Ohio Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit: The Transfer on Death Deed Since 2009

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 4, 2026. Last reviewed October 4, 2026.

This guide follows R.C. 5302.22, 5302.222 and 5302.23 division by division, as read on the Ohio Legislative Service Commission's site codes.ohio.gov, then explains the other ways an Ohio home passes outside probate. It describes what the Revised Code provides and is not advice about a particular property or title. Nothing here replaces reading the sections themselves, which are linked under Sources.

From the transfer on death deed to the affidavit

Ohio once let an owner record a deed naming a transfer on death beneficiary. The current sections, 5302.22, 5302.222 and 5302.23, took effect on December 28, 2009 under Senate Bill 124 of the 128th General Assembly, and the instrument they describe is an affidavit, not a deed; the heading of 5302.22 on codes.ohio.gov still reads Transfer on death deed form, and this page uses both names so that a reader searching for either finds it. R.C. 5302.24 provides that the three sections do not affect any deed executed and recorded before December 28, 2009, or any beneficiary designation made under 5302.22 as it existed before that date; if the deed or designation was valid the day before, it continues to be valid, and the grantee need not execute a new affidavit naming the same beneficiaries unless the grantee chooses to. The one exception is divorce: under 5302.23(C), if a spouse was named the beneficiary in an old transfer on death deed and the marriage later ends in divorce, dissolution or annulment, the designation is terminated and the former spouse is deemed to have predeceased the owner. Recording a new affidavit also terminates the beneficiary designation in an earlier transfer on death deed covering the same property (5302.23(B)(10)).

Who may make an affidavit

Any individual who owns real property or an interest in real property as a sole owner, as a tenant in common, or as a survivorship tenant, or who together with the individual's spouse owns an indivisible interest as tenants by the entireties, may designate the entire interest, or any specified part that is less than the entire interest, as transferable on death to a designated beneficiary or beneficiaries by executing, together with the individual's spouse, if any, a transfer on death designation affidavit (5302.22(B)). A fee simple title or any fractional interest in one may be subjected to the designation (5302.23(B)(6)). Tenants by the entireties, for this purpose, means only persons vested under a deed recorded between February 9, 1972 and April 3, 1985 under the former version of 5302.17; the sections do not authorize creating a tenancy by the entireties today (5302.22(A)(4)).

The spouse's signature matters because of dower. A spouse who has not relinquished or been barred from it is endowed of an estate for life in one third of the real property of which the other spouse was seized as an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage (R.C. 2103.02). When the affidavit is executed by the owner together with the owner's spouse, the dower rights of the spouse are subordinate to the vesting of title in the beneficiaries (5302.22(B)), and the execution and recording of the affidavit bars the vesting of any dower rights in a later spouse of the owner unless the affidavit is revoked or changed (5302.23(B)(11)).

What the affidavit must contain and how it is signed

A transfer on death designation affidavit shall be verified before any person authorized to administer oaths, the statute's words for a statement the owner swears to and signs before such an officer, and shall include all of the following (5302.22(D)):

• A description of the real property whose title is affected and a reference to an instrument of record containing that description (5302.22(D)(1)).
• If less than the entire interest is to pass, a statement of the specific interest or part of the interest that is to be transferred (5302.22(D)(2)).
• A statement by the individual executing the affidavit that the individual is the person appearing on the record as the owner at the time of recording, and the marital status of that owner; if the owner is married, a statement by the owner's spouse that the spouse's dower rights are subordinate to the vesting of title in the beneficiaries (5302.22(D)(3)).
• A statement designating one or more persons, identified by name, as transfer on death beneficiary or beneficiaries (5302.22(D)(4)).

Any person who knowingly makes a false statement in the affidavit is guilty of falsification under R.C. 2921.13(A)(6) (5302.22(H)). Any affidavit containing language that shows a clear intent to designate a transfer on death beneficiary shall be liberally construed to do so (5302.23(A)). The affidavit need not be supported by consideration and need not be delivered to the beneficiaries to be effective (5302.22(F)).

Recording the affidavit

The affidavit shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the real property is located, and when so recorded the affidavit or a certified copy of it is evidence of the beneficiaries designated insofar as it affects title (5302.22(B)). The county recorder shall receive the affidavit and record it in the same manner as deeds are recorded, shall collect a fee in the same amount as the fee for recording deeds, and shall index it in the name of the owner of record who executed it (5302.22(E)). The recording fee statute, R.C. 317.32(A)(1), sets a base fee of seventeen dollars for the first two pages and a housing trust fund fee of seventeen dollars, plus a base fee of four dollars and a housing trust fund fee of four dollars for each subsequent page, and allows a document preservation surcharge of up to five dollars; the Columbus page describes the county offices where a Columbus owner records. The timing rule is absolute: in order to be effective, the affidavit shall be recorded with the county recorder prior to the death of the individual who executed it (5302.22(F)).

Who may be named, and contingent beneficiaries

Any transfer on death beneficiary or contingent beneficiary may be a natural or legal person, including, but not limited to, a bank as trustee of a trust; the only limit is that if two or more beneficiaries are designated as survivorship tenants, all of them must be natural persons, and a person named solely as trustee of a trust does not count as a natural person for that purpose (5302.23(B)(3)). The affidavit may designate one or more persons, identified by name, as contingent beneficiaries who take the interest that would have passed to a named beneficiary who does not survive the owner or is not in existence at the owner's death (5302.23(B)(2)). Where a beneficiary was named solely in the capacity of trustee of a trust and that trustee has died, resigned or been replaced by the owner's death, the successor trustee is considered the beneficiary in existence on the date of death even though not named in the affidavit (5302.22(G)).

Revoking or changing the designation

The designation of any beneficiary may be revoked or changed at any time, without the consent of that beneficiary, by the owner of the interest, by the surviving survivorship tenants, or by the remaining tenant by the entireties, by executing and recording, prior to death, a new transfer on death designation affidavit under 5302.22 stating the revocation or change (5302.23(B)(5)). The new affidavit automatically supersedes and revokes all prior recorded affidavits for the same property, provided the prior affidavit was executed before the later one (5302.23(B)(5)). The statute provides no other method, such as writing on or destroying the recorded affidavit; the owner records a new one. If the owner named a spouse as beneficiary and the marriage later ends in divorce, dissolution or annulment, the spouse's designation is terminated and the spouse is deemed to have predeceased the owner (5302.23(B)(12)).

During the owner's life

The designation of a transfer on death beneficiary has no effect on the present ownership of real property, and a person designated as a beneficiary has no interest in the real property until the death of the owner (5302.23(B)(4)). The owner keeps every right of ownership, and the section does not require the beneficiary's knowledge or consent. No rights of any lienholder, including any mortgagee, judgment creditor or mechanic's lien holder, are affected by the designation, and a lienholder who forecloses need not join the beneficiary as a defendant unless the beneficiary has another interest in the property (5302.23(B)(8)).

At the owner's death

If the owner held the property as a sole owner or as a tenant in common, upon the owner's death title to the property or interest specified in the affidavit vests in the beneficiaries designated in it (5302.22(C)(1)). The interest passes only to the beneficiaries who are identified by name and who survive the owner or are in existence on the date of death (5302.22(G), 5302.23(B)(1)). Two or more beneficiaries take title in equal shares as tenants in common unless the owner designated other than equal shares or designated that they take as survivorship tenants (5302.23(B)(1)). If a beneficiary does not survive and a contingent beneficiary was named, the contingent beneficiary takes that share; if no beneficiary or contingent beneficiary survives, the owner's interest is distributed as part of the owner's probate estate (5302.23(B)(1)). A beneficiary takes only the interest the owner held on the date of death, subject to all encumbrances, reservations and exceptions (5302.23(B)(7)(a)), so a mortgage stays on the property. The transfer is not testamentary and supersedes any attempted transfer of the same property by will or by intestacy (5302.23(B)(9)).

Co-owners follow different timing. If a survivorship tenant executes an affidavit, the death of that tenant, or of one but not all of the tenants, vests title in the surviving survivorship tenants, and only the death of the last surviving tenant vests title in the beneficiaries (5302.22(C)(2)). The death of all except the last survivorship tenant automatically terminates any beneficiary designation made solely by the deceased tenant or tenants without joinder by the last surviving tenant; no act of revocation is required, and if the last survivor dies with no designation of his or her own the whole interest passes through that survivor's probate estate (5302.23(B)(7)(b)). The same rule applies to the first death of tenants by the entireties (5302.22(C)(3), 5302.23(B)(7)(c)). Spouses who hold a survivorship deed and want the home to pass to their children after both deaths therefore sign the affidavit together.

What the beneficiary records: the affidavit of confirmation

The transfer of a deceased owner's property under a transfer on death designation affidavit shall be recorded by presenting to the county auditor of the county in which the real property is located, and filing with the county recorder of that county, an affidavit of confirmation executed by any transfer on death beneficiary to whom the transfer is made (5302.222(A)). The affidavit of confirmation shall be verified before a person authorized to administer oaths and accompanied by a certified copy of the death certificate for the deceased owner, and shall contain: the name and address of each beneficiary who survived the owner or is in existence at the owner's death (and, if a trustee beneficiary has been replaced, the successor trustee's name and address with a copy of the recorded successor trustee affidavit under R.C. 5302.171); the date of death; a description of the property; and the name of each beneficiary who did not survive the owner (5302.222(A)(1) to (4)). A certified death certificate for each beneficiary who did not survive must accompany it (5302.222(B)). The recorder records the affidavit of confirmation in the official records (5302.222(C)). If the title is registered land under Chapter 5309, the transfer follows R.C. 5309.081 instead (5302.222(D)). A knowingly false statement in the affidavit of confirmation is falsification under R.C. 2921.13(A)(6) (5302.222(E)).

One more form goes with it. The administrator of the Medicaid estate recovery program prescribes a form on which the beneficiary or the beneficiary's representative indicates whether the deceased owner had been a Medicaid recipient, had never been one, or whether the beneficiary does not know, and the same about a spouse who died before the owner (5302.221(B)). A county recorder shall provide a copy of the form to the beneficiary before recording the transfer under 5302.222, and the beneficiary shall submit the completed form to the program's administrator if the answer for the owner or the predeceased spouse is that the person had been a Medicaid recipient or that the beneficiary does not know (5302.221(C)). The statute does not say what the program does with the answer, and this page does not add to it.

Creditors, the allowance for support and the probate estate

Three things the statutes say, and one they do not. First, liens survive: the beneficiary takes subject to all encumbrances, and a mortgagee's or judgment creditor's rights are not affected by the designation (5302.23(B)(7)(a) and (B)(8)). Second, claims against a probate estate must be presented within six months after the death, whether or not an executor or administrator is appointed in that time, and a claim not presented within six months is forever barred (R.C. 2117.06(B) and (C)). Third, the allowance for support of forty thousand dollars for a surviving spouse or minor children is paid in money or property and is considered estate assets (R.C. 2106.13(A)); the spouse's rights guide explains how it is distributed. Neither 5302.22 to 5302.24, 2106.13 nor 2117.06 contains a provision that makes real property passing under a transfer on death designation affidavit available to pay the estate's creditors or the allowance for support when the probate estate is not enough; the only reference to a transfer on death beneficiary in chapter 2106 concerns automobiles (R.C. 2106.18). The statutes give no rule either way, and a beneficiary facing a claim should get advice.

Alternative 1: a living trust and the memorandum of trust

A revocable living trust holds title to the home during the owner's life, so at death the home is trust property and the successor trustee distributes or holds it under the trust's terms, with no affidavit of confirmation and no probate. Unless the terms of a trust expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it (R.C. 5806.02(A)), by substantial compliance with a method in the trust or, if none, by any method manifesting clear and convincing evidence of the settlor's intent, though not by a will or codicil unless the trust expressly allows it (5806.02(C)); on revocation the trustee delivers the property as the settlor directs (5806.02(D)). Moving the home into the trust means signing a deed to the trustee, acknowledged before a judge or clerk of a court of record, a county auditor, county engineer, notary public or mayor (R.C. 5301.01(A)), and recording it with the county recorder as a deed (R.C. 317.08(A)(1)).

Senate Bill 101 of the 136th General Assembly, effective June 16, 2026, changed the paperwork that goes with a trustee's deed. R.C. 5301.255(A), as amended by that act, now provides that a memorandum of trust or other instrument that satisfies the section shall be of record when any interest in real property is conveyed by the trustee of a disclosed trust, and in other circumstances may be presented, in the office of the county recorder of any county in which real property subject to the trust is located; the enrolled text of the act shows the former word may struck and shall inserted. The instrument shall be executed and acknowledged by the trustee in accordance with 5301.01 and shall state the name and address of the trustee, the date of execution of the trust, and the powers specified in the trust relative to the acquisition, sale or encumbering of real property by the trustee or the conveyance of real property by the trustee, and any restrictions on those powers (5301.255(A)(1) and (2)). It may also set out the substance or actual text of other trust provisions (5301.255(B)), constitutes notice only of the information in it (5301.255(C)), and on payment of the fee in 317.32 is recorded in the official records under 317.08(A)(17) if it describes specific real property, or under 317.08(A)(23), with powers of attorney, if it does not (5301.255(D)). The same act amended R.C. 5301.071 so that a deed naming the trust itself rather than the trustee as grantor or grantee is not defective if the trust was duly created and a memorandum of trust complying with 5301.255 and describing the property is recorded in the same county (5301.071(E)(1)), and so that a missing memorandum does not affect a trustee's conveyance that has been of record for more than four years (5301.071(F)). The memorandum is the record a later buyer relies on when the successor trustee sells the home, since it constitutes notice of the information in it (5301.255(C)). The funding guide explains the steps, and the Columbus page describes where a Columbus owner records the deed and memorandum.

Alternative 2: a survivorship deed

A deed conveying any interest in real property to two or more persons, in substance following the form in R.C. 5302.17, when duly executed in accordance with Chapter 5301, creates a survivorship tenancy in the grantees, and upon the death of any of them vests the interest of the decedent in the survivor or survivors (5302.17). The form's operative words are a grant to the grantees for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them, with a line for the grantor's spouse to release all rights of dower. More generally, if any interest in real property is conveyed or devised to two or more persons for their joint lives and then to the survivor or survivors of them, those persons hold as survivorship tenants, and any deed or will showing a clear intent to create a survivorship tenancy is liberally construed to do so, although the word or between two names does not by itself create one (R.C. 5302.20(A)). Each tenant holds an equal share during their joint lives unless the instrument provides otherwise, and on each death the decedent's title vests proportionately in the survivors until one remains as sole owner (5302.20(B)). When a survivorship tenant dies, the transfer is recorded by presenting to the county auditor and filing with the county recorder either a certificate of transfer under R.C. 2113.61 or an affidavit, with a certified copy of the death certificate, reciting the names and addresses of the other tenants, the date of death and a description of the property (5302.17).

Two cautions from the statute. If the entire title is held by two survivorship tenants who are married to each other and the marriage ends in divorce, annulment or dissolution, the title immediately becomes a tenancy in common unless the judgment expressly continues the survivorship (5302.20(C)(5)), and a creditor of one tenant may enforce a lien against that tenant's interest by an action to marshal liens, which converts the title to a tenancy in common and allows sale of the debtor's fractional interest (5302.20(C)(4)). Survivorship also only postpones the question of who takes after the last owner dies, which is why Ohio couples pair the survivorship deed with a transfer on death designation affidavit signed by both of them (5302.22(C)(2)) or with a living trust.

If nothing was done

Real property that is not covered by a recorded affidavit, a survivorship deed or a trust passes through the owner's estate: under the will after it is admitted to probate, or under the statute of descent and distribution if there is none. The Ohio probate process guide describes administration in the probate court, and the release from administration guide covers the shorter procedures for small estates. How the will itself must be signed is in the will signing guide.