Transfer on Death Deed by State: 2026 Table of All 50 States

What a transfer on death deed is, in the words of the statutes

The uniform act that 18 of the 32 jurisdictions follow in some form puts it in one sentence, repeated word for word in Alaska, New Hampshire, New York and North Dakota: “An individual may transfer property to one or more beneficiaries effective at the transferor's death by a transfer on death deed” (Alaska Statutes 13.48; New York Real Property Law 424). Three features define it everywhere we read:

• Nothing passes while the owner lives. Ohio's law says the person named “has no interest in the real property until the death of the owner of the interest” (Ohio Revised Code 5302.23(B)(4)). The owner can sell, mortgage or revoke without the beneficiary's consent.
• No delivery, acceptance or payment is needed. New Hampshire's version is typical: the deed “is effective without” notice, delivery or acceptance during life, or consideration (RSA 563-D:10).
• It must be on the public record before death. The exact words differ, the rule does not: Oregon's deed “must be recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records” of the county clerk (Oregon Revised Statutes 93.961); Ohio's affidavit “shall be recorded with the county recorder as described in this section prior to the death of the individual who executed the affidavit” (5302.22(F)).

The Uniform Law Commission's own site loads its act pages by script, so we could not save the model text from uniformlaws.org on October 12, 2026; the uniform-act wording on this page is quoted from the states that enacted it, and the CSV marks which statutes call themselves the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act.

The 51-row table: which states allow a TOD deed and the rules in each

Transfer on death deed law in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as of October 12, 2026 (official texts)

Source: official statute texts and bill records of each legislature and the District of Columbia Council, read October 12, 2026 (URLs in the CSV). Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Oregon refused direct connections, so we read Internet Archive captures of the official pages dated between December 2023 and July 2026; changes made after a capture date would not show. "Not verified" means we could reach neither the official site nor a capture of it: Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Search engines and forms sites list some of these states as allowing TOD deeds; we did not copy those claims. "Uniform act" is our classification from the text. Medicaid cells say "not addressed" when the TOD statute is silent and we did not read the state's recovery statute.

Three state pages go deeper. Texas, where a will cannot revoke the deed and chapter 114 sets the creditor rules, is covered in our Texas transfer on death deed guide. California's two-witness and 60-day rules and its 2032 sunset are in the California transfer on death deed guide. Florida has no TOD deed, and the Florida Lady Bird deed page explains the deed Floridians use instead.

The recording rule, and the deadlines that catch heirs

The single requirement every statute shares is recording before death. A deed that is signed, notarized and left in a drawer does nothing: in Indiana a TOD deed “is void if it is not recorded with the recorder of deeds” before the owner's death (Indiana Code 32-17-14), and in Arkansas a beneficiary deed is valid only if recorded “before the death of the owner or the last surviving owner” (Arkansas Code 18-12-608).

Two states add a clock that starts at signing:

• California: the deed “is not effective unless the deed is recorded on or before 60 days after the date it was acknowledged before a notary” (Probate Code 5626(a)).
• New Hampshire: the deed is void unless recorded “Prior to the transferor's death” and “Within 60 days following the date of execution” (RSA 563-D:9).

Two states put the clock on the heir. Oklahoma's beneficiary must record an affidavit with the death certificate “within nine (9) months of the grantor's death, otherwise the interest in the property reverts to the deceased grantor's estate” (Oklahoma Statutes Title 58, section 1252). Georgia's 2024 law, amended in 2026, does the same: the affidavit must be recorded in the county “within nine months of the record owner's death” (Georgia Code 44-17-2). Elsewhere the after-death paperwork is a formality without forfeiture: Indiana says a beneficiary's failure to file its affidavit does not void the transfer (32-17-14-26), Ohio uses an “affidavit of confirmation” with a certified copy of the death certificate (Ohio Revised Code 5302.222), and Minnesota requires a clearance certificate from the county agency before the transfer is clear of public assistance claims (Minnesota Statutes 507.071, subdivision 23).

Formalities beyond a normal deed also vary. New York requires the deed to be “signed by two witnesses who were present at the same time” and acknowledged before a notary (Real Property Law 424); Delaware requires two witnesses, at least one of them not a beneficiary (Delaware Code Title 25, section 209); Maryland's statutory form says the witnesses and the notary cannot be relatives or beneficiaries of the owner (2026 chapter 751, new Real Property Title 14, Subtitle 10).

A will cannot undo it, and other revocation rules

Because the deed is on record, almost every statute we read says a later will cannot revoke it. Texas: “A will may not revoke or supersede a transfer on death deed” (Estates Code 114.057); Mississippi says “A will does not revoke or supersede a transfer-on-death deed” (Mississippi Real Property Transfer-On-Death Act, 2020 Senate Bill 2851); Indiana adds trusts: a TOD deed “may not be revoked or modified by will or trust” (Indiana Code 32-17-14-16). Ohio goes further and says the transfer “shall supersede any attempted testate or intestate transfer of that real property” (Ohio Revised Code 5302.23(B)(9)). Missouri is the exception that proves the rule: a beneficiary designation cannot be changed by will “unless the beneficiary designation expressly grants the owner the right to revoke or change a beneficiary designation by will” (Missouri Revised Statutes 461.033).

Revocation works only the way the deed was made: by a recorded instrument before death. The uniform-act states add that a deed, once recorded, “may not be revoked by a revocatory act on the deed”, so tearing up the owner's copy does nothing (North Dakota Century Code 30.1-32.1; Hawaii Revised Statutes 527-11). Divorce revokes a gift to the former spouse in many states, including Ohio (5302.23(B)(12)), Oregon (93.981), Mississippi and Minnesota.

Creditors and Medicaid estate recovery: where the house is not safe

A TOD deed avoids probate. It does not, in most states, avoid the owner's debts. The uniform act's creditor section is enacted in Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and elsewhere: to the extent the probate estate is insufficient, “the estate may enforce the liability against property transferred at the transferor's death by a transfer on death deed” (New Hampshire RSA 563-D:16). The time limits differ: 8 months in Delaware, one year in Alaska (12 months), the District of Columbia, Maine, Montana and Virginia, 18 months in Hawaii, New York, North Dakota and Oregon, two years in Texas and Arizona. A few states wrote their own rules: Colorado bars the owner's creditors one year after death (Colorado Revised Statutes 15-15-411); Nevada requires the beneficiary to publish and mail a notice to creditors, who then have 90 days to file (Nevada Revised Statutes 111.689); South Dakota gives creditors six months (Codified Laws 29A-6-421); Missouri gives 18 months for an accounting action (461.300).

Medicaid is where the statutes split most. Federal law requires states to recover certain Medicaid costs from a deceased recipient's estate, and lets each state choose how far “estate” reaches: it “shall include” probate property and “may include, at the option of the State” other property in which the person had an interest at death, including assets passing “through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust, or other arrangement” (42 U.S.C. 1396p(b)(4)).

Source: the TOD statutes in the main table and the state recovery statutes named, read October 12, 2026. Colorado goes furthest: a person who “has in effect a beneficiary deed” is not entitled to the medical assistance for which the state could claim against the estate, and the property counts as a resource (15-15-403). Texas's Medicaid rules are discussed on our Texas page.

Most uniform-act states also say that during the owner's life the deed does not affect “eligibility for any form of public assistance” (for example Hawaii 527-12 and New York RPL 424). That protects eligibility while the owner is alive; it says nothing about recovery after death, which is governed by the rows above (our reading).

Taxes: the federal rules are the same in every state

Because the owner keeps full ownership until death, the house is in the owner's gross estate for federal estate tax purposes: “The value of the gross estate shall include the value of all property to the extent of the interest therein of the decedent at the time of his death” (26 U.S.C. 2033). Most estates owe no federal estate tax; the inclusion matters for income tax. Section 1014 gives property “acquired from the decedent by reason of death, form of ownership, or other conditions” a basis equal to its value at death “if by reason thereof the property is required to be included in determining the value of the decedent's gross estate” (26 U.S.C. 1014(b)(9)). A beneficiary who sells soon after the death therefore usually has little taxable gain (our reading). Our step-up in basis guide covers the details, including community property and depreciation.

Signing the deed is not a gift. The gift tax regulation says “A gift is incomplete in every instance in which a donor reserves the power to revest the beneficial title to the property in himself” (26 CFR 25.2511-2(c)), and every TOD statute we read keeps the deed revocable. No gift tax return is triggered by recording a TOD deed (our reading). The contrast is a lifetime deed that gives the house away now: that is a completed gift, and the recipient keeps the giver's old basis instead of a step-up (see the step-up guide and our capital gains tax on real estate page). State transfer and recording taxes differ: Arkansas and West Virginia exempt beneficiary deeds from their transfer taxes, and Virginia exempts TOD deeds from recordation tax unless made for consideration.

The mortgage: what Garn-St Germain actually says

Most home loans have a due-on-sale clause. The federal Garn-St Germain Act limits it for loans “secured by a lien on residential real property containing less than five dwelling units”: the lender “may not exercise its option pursuant to a due-on-sale clause upon” a list of transfers, including:

Source: 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d), United States Code 2024 edition (govinfo.gov), read October 12, 2026.

The provision that fits a TOD deed is (d)(5), a transfer to a relative resulting from the death of a borrower; (d)(8) is the living-trust exemption. Two limits follow from the text (our reading): (d)(5) names relatives, so a TOD deed to a friend or a non-relative is not on the list, and the exemption stops the lender from calling the loan; it does not pay it. The state statutes agree that the beneficiary takes the house with the debt: Mississippi's beneficiary “takes the real property subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, liens” at death (91-27-29), and Ohio says no lienholder's rights, “including, but not limited to, any mortgagee,” are affected by the designation (5302.23(B)(8)). Washington adds that a TOD deed “may not be used to effect a deed in lieu of foreclosure of a deed of trust” (RCW 64.80).

TOD deed vs will vs revocable trust vs joint tenancy

Source: the statutes cited in each cell, read October 12, 2026. This table describes what the documents say; which tool fits a given family is a decision for that family and its lawyer.

What a homeowner or heir can do with this

• Owners: check that your state is in the verified list, and read its form. Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia, among others, print a statutory form in the code. A form that misses a state-specific element (two witnesses in New York, California and Delaware; the title “Transfer on Death Deed” in New Hampshire) can fail.
• Owners: record it, and in California and New Hampshire within 60 days. Keep the recorder's stamped copy; the recording, not the signature, is what makes it work.
• Owners on or near Medicaid: read the Medicaid table before relying on the deed to protect the house. In Colorado a beneficiary deed in effect can affect eligibility itself (15-15-403); in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming the state can recover from the property after death.
• Heirs: find out within weeks, not months, whether the state has a deadline. In Georgia and Oklahoma the property reverts to the estate if the affidavit is not recorded within nine months. In California the beneficiary must notify the heirs with a copy of the deed and the death certificate.
• Heirs: keep paying the mortgage. The lender's due-on-sale protection under 1701j-3(d)(5) applies to relatives; the debt stays.
• Who to ask. The deed itself is a legal document recorded under state property law: the professional who drafts it, checks the state form and the Medicaid consequences is an estate-planning or elder-law attorney licensed in the state where the house sits. A financial-adviser match cannot do that, so we do not offer one on this page.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 12, 2026: the official statute texts and bill records of the legislatures of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland (2026 chapters 750 and 751), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming, and the District of Columbia Code; Internet Archive captures of the official pages of Colorado (Revised Statutes 2024), Hawaii (chapter 527), Idaho (2026 S 1399), Nevada (chapter 111), New Hampshire (RSA 563-D), Ohio (5162.21, 5302.22, 5302.222, 5302.23) and Oregon (2025 edition, chapter 93), dated as stated in the CSV; 26 U.S.C. 1014, 2033 and 2038, 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3 and 42 U.S.C. 1396p, United States Code 2024 edition (govinfo.gov); 26 CFR 25.2511-2 (eCFR, up to date as of October 8, 2026). Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin could not be read. Counts and classifications are ours. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.