How do I leave my Texas home to someone with a transfer on death deed?

What a Texas transfer on death deed does

• It transfers your interest in real property in Texas to one or more beneficiaries, effective at your death. Est. Code §§ 114.002(a)(5), 114.051
• It is always revocable, even if the deed says otherwise. Est. Code § 114.052
• It is not a will, and a will can't revoke or override it. Est. Code §§ 114.053, 114.057(b)
• The property is not part of the probate estate for any purpose, though the estate can reach it for unpaid debts. Est. Code § 114.106
• A beneficiary can be any person, and the State Law Library notes that organizations like charities or religious institutions can be beneficiaries. Est. Code § 114.002(a)(1), (4) · Texas State Law Library

Who can make one

• Capacity. The capacity needed to make or revoke a transfer on death deed is the same as the capacity needed to make a contract.Est. Code § 114.054(a)
• No power of attorney. A transfer on death deed may not be created through use of a power of attorney. The State Law Library contrasts a Lady Bird deed, which an agent with a power of attorney can sign; there is no official form for a Lady Bird deed.Est. Code § 114.054(b) · Texas State Law Library
• Only your interest. You transfer your own interest in the property. If you own it with a right of survivorship and another joint owner outlives you, the property goes to that joint owner; the deed works only if you are the last surviving joint owner.Est. Code §§ 114.051, 114.103(b)

How to make one: the three requirements

To be effective, a Texas transfer on death deed must: Est. Code § 114.055

1. 1Contain the essential elements and formalities of a recordable deed. Your name as owner, the formal legal description of the property, the beneficiaries, and your signature acknowledged before a notary or other officer, which Texas requires to record a deed.
2. 2State that the transfer is to occur at your death. For example: At my death, I grant and convey to the primary beneficiary or beneficiaries my interest in the property.
3. 3Be recorded before your death in the deed records of the county clerk's office of the county where the property is.

• The legal description is not the street address. The optional form told owners to copy it from the deed they received when they became owners, or get it from the county clerk, not from the tax bill, and to consult a lawyer if not absolutely sure. Former Est. Code § 114.151 (2015)
• Name each beneficiary and an alternate. The deed can say who takes if a beneficiary doesn't survive you. Est. Code § 114.103(a)
• No notice, delivery or payment. The beneficiary doesn't need to know about the deed, receive it or accept it, and there is no consideration. Est. Code § 114.056
• Your Social Security and driver's license numbers can be struck from a document before it is recorded, as the optional form's confidentiality notice said. Former Est. Code § 114.151 (2015)

Draft the deed or a cancellation

Texas law printed optional forms from September 1, 2015 to August 31, 2019: a Revocable Transfer on Death Deed and a Cancellation of Transfer on Death Deed. The Legislature repealed them in 2019 (H.B. 2782, section 47), and section 48 of the same act says the repeal does not affect the validity of a transfer on death deed or a cancellation executed before, on, or after its effective date. The builder below uses those forms' wording: the deed has 7 numbered parts, from 1, the owner, and 2, the legal description, to 6, the transfer at death, and 7, your signature; the cancellation has 5. Check that your draft still meets the three requirements above. Est. Code §§ 114.151, 114.152 (2015, repealed) · H.B. 2782 (2019)

eFileTexas also has free guided interviews named Transfer on Death Deed, Cancellation of Transfer on Death Deed and Affidavit of Death for the Transfer on Death Deed. eFileTexas

Recording it with the county clerk

• Where. The deed records of the county clerk in the county where the property is. The State Law Library suggests checking with the county clerk's office for records of existing transfer on death deeds. Est. Code § 114.055(3) · Texas State Law Library
• Acknowledged and original. A deed can be recorded only if it is acknowledged before an officer, or signed before two credible subscribing witnesses, and a paper document needs original signatures; Travis County won't record a copy. Property Code §§ 12.001(b), 12.0011 · Travis County Clerk
• Photo ID. Since December 4, 2025, anyone presenting a document in person for the real property records must show the clerk a photo ID, such as a driver's license, state ID, passport or military ID, current or expired no more than 60 days. Local Gov't Code § 191.010 · Property Code § 12.001
• Fees. The statute sets $5 for the first page and $4 for each additional page, and counties may add a records management fee of not more than $10 and other fees. Travis County charges $25 for the first page and Tarrant County $20, each plus $4 for each additional page. Local Gov't Code § 118.011 · county clerks
• Keep the recorded copy with your papers, and tell your beneficiary where it is.

While you are alive

During your life, the deed doesn't: Est. Code § 114.101

• affect your right to sell or mortgage the property, your homestead rights, or tax exemptions such as the residence homestead, over-65, disability and veteran exemptions;
• affect the rights of a buyer, or of your creditors, even if they know about the deed;
• affect your eligibility, or the beneficiary's, for public assistance, subject to federal law;
• trigger a due-on-sale clause in your mortgage or real estate disclosure rules;
• give the beneficiary any interest in the property, or let the beneficiary's creditors reach it.

If you sell or give away the property after recording the deed, the deed is void as to the new owner once the conveyance, or a memorandum of it, is recorded in the same county before your death. Est. Code § 114.102

Changing or cancelling it

An instrument revokes a recorded transfer on death deed, or part of it, if it is: a later transfer on death deed that revokes the earlier one expressly or by being inconsistent with it, or an instrument of revocation that expressly revokes it; acknowledged by you after the deed it revokes was acknowledged; and recorded before your death in the deed records of the same county. Est. Code § 114.057(a)

• A will can't do it. A will may not revoke or supersede a transfer on death deed.Est. Code § 114.057(b)
• Divorce. If you divorce a beneficiary after recording the deed, the final judgment revokes the deed as to that former spouse, but only if notice of the judgment is recorded before your death in the deed records of the county where the deed is recorded.Est. Code § 114.057(c)
• Two or more owners. One transferor's revocation doesn't affect the other's interest. A deed made by joint owners with right of survivorship is revoked only by all the living joint owners, and the last surviving joint owner may revoke it.Est. Code §§ 114.057(d), (e), 114.103(c)

When the owner dies

• The 120 hours. The property passes to each beneficiary who survives you by 120 hours, that is 5 days, unless the deed says otherwise.Est. Code § 114.103(a)(1)
• A beneficiary who dies first. That share lapses and passes as a gift in a will would under the anti-lapse rules: if the beneficiary was your descendant or a descendant of your parent, the beneficiary's own descendants who survive by 120 hours take it. Otherwise it may pass under your will or to your heirs; get advice.Est. Code §§ 114.103(a)(2), 255.153
• More than one beneficiary. They take equal, undivided shares with no right of survivorship, unless the deed says otherwise.Est. Code § 114.103(a)(3)
• Mortgages and liens stay. The beneficiary takes the property subject to every mortgage, lien and other interest on it at your death. The deed carries no warranty of title.Est. Code §§ 114.104(a), 114.103(d)
• Saying no. A beneficiary can disclaim all or part of the property under the disclaimer rules.Est. Code § 114.105

What the beneficiary records. Chapter 114 doesn't name a document. eFileTexas has a guided interview for an Affidavit of Death for the Transfer on Death Deed; ask the county clerk or a title company what to record in the deed records. eFileTexas

Debts, creditors and Medicaid

If your estate can't pay its debts, the property can be used. To the extent the estate is insufficient to pay a claim, the costs of administration, estate tax, or a family allowance for a surviving spouse, minor children or incapacitated adult children, the personal representative can enforce that liability against property passed by a transfer on death deed as if it were in the probate estate. Est. Code § 114.106(a)

• Two years. A proceeding to enforce it must start by the second anniversary of the death, within 2 years. Est. Code § 114.106(e)
• 90 days. If the personal representative doesn't act within 90 days after a demand for payment, a creditor, an heir, the surviving spouse, a guardian for a child, or a taxing authority can bring it. Est. Code § 114.106(c)
• Shared. The liability can be divided among several deeds and other nonprobate assets in proportion to their net values. Est. Code § 114.106(d)
• Medicaid estate recovery. The property is not considered property of the probate estate for any purpose, including Government Code § 546.0403, the section that carries out Texas Medicaid estate recovery. Est. Code § 114.106(b) · Gov't Code § 546.0403

Transfer on death deed, Lady Bird deed or a will

More on the alternatives: wills, living trusts, probate and who inherits without a will.

Free help in Texas

Common questions about Texas transfer on death deeds

Official sources

1. Texas Estates Code chapter 114: Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act (§§ 114.001-114.106) tcss.legis.texas.gov
2. Texas Estates Code chapter 255: lapse and anti-lapse (§§ 255.151-255.153) tcss.legis.texas.gov
3. Texas Government Code chapter 546: Medicaid estate recovery (§ 546.0403) tcss.legis.texas.gov
4. Texas Property Code chapter 12: recording (§§ 12.001, 12.0011) tcss.legis.texas.gov
5. Texas Local Government Code chapter 118: county clerk fees (§ 118.011) tcss.legis.texas.gov
6. Texas Local Government Code chapter 191: photo identification (§ 191.010) tcss.legis.texas.gov
7. Texas Legislature: S.B. 462 (2015), enrolled, with the optional deed and cancellation forms (former §§ 114.151, 114.152) capitol.texas.gov
8. Texas Legislature: H.B. 2782 (2019), enrolled, repealing the optional forms (sections 47 and 48) capitol.texas.gov
9. Texas State Law Library: Transferring property after death guides.sll.texas.gov
10. eFileTexas self-help: guided interviews (transfer on death deed, cancellation, affidavit of death) selfhelp.efiletexas.gov
11. Travis County Clerk: recording fees traviscountytx.gov
12. Travis County Clerk: real property recording traviscountytx.gov
13. Tarrant County Clerk: real estate records tarrantcountytx.gov

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