New York Transfer on Death Deed: Real Property Law 424 Explained

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 1, 2026. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.

This guide follows Real Property Law 424 subdivision by subdivision, as read on the New York State Senate's consolidated laws site, then explains the other ways a New York home can pass outside probate. It describes what New York law provides and is not advice about a particular property or deed. Nothing here replaces reading the deed form in the statute itself.

What the deed is

An individual may transfer property to one or more beneficiaries effective at the transferor's death by a transfer on death deed (424(3)). Property means an interest in real property located in New York that is transferable on the death of the owner (424(1)(e)). The deed is revocable even if the deed or another instrument contains a contrary provision (424(4)), it is nontestamentary (424(5)), and the capacity required to make or revoke it is the same as the capacity required to make a will (424(6)). The section does not affect any other method of transferring property that New York law permits (424(2)).

Signing and recording requirements

Under 424(7) a transfer on death deed must: contain the essential elements and formalities of a properly recordable lifetime deed; state that the transfer to the designated beneficiary is to occur at the transferor's death; be signed by two witnesses who were present at the same time and who witnessed the signing of the deed; be acknowledged before a notary public; and be recorded before the transferor's death in the public records in the county clerk's office of the county where the property is located, in the same manner as any other type of deed. The deed is effective without notice to, delivery to or acceptance by the beneficiary during the transferor's life, and without consideration (424(8)). Subdivision 15 sets out an optional form headed Revocable Transfer on Death Deed, whose notice to the owner reads: this form must be recorded before your death, or it will not be effective.

Revoking the deed

A recorded transfer on death deed, or part of it, is revoked only by an instrument that is one of three things: a later transfer on death deed that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency, an instrument of revocation that expressly revokes it, or a lifetime deed that expressly revokes it; and the instrument must be acknowledged by the transferor after the acknowledgment of the deed being revoked and recorded before the transferor's death in the county clerk's office where the deed is recorded (424(9)(a)). After the deed is recorded it cannot be revoked by a revocatory act on the deed itself (424(9)(c)). When more than one transferor made the deed, one transferor's revocation does not affect the deed as to another transferor's interest, and a deed of joint owners is revoked only if all the living joint owners revoke it (424(9)(b)). The section does not limit the effect of a lifetime transfer of the property (424(9)(d)). Subdivision 16 provides a form of revocation.

During the owner's life: nothing changes

During the transferor's life the deed does not affect any interest or right of the transferor or any other owner, including the right to transfer or encumber the property; does not affect the rights of a secured or unsecured creditor or future creditor of the transferor, even one with notice of the deed; does not affect the transferor's or the designated beneficiary's eligibility for any form of public assistance; does not create a legal or equitable interest in favor of the designated beneficiary; and does not subject the property to the claims of the beneficiary's creditors (424(10)). The statute uses the words public assistance; it does not name Medicaid or any particular program, and this page says only what the statute says.

At the owner's death

On the transferor's death the interest in the property is transferred to the designated beneficiary in accordance with the deed (424(11)(a)(1)). A beneficiary's interest is contingent on surviving the transferor; the interest of a beneficiary who does not survive lapses (424(11)(a)(2)). Two or more beneficiaries take in equal and undivided shares with no right of survivorship, except that the share of one that lapses or fails passes to the others in proportion to their interests (424(11)(a)(3) and (4)). The beneficiary takes subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, liens and other interests to which the property is subject at the transferor's death, and for that purpose the recording of the deed is deemed to have occurred at the transferor's death (424(11)(b)). If the transferor was a joint owner and is survived by another joint owner, the property belongs to the surviving joint owner with right of survivorship, and the deed takes effect only when the transferor is the last surviving joint owner (424(11)(c) and (d)). The transfer is without covenant or warranty of title even if the deed says otherwise (424(11)(e)). A beneficiary may renounce all or part of the interest in the same manner as a gift under a will (424(13)).

Creditors and the family's allowances after death

To the extent the transferor's probate estate is insufficient to satisfy an allowed claim against the estate or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, the estate may enforce the liability against property transferred at death by a transfer on death deed; where more than one property was transferred, the liability is apportioned among them in proportion to their net values at death; and a proceeding to enforce the liability must be commenced no later than eighteen months after the transferor's death (424(14)). The spouse's and children's allowances in New York are the set-off under EPTL 5-3.1, described in the spouse's rights guide.

Divorce, fraud and undue influence

Nothing in the section limits the application of the principles of fraud, undue influence, duress, mistake or other invalidating cause to a transfer of property (424(12)(a)). Divorce, annulment, declaration of nullity or dissolution of marriage has the same effect on a transfer on death deed as EPTL 5-1.4 gives it elsewhere (424(12)(b)): under 5-1.4(a), except as the governing instrument expressly provides, a divorce or annulment revokes any revocable disposition of property made by the divorced individual to or for the benefit of the former spouse, including by will, by beneficiary designation or by revocable trust, and revokes the former spouse's nomination to any fiduciary role.

Alternative 1: a living trust

A revocable living trust holds title to the home during the owner's life, so at death the home is trust property rather than probate property and the successor trustee handles it under the trust's terms. Every lifetime trust must be in writing and executed and acknowledged by the person establishing it (and, unless that person is the sole trustee, by at least one trustee) in the manner required for recording a conveyance of real property, or else executed in the presence of two witnesses who sign the trust instrument (EPTL 7-1.17(a)). Any amendment or revocation the trust authorizes must be in writing, executed by the person authorized, and, unless the trust provides otherwise, acknowledged or witnessed the same way (EPTL 7-1.17(b)). Moving the home into the trust means recording a deed to the trustee. A trust can also hold accounts, hold the home for a beneficiary who is a minor or cannot manage it, and name a successor if the first beneficiary dies, none of which a transfer on death deed does on its own. The funding guide explains the steps.

Alternative 2: ownership with a right of survivorship

A disposition of property to two or more persons creates a tenancy in common unless it is expressly declared to be a joint tenancy; a disposition of real property to a husband and wife creates a tenancy by the entirety unless expressly declared to be a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common; and property passing in intestacy to two or more persons is taken as tenants in common (EPTL 6-2.2). Real Property Law 424 defines a joint owner as an individual who owns property concurrently with others with a right of survivorship, including a joint tenant and a tenant by the entirety, and excluding a tenant in common (424(1)(c)); on a joint owner's death the property belongs to the surviving joint owners (424(11)(c)). So a deed to spouses passes the home to the survivor without probate, while a deed to two unmarried co-owners does so only if it says joint tenancy. Two cautions from the statutes: a joint tenancy or survivorship interest created by the decedent is a testamentary substitute counted toward a surviving spouse's elective share (EPTL 5-1.1-A(b)(1)(E)), and survivorship only postpones the question, since the last surviving owner's share still passes through that owner's estate.

If nothing was done

Real property owned in the decedent's sole name cannot be collected through the $50,000 voluntary administration procedure, which does not apply to any interest in real property (SCPA 1302). With a will, the home passes through probate; without one, through administration, although the court system notes that real property vests in the distributees at death and an administration proceeding may not be necessary when it is the only asset (CourtHelp, Administration). Both proceedings are described in the New York probate process guide.