How to Change the Name on Property Title Deeds in Texas

To change the name on a property deed in Texas, you prepare a new deed that conveys the property from your old legal name to your new one, sign it in front of a notary, and record it with the county clerk in the county where the property sits. The filing fees usually run between $15 and $30, Texas charges no state transfer tax on deed recordings, and the whole thing can often be done in a day. Getting it done matters: an outdated deed creates friction whenever you sell, refinance, or leave the property to heirs.

Pick the Right Type of Deed

You are not editing your old deed. You are drafting a new one that transfers the property from you-under-your-old-name to you-under-your-new-name. Texas Property Code Section 5.022 provides a statutory form for a general warranty deed and allows parties to use any form that does not violate the law.¹

For a straightforward name change, a general warranty deed is the standard choice. It carries the strongest promises about title, and since you are effectively making those promises to yourself, using the strongest deed type keeps your chain of title clean for whatever comes next.

Skip the quitclaim deed. Texas law treats quitclaim deeds with suspicion, and title companies often balk at them, which can complicate a future sale or refinance.² Special warranty deeds show up mainly in divorce transfers, not simple name updates.

What the Deed Has to Say

A deed does not need a special form, but it does need specific content to be legally effective and recordable.

Grantor and grantee names. The grantor is you under your old legal name, and the grantee is you under your new one. A common approach is to list the grantor as “Jane Smith, now known as Jane Doe” and the grantee as “Jane Doe.” That language makes the link between both names unmistakable in the record.

Legal description. The deed has to describe the property precisely. A street address is not enough. Copy the legal description straight from your existing recorded deed, or pull it from the county records; it may reference a recorded plat or survey.³ Getting this wrong is the most common and most consequential DIY mistake. If the description does not match your property exactly, the deed may not effectively convey it.

Consideration. No money is changing hands, but the deed should still recite consideration. Standard Texas language is “for Ten Dollars and other good and valuable consideration.”

Warranty language. A general warranty deed includes the covenant to “warrant and forever defend” the title. The statutory form in Section 5.022 supplies the wording.¹

Sign in Front of a Notary

Texas Property Code Section 12.001 requires the grantor to sign the deed and to have it acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments. In practice, that means a notary public.⁴

Bring identification that ties your old name to your new one. If one government-issued photo ID does not show both, bring two forms of ID plus the legal document connecting them: a marriage certificate, a divorce decree, or the court order granting the name change. The notary needs to be satisfied that the person signing as grantor is the same person receiving title as grantee.

Section 12.001 also requires anyone who presents the deed in person at the clerk’s office to show photo identification.⁴

File It With the County Clerk

The deed must be recorded with the county clerk in the county where the property sits. Texas Property Code Section 11.001 makes that the required place of recording.⁵ Most counties accept filings in person or by mail, and some offer e-recording.

Texas Local Government Code Section 118.011 sets the baseline fees: $5 for the first page, $4 for each additional page, and $0.25 per indexed name over five.⁶ Counties can add a real property records filing fee of up to $10, plus records management and preservation fees. A typical one- or two-page name-change deed runs between $15 and $30 total, depending on the county. Texas imposes no state transfer tax on deed recordings, so the clerk’s fees are all you pay.

After filing, the clerk indexes the deed into the public record and returns the original to you. Keep it with your prior deed.

What Happens If You Never Record

An unrecorded deed is still valid between the parties. Texas Property Code Section 13.001 says so, but it also says the deed is void against creditors and future buyers who pay value without notice of it.⁷ Practically, if you draft a name-change deed and stick it in a drawer, the public record still shows your old name as the owner. That creates confusion whenever a title company, lender, or heir looks at the property later. Record it promptly.

If There Is a Mortgage on the Property

Updating the name on your deed does not pay off, modify, or refinance your loan. The mortgage stays exactly as it is. Most residential mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause letting the lender demand full payment if the property is transferred, but federal law limits when that clause can be enforced on residential properties with fewer than five units. The Garn-St. Germain Act lists transfers that cannot trigger acceleration, including transfers to a spouse, transfers resulting from a divorce decree, and transfers into a trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary.⁸

A deed that only updates your name without changing who actually owns the property is not the sort of transfer due-on-sale clauses target. You are not selling or giving away anything. Even so, notify your mortgage servicer after you record the new deed, send them a copy, and ask what they need to update their records. Servicers usually have internal forms for this.

Update Related Records

Recording the deed handles the county clerk’s file. A few other places need to hear about the change too.

County Appraisal District

Your county appraisal district keeps its own ownership records for tax purposes. After recording, contact the district and ask them to update the owner name on your account. Most districts have a short form and will accept it by mail with a copy of the recorded deed attached. Skip this and your property tax notices go out under the wrong name.

Title Insurance

Owner’s title insurance policies typically cover only the named insured. Changing the name on title could put coverage at risk if the policy does not recognize you under your new name as a successor insured. Call your title insurance company after recording, explain the name change, and ask whether an endorsement is needed to keep the coverage in force.

Homeowner’s Insurance and Homestead Exemption

Update your name with your homeowner’s insurance carrier so the policy matches the deed. If the property has a homestead exemption, check with the appraisal district to confirm the name change does not disrupt it. A simple name correction on the same owner should not affect homestead status, but a quick call takes any doubt off the table.

Divorce Transfers Work Differently

If a divorce decree awards the house to one spouse, that is not a name change. The other spouse has to sign a deed transferring their ownership interest, usually a special warranty deed, and it has to be recorded like any other. A divorce transfer does not trigger the due-on-sale clause under federal law.⁸

Here is where people get burned. Recording a deed in your name alone does not remove your ex-spouse from the mortgage. If both names are on the loan, the departing spouse remains liable to the bank unless the remaining spouse refinances. The deed controls ownership. The mortgage controls who owes the money. They are separate.

If the divorce also restores a prior surname, you can handle the ownership transfer and the name change in one deed, or record the transfer deed first and follow it with a name-change deed. Either sequence works as long as each deed is properly executed and recorded.

When to Bring in an Attorney

A name change on a property you own free and clear is manageable for many people, particularly if you start from the statutory form in Section 5.022.¹ Some situations are worth paying for help: properties with multiple owners, difficult lenders, divorce transfers with contested terms, or properties held in trusts or business entities. A real estate attorney can typically draft and record a name-change deed for a few hundred dollars, and the cost buys certainty that the legal description is correct, the warranty language does what you intend, and the deed will not cause problems the next time someone looks closely at the title.

1
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 5.022 – Form
2
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 13.006 – Effect of Recording Quitclaim Deed
3
Texas Law Help. Property Deed Basics
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 12.001 – Instruments Concerning Property
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 11.001 – Place of Recording
6
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code Section 118.011 – Fee Schedule
7
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 13.001 – Validity of Unrecorded Instrument
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions