Texas Transfer on Death Deed: How It Works and Its Limits

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published September 28, 2026. Last reviewed September 28, 2026.

This guide follows Chapter 114 of the Texas Estates Code section by section, then looks at where a transfer on death deed fits next to a living trust. It is general information, not advice about a particular property.

What the deed is

Chapter 114 is the Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act (Section 114.001). Under Section 114.051, an individual may transfer an interest in real property to one or more beneficiaries, effective at the transferor's death, by a transfer on death deed. The deed is revocable no matter what it says (Section 114.052) and is nontestamentary, meaning it is not a will and is not probated (Section 114.053). The capacity needed to sign one is the capacity to make a contract, and the deed may not be created through a power of attorney (Section 114.054). It applies to deeds signed and acknowledged on or after September 1, 2015 (Section 114.003), and it does not replace any other way of transferring real property (Section 114.004).

What makes it effective

Section 114.055 lists three requirements. The deed must contain the essential elements and formalities of a recordable deed; it must state that the transfer to the designated beneficiary is to occur at the transferor's death; and it must be recorded, before the transferor's death, in the deed records of the county clerk's office of the county where the property is located. Recording is the step people forget: an unrecorded transfer on death deed found in a drawer after death does nothing. The deed is effective without notice to or acceptance by the beneficiary and without consideration (Section 114.056).

Recording fees are set by each county clerk. The Harris, Travis and Bexar county clerks list $25 for the first page and $4 for each additional page; the Tarrant County Clerk lists $20 for the first page and $4 for each additional page. See the city pages linked below for where and how each of those clerks accepts documents.

Nothing changes during life

Section 114.101 is the reason the deed is popular. During the transferor's life it does not affect the owner's right to sell or mortgage the property, homestead rights, or ad valorem tax exemptions including the residence homestead and over 65 exemptions; it does not affect creditors of the owner; it does not trigger a due on sale clause; it does not create any interest in the beneficiary; and it does not expose the property to the beneficiary's creditors. If the owner later sells the property and the sale is recorded before death, the transfer on death deed is void as to that buyer (Section 114.102).

How it is revoked

A recorded transfer on death deed is revoked by a later transfer on death deed that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency, or by an instrument of revocation, in either case acknowledged after the original and recorded before the transferor's death in the same county (Section 114.057). A will may not revoke or supersede it. If the beneficiary was the transferor's spouse and the marriage is later dissolved, the divorce judgment revokes the deed as to that spouse when notice of the judgment is recorded before death. When joint owners with a right of survivorship sign one deed, it is revoked only if all living joint owners revoke it.

What happens at death

Under Section 114.103, a designated beneficiary who survives the transferor by 120 hours takes the property; a beneficiary who does not survive that long lapses, and that share passes as if the deed were a gift in a will under Chapter 255. Two or more beneficiaries take equal undivided shares with no survivorship between them unless the deed says otherwise. If the transferor was a joint owner with right of survivorship, the property goes to the surviving joint owner, and the deed takes effect only when the last joint owner dies. The transfer carries no warranty of title.

The beneficiary takes the property subject to every mortgage, lien and other encumbrance on it at death (Section 114.104). If an estate administration is opened, the personal representative gives the mortgage lender the secured creditor notice required by Section 308.053, and the lender elects how its claim is treated.

Creditors and family allowances

Section 114.106 draws the line. Property that passed under a transfer on death deed is not part of the probate estate. But if the estate is insufficient to pay claims, administration expenses, estate tax, or the allowances due to a surviving spouse or minor children, the personal representative may enforce that shortfall against the property, and if the representative does not act within 90 days of a demand, a creditor or the spouse may. A proceeding must be brought within two years of the transferor's death. A beneficiary may disclaim the property under Chapter 122 (Section 114.105).

Transfer on death deed or living trust

The two tools solve different sizes of problem. A transfer on death deed handles one parcel of Texas real estate and nothing else: it says nothing about bank accounts, vehicles, personal property or property in another state, it names no one to manage the property if the owner becomes incapacitated, and it leaves the property exposed to estate claims for two years. A funded living trust holds the home and the other assets together, names a successor trustee who can act during incapacity as well as after death, and lets the owner set terms for how and when beneficiaries receive property. Some owners record a transfer on death deed as a simple, low cost step for a single property; owners with several assets, minor children or out of state property usually need the trust. Either way, the deed that moves a home into a trust and a transfer on death deed are both recorded with the same county clerk.