes-and-bounds description, lot-and-block number, or other surveyor’s language from your existing deed. A street address alone is not enough and will almost certainly cause a rejection. Copy the legal description word for word.
- The beneficiary’s full legal name and address. If you’re naming more than one beneficiary, specify how they’ll share the property, such as equal shares or joint tenants with survivorship.
- A contingent beneficiary, who inherits if your primary beneficiary dies before you. Without one, the deed becomes void if no named beneficiary survives you, and the property falls back into your probate estate.
Include the Death-Transfer Language
The form must contain clear language stating that the transfer takes effect only at your death. This is what separates a TOD deed from an immediate gift deed. Leaving it out, or wording it ambiguously, could mean you’ve accidentally given the property away now, with completely different tax consequences.
Sign in Front of a Notary
Every state that allows TOD deeds requires the grantor’s signature to be notarized. You sign in front of a notary public, who verifies your identity and confirms you’re signing voluntarily. Some states also require two witnesses who are not named as beneficiaries. Check your state’s specific rules before the signing appointment. If witnesses are required and you don’t have them, the deed is invalid.
The beneficiary does not need to sign, be notified, or even know the deed exists during your lifetime. Nothing on their end is required while you’re alive.
Mental capacity matters. You need to understand what you’re signing and what it does. If capacity is later challenged by a disinherited family member, the notarization and any witness signatures become the primary evidence that you were competent when you signed.
Record the Deed With the County
Once the deed is signed and notarized, record it with the county recorder or registrar of deeds in the county where the property is located. The timing is strict: the deed must be recorded before you die. A TOD deed sitting in a desk drawer when the grantor passes away has no legal effect. The property would then pass through the will or by intestate succession, potentially through probate, which is the process the deed was meant to skip.
Recording fees vary by county and state. Some jurisdictions charge a flat fee per document; others charge per page with additional fees for extra pages. Fees can range from under $20 to well over $100. Call the recorder’s office ahead of time to confirm the current fee and any formatting requirements (margins, font size, return-address block) that could cause a rejection. Ask for a file-stamped copy or receipt as proof of recording.
If the property sits in more than one county, record the deed in every county where it’s located.
Changing or Revoking the Deed Later
You can revoke a TOD deed at any time before your death. The process mirrors the original: prepare a written revocation, have it notarized (and witnessed if your state requires it), and record it with the same county office. Tearing up the paper copy does nothing. Once a deed is recorded, only a recorded instrument can undo it.
There are generally three ways to revoke:
- Record a revocation instrument that expressly identifies and revokes the earlier deed.
- Record a new TOD deed for the same property naming a different beneficiary. The new deed supersedes the old one.2Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 64.2 Chapter 6 Article 5 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act
- Record a standard deed, such as a warranty or quitclaim deed, transferring the property to someone else during your lifetime. That eliminates the TOD deed by transferring away the underlying property.
Many states follow the Uniform Probate Code rule that divorce automatically revokes a revocable transfer to a former spouse, including a TOD deed. Not every state has adopted this, and the details vary. If you’re going through a divorce and your ex-spouse is named, record a formal revocation rather than assume the divorce handled it.
Things People Assume That Aren’t True
A will cannot revoke a TOD deed. If you record a deed naming your sister as beneficiary and later write a will leaving the same property to your brother, the deed wins. A TOD deed is a non-probate transfer and operates independently of your will. To change who gets the property, you have to revoke or replace the recorded deed itself.
A TOD deed does not wipe out a mortgage or other liens. The beneficiary inherits the property subject to every mortgage, lien, tax obligation, and encumbrance attached to it at your death. Federal law does prevent a mortgage lender from calling a residential loan due simply because the borrower died and the property passed to a relative, under the Garn-St. Germain Act, as long as the property has fewer than five units.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions That protection does not apply if the beneficiary is unrelated or is a business entity like an LLC.
A TOD deed may not shield the property from Medicaid estate recovery. If you received Medicaid long-term care benefits after age 55, federal law requires states to seek reimbursement from your estate, and some states define “estate” broadly enough to reach property that passed outside of probate through a TOD deed.4Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. Medicaid Estate Recovery Recording the deed while you’re healthy doesn’t count as transferring the property for Medicaid eligibility (you still own and control it), but the state may still have a claim against the property after your death depending on how your state defines recoverable assets.