Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Maine’s Article 6 carries a rule that catches people who are thinking about wills: revocation by act is not permitted. Destroying the deed, or writing “cancelled” across it, does nothing at all.
The revocation rule
Section 6-411 is headed “Revocation by instrument authorized; revocation by act not permitted.” You revoke a Maine transfer on death deed by executing and recording a further instrument — a revocation, or a new transfer on death deed. Physical destruction is not a method.
This is precisely backwards from what most people know about wills, where tearing up the document can revoke it. A deed already sits in the public record, and the record is what governs. If you change your mind, record something.
Recording, before death
Recorded before transferor’s death. Must be recorded before the transferor’s death in the public records in the registry of deeds in the county where the property is located.
— 18-C M.R.S. 6-401 to 6-417
The rest of Part 4
Maine’s sections run 6-401 to 6-417 and include capacity and undue influence (6-408), requirements (6-409), the rule that notice, delivery, acceptance and consideration are not required (6-410), the effect during life (6-412) and at death (6-413), and a notice of death affidavit (6-414) — a step after the death that not every state has.
If a Maine deed is the right instrument
Section 6-411 makes this harder to undo than most people expect. You revoke a Maine transfer on death deed by executing and recording a further instrument, never by destroying the paper or writing on it. LawDepot builds a Maine transfer on death deed, and recording it before death is what makes it effective.
LawDepot prices a single document at $7.50 to $119, and its category subscriptions start at $107.88 a year, with the all-documents plan at $155.88 a year (LawDepot pricing page, read 2026-09-02).
Create a transfer on death deed
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link, and it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
What a transfer on death deed does not do
- It moves one parcel, not an estate. It avoids probate on that property; everything else is untouched, so it is not a substitute for a will.
- It does not take effect until death — the owner keeps full control and can sell, mortgage or revoke without the beneficiary’s agreement.
- It does not clear debts. A mortgage, lien or judgment passes with the property.
- It does not override how the property is titled. Joint ownership and survivorship rights generally come first.
Honest gaps
We have quoted 18-C § 6-409 on recording and read the section headings and text across Part 4. The full text of the revocation, undue-influence and notice-of-death-affidavit sections is not reproduced here, and the affidavit in particular should be read directly. This is the statute, not legal advice. Deed drafting, title and recording practice vary by county, and a property with a mortgage, co-owners or a disputed title is one to take to a lawyer in the state.
Source note. Read from https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/18-C/title18-Cch6sec0.html on 2026-08-04.
Related: transfer on death deeds by state · how it compares with a living trust · what it actually avoids.
General information drawn from state statutes and official state or court forms, not legal advice. These instruments are governed by the law of the state where the property sits or the document is signed, and formalities differ from state to state — execution, witnessing and recording requirements are the parts that void a document when they are missed. Your own state’s current statute governs.
A transfer-on-death deed keeps one asset out of probate; whether the rest of the estate has to go through it is a separate test, and the answer is on when probate is required in Maine, which gives Maine’s qualifying value for the small-estate route and what that route does not reach.