Texas: Transfer-on-Death Deed Requirements

Texas is one of the states that lets you keep your home out of probate with a
transfer-on-death deed, and it is one of the easier states to do it in. You name the
person who inherits, record the deed now, and keep full control of the property for the
rest of your life; when you die, the home passes to that person automatically, with no
probate case. Texas asks for fewer formalities than California — there are no witnesses
required and no 60-day clock — but the two rules that void a TOD deed everywhere still
apply here: it must be recorded before you die, and a will cannot revoke it.

How to sign it

Texas does not impose a special witness requirement for a transfer-on-death deed. Under
§ 114.055, the deed must "contain the essential elements and formalities of a
recordable deed," state that the transfer happens at your death, and be recorded before you
die. The "recordable deed" formalities are what supply the signing rules: under Property
Code § 12.001, a deed conveying real property may not be recorded unless it is
"acknowledged or sworn to before and certified by an officer authorized to take
acknowledgements" — a notary — or, as an older alternative, signed "in the presence of two
or more credible subscribing witnesses." In practice this means you sign the deed and have
it notarized; almost no one uses the two-witness route.

Two Texas-specific limits sit alongside the signing rules, both in § 114.054:

• Contract capacity, not will capacity. The capacity to make a TOD deed "is the same as
  the capacity required to make a contract" — the ordinary standard for signing a deed.
• No power of attorney. A TOD deed "may not be created through use of a power of
  attorney." An agent under your financial power of attorney cannot sign one for you; you
  must sign it yourself.

Recording requirement

Signing and notarizing the deed does nothing by itself. Under § 114.055(3), the deed
must "be recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records in the county clerk's
office of the county where the real property is located." Two points follow:

• Record it while you are alive. A TOD deed found in a drawer after you die, never
  recorded, transfers nothing — the property passes by your will or by intestacy instead.
• No fixed outer deadline. Unlike California (60 days from notarization) or Nebraska (30
  days), Texas sets no signing-to-recording deadline. The deed is valid whenever you record
  it, as long as that happens before death. Still, recording it right away is the safest
  course, because the deed is useless until it is on record.

Revoking it

A Texas TOD deed is "revocable regardless of whether the deed or another instrument contains
a contrary provision" (§ 114.052), and you revoke it the same way you make it — with a
recorded instrument. Under § 114.057, a revocation works only if it is a later TOD
deed or an express instrument of revocation, is acknowledged after the deed being revoked,
and is "recorded before the transferor's death" in the same county. You can also simply
convey the property away during life, which overrides the deed (§ 114.057(f)). And if you
divorce the person you named, a recorded notice of the divorce judgment revokes the deed as
to that ex-spouse (§ 114.057(c)).

Eligible property and owner

A Texas TOD deed is broader than California's. It covers "an interest in real property
located in this state" (§ 114.002) with no limit on the number of units, acreage, or use —
a house, a ranch, or a commercial lot can all be covered. The transferor must be "an
individual" (§ 114.051): a natural person, not an LLC or other entity.

The deed passes only your own interest. If you own the property with someone else as
joint owners with right of survivorship and one of them outlives you, § 114.103(b) gives
the property to the surviving joint owner — the survivorship right wins, and the TOD deed
takes effect only if you are the last surviving joint owner. During your life the deed also
does not disturb your homestead rights or your property-tax exemptions (the
over-65, disability, and homestead exemptions all survive, § 114.101).

Beneficiary survival and what passes

Under § 114.103, the person you name must survive you by 120 hours (five days) to
take the property. If a beneficiary dies within that window, their share "lapses" — but it
does not simply vanish into your estate. Texas applies its anti-lapse rule: the share
"passes in accordance with Subchapter D, Chapter 255, as if the transfer on death deed were
a devise made in a will," which can send it to that beneficiary's own descendants. If you
name more than one beneficiary, they take "in equal and undivided shares with no right
of survivorship" — as tenants in common.

Whoever inherits takes the home subject to what is already on it. Under § 114.104,
the beneficiary takes "subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts,
mortgages, liens, and other interests" of record at your death, and the deed transfers the
property "without covenant of warranty of title" (§ 114.103(d)). A TOD deed does not wipe
out the mortgage — your beneficiary inherits the house and the loan against it.

Creditor and Medicaid reach

A TOD deed avoids probate; it does not put the home beyond your debts. During your life,
§ 114.101 says the deed does not "create a legal or equitable interest in favor of the
designated beneficiary" and leaves the property fully reachable by your creditors — you can
sell it, mortgage it, or lose it to a creditor. After you die, § 114.106 lets the estate
reach the property: to the extent your probate estate is too small to cover claims,
administration expenses, estate taxes, or a surviving spouse's or minor children's family
allowance, the personal representative "may enforce that liability against" the TOD-deed
property "to the same extent" as if it were part of the probate estate. That exposure runs
for two years after your death (§ 114.106(e)).

There is one important bright spot Texas readers should know: Medicaid estate recovery.
Texas recovers Medicaid long-term-care costs only against the probate estate, and
§ 114.106(b) provides that TOD-deed property "is not considered property of the probate
estate for any purpose, including for purposes of Section 546.0403, Government Code" — the
Texas Medicaid estate-recovery statute. So unlike in California and many other states, a
Texas home passed by TOD deed generally stays outside Medicaid estate recovery. (Medicaid
eligibility is a separate question, and other estate claims and liens still apply.)

What trips people up

• An unrecorded deed is worthless. The single most common failure is a TOD deed that was
  signed and notarized but never recorded, or recorded only after death. Get it on file with
  the county clerk while you are alive.
• A will cannot revoke it. Section 114.057(b) says flatly that "a will may not revoke or
  supersede a transfer on death deed." Writing "I revoke my TOD deed" in your will does
  nothing — you must record a revocation or a new deed. This is the same trap as in
  California, and it surprises people who assume their newest will controls everything.
• You cannot use a power of attorney to make one. If you are helping an aging parent with
  a financial power of attorney, you still cannot sign a TOD deed on their behalf
  (§ 114.054(b)); they must sign it themselves while they have contract capacity.
• Joint-survivorship property. If your home is held with a right of survivorship, a
  surviving co-owner takes it ahead of your TOD beneficiary (§ 114.103(b)). The deed only
  reaches property you can pass at death.

Common questions

Does my beneficiary have to agree, or even know? No. The deed is effective "without
notice or delivery to or acceptance by the designated beneficiary during the transferor's
life" (§ 114.056). You do not have to tell them.

Do I need witnesses like in California? No. Texas requires no witnesses for a TOD deed;
a notarized signature is what makes the deed recordable and valid. The two-witness
alternative in Property Code § 12.001 exists but is almost never used for deeds.

Can I name a backup beneficiary? Yes. Nothing bars naming alternates, and Texas's
anti-lapse rule (§ 114.103(a)(2)) also directs a deceased beneficiary's share to that
beneficiary's descendants as a will devise would, unless your deed says otherwise.

Is a TOD deed better than a living trust? They do different jobs. A TOD deed is cheap and
simple for one property and, in Texas, generally keeps the home out of Medicaid estate
recovery — but it names only the beneficiaries on its face and does not manage the property
if you become incapacitated. A trust can hold many assets, name backups, and plan for
incapacity. Which fits depends on your situation.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Est. Code § 114.001 (short title: Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.051 (an individual may make a TOD deed) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.052 (the deed is revocable despite any contrary provision) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.054 (contract capacity; no power of attorney) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.055 (requirements: recordable-deed formalities; record before death) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 12.001 (a deed is recordable if acknowledged before a notary or signed before two credible witnesses) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/pr/pdf/pr.12.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.056 (deed effective without notice to, delivery to, or acceptance by the beneficiary) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.057 (revocation only by recorded instrument; a will cannot revoke) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.101 (no effect during life; owner's rights, homestead, and creditors preserved) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.103 (120-hour survival, anti-lapse, equal shares, joint survivorship, no warranty) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.104 (beneficiary takes subject to liens and encumbrances) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Est. Code § 114.106 (beneficiary liable if probate estate falls short; 2-year window; excluded from probate estate for Medicaid recovery) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/es/pdf/es.114.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Tex. Gov't Code § 546.0403 (Medicaid estate recovery, implementing 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)(1)) — https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/gv/pdf/gv.546.pdf (accessed 2026-07-11)