Transfer-on-Death Deed Requirements in Ohio

At a glance

Ohio lets you keep your home out of probate and pass it directly to someone you name — but it is the one state that does it with an affidavit instead of a deed. Ohio abolished the transfer-on-death deed on December 28, 2009 and replaced it with a "transfer on death designation affidavit" (Ohio Rev. Code §§ 5302.22–5302.24). You record the affidavit now, keep full control of the property for the rest of your life, and when you die the home passes to the person you named without a probate case. Deeds recorded before December 28, 2009 stay valid (§ 5302.24), but anyone setting this up today uses the affidavit.

How to sign it

Under § 5302.22, the affidavit "shall be verified before any person authorized to administer oaths" — meaning you sign it under oath in front of a notary public (or other officer who can administer oaths), the same way you would swear to any affidavit. Two things make Ohio distinctive:

• No witnesses. Unlike California (two witnesses) or Nebraska (two disinterested witnesses), Ohio requires none. The owner's sworn signature before the notary is enough.
• A married owner's spouse must sign too. § 5302.22(B) lets you act only "together with the individual's spouse, if any," and the affidavit must state that the spouse's dower rights (Ohio is one of the last states to keep this old marital interest) are "subordinate to the vesting of title" in your beneficiary. Skip the spouse's signature and a married owner's affidavit does not clear the dower interest.

The beneficiary never signs, does not have to be told, and need not accept anything — § 5302.22(F) says the affidavit "need not be delivered to the transfer on death beneficiary."

Recording requirement

The affidavit does nothing until it is on record. Under § 5302.22(F), "in order to be effective, that affidavit shall be recorded with the county recorder ... prior to the death of the individual who executed the affidavit." You record it with the county recorder in the county where the property sits, for the same fee as a deed, and the recorder indexes it under your name (§ 5302.22(E)). Two points:

• Record before death. An affidavit signed and notarized but left unrecorded, or recorded only after you die, transfers nothing — the property passes by your will or by intestacy instead.
• No 60-day clock. Ohio sets no outer deadline measured from signing (California's 60-day rule is unusual). The only timing rule is that recording must happen during your life.

Revoking it or changing your mind

The designation "has no effect on the present ownership of real property," and your beneficiary "has no interest in the real property until the death of the owner" (§ 5302.23(B)(4)). To revoke or change it, § 5302.23(B)(5) lets you — "at any time, without the consent of that transfer on death beneficiary" — record a new designation affidavit, which "shall automatically supersede and revoke all prior recorded transfer on death designation affidavits" for that property. Because revocation runs through the land records, a change in your will does not revoke a recorded affidavit. Selling or deeding the property away during life also defeats it, since your beneficiary holds nothing until you die. One automatic rule: under § 5302.23(B)(12), if you named your spouse and then divorce, dissolve, or annul the marriage, the ex-spouse's designation is terminated and the ex-spouse "shall be deemed to have predeceased" you.

Which property and owners qualify

Ohio does not limit the affidavit to small residential parcels the way California does. Any individual who owns real property "as a sole owner, as a tenant in common, or as a survivorship tenant," or with a spouse "as tenants by the entireties," may use it (§ 5302.22(B)), for "the entire interest, or any specified part that is less than the entire interest." A fee simple or "any fractional interest in a fee simple title" can be made transfer-on-death (§ 5302.23(B)(6)).

The survivorship-tenant rule is the trap. If you own the home with someone else in an Ohio survivorship deed, your affidavit does not override the co-owner's survivorship. If you die first, title vests in the surviving co-owner, not your beneficiary; your beneficiary takes only if you are the last survivor (§ 5302.22(C)(2)). A designation made by a co-owner who dies first is automatically nullified.

If your beneficiary dies first, and what passes

Under § 5302.23(B)(1), the property goes only to beneficiaries "identified in the affidavit by name" who "survive the deceased owner." Name more than one and, unless your affidavit says otherwise, they "take title to the interest in equal shares as tenants in common." If a named beneficiary dies before you:

• if you designated a contingent beneficiary, that person takes instead (§ 5302.23(B)(2)); but
• if no named or contingent beneficiary survives you, "the interest of the deceased owner shall be distributed as part of the probate estate" — the very probate the affidavit was meant to avoid.

Ohio has no anti-lapse rule sending a dead beneficiary's share to their descendants; the substitutes are the contingent beneficiary you name, or the estate. Whoever inherits takes "only the interest that the deceased owner ... held on the date of death, subject to all encumbrances, reservations, and exceptions" (§ 5302.23(B)(7)(a)) — the mortgage and every lien come with the house.

Creditor and Medicaid reach

The affidavit avoids probate; it does not put the home beyond your debts. During your life your beneficiary has no interest, and § 5302.23(B)(8) protects creditors on the other side: "No rights of any lienholder, including ... any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or mechanic's lien holder, shall be affected by the designation." A lender can foreclose without even joining your beneficiary.

Ohio's Medicaid estate recovery is the sharpest point for many families. Ohio uses an expanded definition of a decedent's "estate": under § 5162.21(A)(1)(b) it reaches "any other real and personal property and other assets in which an individual had any legal title or interest at the time of death ... including assets conveyed to a survivor, heir, or assign ... through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust, or other arrangement." A transfer-on-death affidavit is one of those "other arrangements," so a home passed this way generally remains subject to Ohio's Medicaid estate-recovery claim for benefits the state paid on the owner's behalf (typically for those 55 or older or permanently institutionalized). A TOD affidavit skips probate court; it does not shield the house from the state.

What trips people up

• It is an affidavit, not a deed. Out-of-state "transfer on death deed" forms do not work in Ohio. The instrument you record is a sworn transfer on death designation affidavit under § 5302.22; the county recorder indexes it under your name.
• A married owner's spouse has to sign. Because Ohio still recognizes dower, § 5302.22(B) requires the spouse to join and subordinate that dower interest. A married owner who signs alone leaves the spouse's dower claim in place.
• Name people, not a class. The statute transfers only to beneficiaries "identified in the affidavit by name" (§ 5302.23(B)(1)). "My children" or "my heirs" is not a valid designation — list each person.
• Survivorship co-ownership beats the affidavit. If title is in an Ohio survivorship deed, your co-owner's survivorship controls if you die first (§ 5302.22(C)(2)); your beneficiary takes only if you outlive the other owners.
• Your beneficiary still has paperwork after you die. To perfect title the beneficiary records an affidavit of confirmation with a certified death certificate, presented to the county auditor and filed with the recorder (§ 5302.222).

Common questions

Does my beneficiary have to know or agree? No. The affidavit "need not be delivered" to the beneficiary (§ 5302.22(F)); you do not need their consent to name them, change them, or revoke the designation.

Can I name a backup in case my first choice dies before me? Yes — designate a contingent beneficiary in the affidavit (§ 5302.23(B)(2)). Without one, a share whose beneficiary predeceases you drops into your probate estate.

Does recording the affidavit change who owns or pays taxes on the house now? No. It "has no effect on the present ownership" (§ 5302.23(B)(4)). You remain the owner, keep paying the taxes, and can sell or mortgage the property freely during your life.

Will this protect the house from a nursing-home Medicaid claim? No. Ohio's estate recovery reaches assets passing outside probate, including by TOD affidavit (§ 5162.21), so the home can still be pursued for Medicaid benefits the state paid.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.22 (transfer on death designation affidavit — execution, spouse joinder, verification, record-before-death) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5302.22 (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.23 (beneficiary designation — survival, equal shares, revocation by new affidavit, take-subject-to-liens, lienholder protection, divorce) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5302.23 (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.222 (affidavit of confirmation the beneficiary records after death) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5302.222 (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.24 (pre-2009 TOD deeds grandfathered; affidavit replaced the deed) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5302.24 (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 5162.21 (Medicaid estate recovery; expanded "estate" definition) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5162.21 (accessed 2026-07-11)