How to Complete and Record a New York Transfer on Death Deed

A New York transfer on death deed lets you name someone to inherit your real property automatically when you die, without probate. The statute took effect on July 19, 2024, and includes an official form you can use directly. You sign it in front of two witnesses and a notary, record it with the county, and keep full ownership and control of the property for the rest of your life. The beneficiary gets nothing until you die, and you can revoke the deed at any time.

Who Can Create One and What Property It Covers

Only an individual can create a transfer on death deed. Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and trusts are not eligible — the statute limits the “transferor” role to a natural person.¹

Any interest in New York real property that would pass at your death can go through a TOD deed. Residential homes, commercial buildings, vacant land, mixed-use property, individual condo units, and cooperative apartment shares all qualify. Sole owners, tenants in common, and joint tenants with right of survivorship can all use the form, but a joint tenant’s TOD deed only takes effect if that person is the last surviving joint owner. While the other joint owners are alive, their survivorship rights come first.¹

Filling Out the Statutory Form

Section 424 of the Real Property Law includes a ready-to-use form. You are not required to use that exact template — any deed meeting the statutory requirements works — but the official version is the safest starting point because the required language about death-triggered transfer and revocability is built in.¹

Four fields do the work:

Owner information. Print your full legal name and mailing address. If two people co-own and both want to name a beneficiary, both go on the form.
Legal description of the property. This is not the street address. Copy it from your current deed or the county land records — usually the lot, block, and section identifiers. Errors here can make the deed unrecordable or ambiguous, so match the source exactly.
Primary beneficiary. Print the full name and mailing address of the person who will receive the property. If you name more than one, state each person’s percentage. Without stated percentages, the statute divides the property equally among them with no right of survivorship.
Alternate beneficiary. Optional, but worth completing. If your sole primary beneficiary dies before you and no alternate is named, the interest lapses and the property falls back into your estate.

Signing, Witnesses, and Notarization

Execution rules are stricter than for a standard New York deed. All three of the following are required:

Your signature, dated.
Two witnesses, present together, who watch you sign and then sign the deed themselves.
Acknowledgment before a notary public.

The statute does not explicitly bar a named beneficiary from acting as a witness, but doing that invites trouble. New York’s general rules on witnesses to dispositive instruments, including EPTL 3-3.2, can create complications when a witness stands to benefit from the document. Use two disinterested witnesses.¹

Recording the Deed

Recording is not optional. An unrecorded transfer on death deed has no legal effect, no matter how carefully it was signed. File the completed deed with the County Clerk in the county where the property sits, or with the City Register if the property is in New York City.¹

The only deadline is that recording has to happen before you die. There is no 60-day window or other post-signing time limit. In practice, record it promptly — a deed sitting in a drawer accomplishes nothing.

Recording Fees

Fees vary by county. Most counties outside New York City charge a base fee of $45 to $50, plus about $5 for each additional page.²³ In New York City, the City Register charges $32 plus $5 per page plus $5 for the cover page, so a two-page filing runs a minimum of $42.⁴

No Transfer Tax Forms Required

Unlike most New York deed recordings, a TOD deed does not need to be filed with Form TP-584 (state real estate transfer tax return) or Form RP-5217 (Real Property Transfer Report). The New York Department of Taxation and Finance has confirmed the exemption.⁵ No actual transfer of ownership occurs at recording; that happens only at your death.

How to Revoke or Change the Deed

You can revoke a transfer on death deed at any time while you are alive. The statute recognizes three methods:

A new TOD deed for the same property that expressly revokes the prior one or is inconsistent with it.
A standalone instrument of revocation.
An ordinary lifetime deed transferring the property to someone else, as long as it expressly revokes the TOD deed.

Whichever route you take, the revocation must be acknowledged by a notary on a date after the acknowledgment of the original deed, and it must be recorded in the County Clerk’s office before you die.¹ Tearing up your copy does nothing; the version in the county land records is what controls. A revocation written into your will does not work either, because a will cannot override a recorded TOD deed.

If a Beneficiary Dies Before You

Every beneficiary’s interest is contingent on outliving you. If a primary beneficiary predeceases you, their interest lapses.¹

When you named several primary beneficiaries and one dies first, that person’s share passes to the surviving primary beneficiaries in proportion to their interests. Name two people for equal shares, one dies, and the survivor takes the whole property.¹

If your only primary beneficiary dies before you and you named an alternate, the alternate takes the property. If there is no surviving alternate, the deed fails and the property passes through your estate as if the deed had never existed. That is the strongest reason to fill in the alternate line and to update the deed when your life changes.

Limits Worth Knowing Before You Rely on It

Mortgages

Recording a TOD deed does not trigger a due-on-sale clause. During your lifetime the beneficiary has no interest, so no transfer has occurred that a lender could accelerate against.¹ When the transfer actually happens at your death, the federal Garn-St. Germain Act blocks lenders from calling the loan when residential property with fewer than five dwelling units passes to a relative because of the borrower’s death, including cooperative stock.⁶ The mortgage itself stays with the property. Your beneficiary inherits subject to the loan and must keep paying, refinance, or sell.

Creditors and Medicaid

A TOD deed does not shield property from your creditors. If your probate estate can’t cover allowed claims or statutory allowances for a surviving spouse or child, the estate can reach the property that transferred through the deed. When more than one property passed through TOD deeds, the burden is split proportionally by their net values at death, and a proceeding to enforce these claims must be started within 18 months of your death.¹⁷ Medicaid estate recovery works the same way, because you kept full ownership until death. Anyone counting on a TOD deed to protect a home from Medicaid should consult an elder law attorney; the deed alone will not do it.

Spousal Elective Share

A surviving spouse in New York can claim the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the deceased spouse’s net estate.⁸ That calculation uses an augmented estate that reaches many non-probate transfers, including those where the decedent kept a life interest or the power to revoke. A TOD deed fits both descriptions. If you plan to leave property to someone other than your spouse through a TOD deed, your spouse may still be able to claim against it, so talk with an estate planning attorney first.

Taxes and Basis

Recording the deed is not a taxable gift. You keep full ownership, the beneficiary receives no current interest, and no consideration changes hands, so no federal gift tax applies at recording.¹ At your death, the property’s value may be included in your estate for federal estate tax, though most estates fall well below the federal exemption. New York’s separate estate tax starts at a lower threshold, so larger estates should account for it. Your beneficiary receives a stepped-up basis equal to the property’s fair market value at your death. Buy a house for $200,000, die when it is worth $600,000, and if the beneficiary later sells for $610,000, only the $10,000 gain is taxable.

1
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 424 – Transfer on Death Deed
2
Sullivan County NY. Recording a Deed
3
Ontario County, NY – Official Website. Fee Structure
4
NYC.gov. ACRIS Recording Fees and UCC Statements
5
Department of Taxation and Finance. Form RP-5217-PDF, Real Property Transfer Report Frequently Asked Questions
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
7
NYSSCPA. Does a Transfer on Death Deed Live up to the Hype?
8
New York State Senate. New York Estates Powers and Trusts Law 5-1.1-A – Right of Election by Surviving Spouse