Guides › Transfer-on-Death Deeds
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: yes — Texas authorizes transfer-on-death deeds (Estates Code ch. 114, since September 1, 2015), and the trap is in the fine print: a Texas TOD deed that omits the statutory notice required by §114.051 is invalid. The warning language about revocability and beneficiary rights is not boilerplate you may trim — it is a validity condition, and DIY deeds copied from generic templates fail on exactly this.
The Texas specifics that matter
Record before death, in the county where the property sits — an unrecorded TOD deed does nothing. Revocable any time by recording a new deed or revocation. And Texas runs two systems at once: the statutory TOD deed AND the common-law Lady Bird deed are both in active use here — they are different instruments, and which fits depends mostly on Medicaid-planning posture. The property passes subject to mortgages and liens either way.
What the deed saves: Texas executor commissions run on cash moved through the estate and probate costs on the estate that actually probates — a house passing by deed shrinks both. Every state’s answer: the verified 51-jurisdiction table.
One recorded document, if it contains the right words.
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