Texas: Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements
The short answer
Texas requires a signed writing that declares the disclaimer, describes the interest or power, includes an individual disclaimant's child-support-obligor statement under penalty of perjury, and is delivered or filed through the route that matches the asset. Chapter 240 sets no fixed state-law deadline and requires no witness, acknowledgment, or notarization, but acceptance, transfer, judicial sale, or qualifying child-support arrears can bar the disclaimer. For an interest passing at death, an effective disclaimer relates back to the death and follows the governing instrument's destination clause or Texas's deemed-predecease rules.
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This is the general rule in Texas. Ask about your specific facts and see which parts of current Texas law apply, with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and covered interests | Texas Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act, Tex. Prop. Code ch. 240; covers any interest in or power over property, including inheritance, wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, insurance/retirement arrangements, and survivorship property |
|---|---|
| Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer | Whole or partial; a partial disclaimer may be a fraction, percentage, dollar amount, term of years, power limitation, or another interest/estate. Chapter 240 does not expressly authorize conditional disclaimers. |
| Writing or record and required contents | Writing required; it must declare the disclaimer, describe the interest or power, and be signed. An individual must also state under penalty of perjury whether the child-support-obligor bar in § 240.151(g) applies; omission does not invalidate an otherwise unbarred disclaimer. |
| Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary | Disclaimant's signature only under Chapter 240; no witness, acknowledgment, or notary requirement in the general effectiveness list |
| State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay | No fixed Texas validity deadline in Chapter 240; act before a statutory bar occurs. Irrevocable on the later of required delivery/filing or statutory effectiveness. Federal qualified-disclaimer rules separately use a 9-month receipt deadline and other tax conditions. |
| Delivery, filing, and recipient | Personal delivery, first-class mail, fax, e-mail, or another method likely to produce receipt; certified mail/return receipt counts on mailing if sent in good faith to a likely address. Will/intestacy: personal representative or county official public records if none; trust: trustee with PR/court/public-record fallbacks; beneficiary designation: creator before irrevocability, distributor after (record real-property interest); survivorship: successor taker. |
| Real-property recording and notice | Generally may be recorded like the instrument creating the interest, and nonrecording does not defeat between-the-parties validity. Exception: after a beneficiary designation becomes irrevocable, a disclaimer of the designated real-property interest must be recorded in the county where the land is located. Section 240.111 states no general constructive-notice effect. |
| Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars | Barred by written waiver; acceptance through possession or dominion/control; voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer, or contract; judicial sale; and specified administratively determined or judgment-confirmed child-support arrears. No general insolvency bar. An effective death-transfer disclaimer relates back and the disclaimed interest is not subject to the disclaimant's creditors, subject to the child-support rule. |
| Effective date and destination | For property passing at death, effective and related back to death. An express disclaimer-destination clause controls; otherwise an individual is generally treated as dying immediately before effectiveness, with special descendant/estate and intestacy rules. The disclaimant does not select the successor taker. |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law and covered interests
Texas Property Code Chapter 240 is the Texas Uniform Disclaimer of Property
Interests Act. Section 240.002 defines "disclaim" to reach inheritance, wills,
survivorship arrangements, insurance and annuity contracts, retirement and benefit
plans, and trusts. Section 240.003 applies the chapter to any interest in or power over
property whenever created. This page covers an adult acting personally under
§ 240.006, not the chapter's separate fiduciary and representative rules.
Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer
Section 240.006 allows a person acting personally to disclaim all or part of an
interest or power. Section 240.009(b) lets a partial disclaimer use a fraction,
percentage, monetary amount, term of years, limitation of a power, or another interest
or estate. Unlike Florida's act, Chapter 240 does not expressly authorize a conditional
disclaimer, so the table does not treat conditions as a general Texas option.
Writing or record and required contents
Section 240.009(a) requires a writing that declares the disclaimer, describes the
interest or power, and is signed. Texas adds a state-specific item in subsection (e):
an individual must state under penalty of perjury whether the child-support-obligor bar
in § 240.151(g) applies. Omitting that statement does not invalidate the document if the
disclaimer is not actually barred by the child-support rule.
Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary
The general effectiveness list in § 240.009(a) requires the disclaimant's signature
but does not require witnesses, an acknowledgment, or notarization. A separate
recording or transaction rule could affect a particular asset, but Chapter 240 does not
turn those formalities into a universal condition for every disclaimer.
State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay
Chapter 240 states no fixed Texas validity deadline. Its practical clock is event-based:
the right can be lost through the bars in § 240.151 before the document becomes
effective. Section 240.009(c) makes the disclaimer irrevocable on the later of delivery
or filing under Subchapter C and statutory effectiveness under §§ 240.051-240.056.
Federal tax qualification remains separate. Section 240.057 recognizes a disclaimer
treated under the Internal Revenue Code as never transferred to the disclaimant. The
federal definition in 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) adds a nine-month receipt deadline and other
conditions; it is not a fixed state-law deadline inside Chapter 240.
Delivery, filing, and recipient
Section 240.101 allows personal delivery, first-class mail, fax, e-mail, or another
method likely to result in receipt. Certified mail with return receipt requested counts
on the mailing date if sent in good faith to an address likely to work. The recipient
depends on the interest:
- A will or intestate interest goes to the personal representative. If none serves, it
is filed in the official public records of a county where the decedent lived at death
or owned real property (§ 240.102). - A testamentary-trust interest goes to the trustee, then the personal representative,
with the same county-public-record fallback (§ 240.103). - An inter vivos trust interest goes to the trustee, or to the listed court or county-
record fallback if none serves; before irrevocability it goes to the settlor or
transferor (§ 240.104). - A beneficiary-designation interest goes to the person making the designation before
irrevocability. Afterward, personal property goes to the distributor and real property
must be recorded in the land's county (§ 240.105). - A survivorship-property disclaimer goes to the person who takes the disclaimed share
(§ 240.106).
Real-property recording and notice
Section 240.111 generally says a disclaimer may be recorded like the instrument that
transferred the interest, and nonrecording does not defeat validity between the
disclaimant and successor takers. The express exception is § 240.105(c)(2): after a
beneficiary designation has become irrevocable, a disclaimer of the designated real-
property interest must be recorded in the official public records of the county where
the land lies. Section 240.111 does not itself state a general constructive-notice
effect.
Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars
Section 240.151 bars a disclaimer after written waiver, acceptance through possession
or dominion and control, voluntary transfer or a contract to transfer, or judicial
sale. Texas does not add Florida's general insolvency bar. Instead, it has a targeted
child-support rule: a child-support obligor cannot disclaim property available to cover
arrears that have been administratively determined in a Title IV-D case or confirmed
and reduced to judgment.
For an effective interest passing at death, § 240.051 says the disclaimer relates back
to death and the disclaimed property is not subject to the disclaimant's creditors.
That general protection does not erase § 240.151(g)'s child-support exception.
Effective date and destination
Under § 240.051(b), a death-transfer disclaimer takes effect and relates back to the
decedent's death. A governing-instrument clause addressing disclaimers controls the
destination. Without one, an individual is generally treated as dying immediately
before effectiveness; intestate property passes as if the disclaimant died immediately
before the decedent. Sections 240.0511 and 240.0512 add descendant and estate rules for
their covered circumstances. The disclaimant does not select the successor recipient.
What trips people up
The child-support statement is part of the Texas document. It must address whether
the § 240.151(g) bar applies and be made under penalty of perjury, even though omission
does not invalidate a disclaimer that is not actually barred.
The no-fixed-deadline rule does not protect someone who already accepted or
transferred the property. Chapter 240's bars can arise long before a federal tax
deadline or any planned filing date.
Real-property recording is not one universal rule. Section 240.111 is generally
permissive, but § 240.105(c)(2) makes county recording mandatory for a real-property
interest disclaimed after its beneficiary designation becomes irrevocable.
Common questions
Does a Texas disclaimer need a notary? Not under Chapter 240's general
effectiveness list. A particular recording or transaction may present a separate
question.
Can I e-mail the disclaimer? Texas expressly allows e-mail and fax, but the correct
document still must reach the correct statutory recipient or filing office.
Can ordinary creditors take the disclaimed property? Section 240.051 generally
protects an effective death-transfer disclaimer from the disclaimant's creditors, but
Texas separately bars disclaimers against specified established child-support arrears.
Statutes and sources
- Tex. Prop. Code §§ 240.002, 240.003, 240.006 — covered interests, chapter scope,
and an adult's whole-or-part authority.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - Tex. Prop. Code § 240.009 — writing, contents, signature, partial forms,
irrevocability, and child-support statement.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - Tex. Prop. Code §§ 240.101-240.106 — delivery methods, recipients, and filing routes.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - Tex. Prop. Code §§ 240.105(c)(2), 240.111 — real-property recording exception and
general nonrecording rule.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - Tex. Prop. Code § 240.151 — waiver, acceptance, transfer, judicial-sale, and
child-support bars.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - Tex. Prop. Code §§ 240.051, 240.057 — relation back, creditor protection,
destination, and federal-law recognition.
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.240.pdf (accessed 2026-08-01) - 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer requirements.
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title26/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleB-chap12-subchapB-sec2518
(accessed 2026-08-01)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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