How to Fill Out and Record a Texas Gift Deed Form

To fill out and record a Texas gift deed form, you draft a written deed naming the grantor and grantee, state a non-monetary consideration such as “love and affection,” include the property’s full legal description, have the grantor sign in front of a notary, and file the original with the county clerk in the county where the property is located. The whole process can usually be finished in a single day once your paperwork is in order.

Five things make a gift deed legally valid in Texas: a writing, the grantor’s signature, the grantee’s name, a legal description of the property, and delivery to and acceptance by the grantee.¹ Everything below is about getting those five things right and making the transfer stick against the outside world.

What to Gather Before You Draft

Pull these details together first. Trying to write the deed without them almost always means a second trip to the county clerk.

Full legal names and addresses for the grantor and grantee, exactly as they appear on official identification. A nickname or shortened form can create a title defect that later requires a correction deed or court action to fix.
The property’s legal description. A street address is not enough. Copy the metes-and-bounds description, lot and block numbers, or subdivision reference from the most recently recorded deed or from the county appraisal district’s records, including any references to plat books or survey records.²
The current title status. Check whether any mortgages, tax liens, or judgment liens are attached. A gift deed does not remove them, and the grantee takes the property subject to whatever is on it.
Your consideration language. In place of the dollar amount used in a sale deed, a gift deed states something like “love and affection” or “ten dollars and other good and valuable consideration.” Including at least nominal consideration can strengthen the grantee’s position as a good-faith holder of title.²

Choose Your Warranty Language

Texas law does not require a deed to include a warranty of title, so you have a choice.³

A general warranty deed means the grantor guarantees clear title and promises to defend the grantee against all claims, past and future. A deed without warranty transfers only whatever interest the grantor happens to own, with no promises about the title’s quality. For a family gift where the grantor is confident the title is clean, a general warranty deed gives the grantee the strongest protection. If there’s any uncertainty about old liens, boundary disputes, or competing claims, conveying without warranty avoids personal liability for defects the grantor didn’t know about. The parties can also add any clause they agree on, as long as it does not violate Texas law.³

Filling In the Deed

Texas Property Code Section 5.022 provides a statutory template for a general warranty deed that you can adapt for a gift.³ Pre-printed forms from county clerk websites and legal document providers follow this template closely. Whether you use a form or draft your own, walk through these sections in order.

Heading. Identify “State of Texas” and the county where the property sits at the top of the document.

Grantor block. The grantor’s full legal name, city or county, and state of residence.

Consideration statement. This is the sentence that turns a sale deed into a gift deed. Replace the dollar figure with “love and affection” or “ten dollars and other good and valuable consideration.”

Granting language. A phrase such as “grant, sell, and convey” (the statutory wording) or simply “grant and convey,” followed by “unto [grantee name].”

Grantee block. The grantee’s full legal name, city or county, and state of residence.

Legal description. Copy the complete property description verbatim from the existing deed or official records. Double-check every lot number, survey reference, and directional call. Illegible or garbled descriptions are a common reason clerks reject a filing.

Habendum clause. The “to have and to hold” language specifying that the grantee receives the property and all associated rights.

Warranty clause. If using one, include language binding the grantor to “warrant and forever defend” the title. Omit this section if conveying without warranty.

Signature and date lines. Space for the grantor’s signature, the date, and a witness line if you plan to use witnesses instead of a notary.

The deed must be in writing and signed by the grantor.⁴ The grantee does not need to sign.

Signing and Notarization

The grantor’s signature must be formally acknowledged for the deed to be eligible for recording. The standard approach is to sign in front of a notary public, who verifies the grantor’s identity and applies an official seal.⁵ Anyone who later brings the deed in for recording must also show photo identification to the county clerk.

Texas allows an alternative. The grantor can sign in the presence of two or more credible subscribing witnesses; one of those witnesses must then appear before a notary and swear under oath that they saw the grantor sign and that the signing happened at the grantor’s request.¹ In practice, signing before a notary is faster. Banks, UPS stores, and law offices offer notary services for a small fee.

A gift deed becomes legally effective once the grantor signs it and delivers it to the grantee, who accepts it. Delivery can be physical (handing over the original) or constructive (recording it with the county clerk on the grantee’s behalf). Don’t stop at delivery. An unrecorded deed is binding between the grantor and grantee, but it is void against creditors and future buyers who do not know about it.⁶

Recording at the County Clerk’s Office

Take the original signed and notarized deed to the county clerk’s office in the county where the property is located. Most Texas counties also accept documents by mail, but you must submit originals with original signatures. Clerks will not record copies.⁷

Recording fees vary by county. The base statutory fee is $5 for the first page and $4 for each additional page, and counties add authorized surcharges for archives, courthouse security, and other purposes.⁸ Expect to pay roughly $25 to $40 for the first page in practice. Bexar County charges $25 for the first page and $4 for each additional page; Cameron County charges $36 for the first page and $4 for additional pages.⁹ Call the clerk’s office before you go for the exact amount and accepted payment methods.

Once recorded, the clerk indexes the deed into the public land records, creating notice to the world that ownership has changed. Future buyers, lenders, and creditors are then legally deemed to know about the transfer whether they actually check the records or not. Without recording, the grantee’s ownership is invisible to third parties, and if the grantor later sold or mortgaged the property to someone who didn’t know about the gift, the grantee could lose out.⁶ The clerk typically mails the original back to the grantee after processing.

Can You E-File the Deed Yourself?

Some Texas counties, including Harris County, accept electronic filings for real property documents through authorized e-recording providers.¹⁰ Under Texas Local Government Code Section 195.003, however, only certain filers can submit electronically: licensed Texas attorneys, banks and credit unions doing business in Texas, and federally chartered lending institutions. An individual property owner generally cannot e-record directly, so plan to file in person, by mail, or through an attorney.

If the Grantee Is a Minor

You cannot simply name a child as the grantee. A minor cannot legally manage real property in Texas, so the deed must convey the property to an adult custodian who holds it on the child’s behalf under the Texas Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. The granting language must read “as custodian for [name of minor] under the Texas Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.” The custodian can be any adult individual or a trust company, but not the minor.

The custodian manages the property with the authority of an adult owner, subject to a prudent-person standard of care, and must transfer it outright to the minor at age 21. If the minor dies before then, the property passes to the minor’s estate. A minor who is 14 or older can petition a court to require a bond from the custodian or to remove the custodian for cause.

What the Gift Deed Does Not Wipe Away

A gift deed does not erase mortgages, tax liens, or judgment liens attached to the property. The grantee takes the property subject to those encumbrances, and the lienholder keeps every right to enforce, including foreclosure. Run a title search or check the county clerk’s records before signing.

The Mortgage and the Due-on-Sale Clause

Most mortgages include a due-on-sale clause allowing the lender to demand full repayment if the property changes hands without consent. A gift transfer triggers that clause on paper. Federal law carves out exceptions for common family transfers, though. Under the Garn-St. Germain Act, a lender on a residential property with fewer than five units cannot exercise a due-on-sale clause when the transfer puts a spouse or child of the borrower on title.¹¹ Transfers into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary are also protected.

The exemption covers a spouse or children only, not siblings, parents, or unrelated parties. If the grantee falls outside the protected categories and a mortgage is outstanding, call the lender before recording. The loan stays in the original borrower’s name regardless of the gift, so the grantor remains personally liable for payments unless the grantee refinances.

Tax and Judgment Liens

Liens follow the land. A federal tax lien generally expires after ten years, and a Texas judgment lien has to be renewed to stay effective, while state tax liens can persist indefinitely. The grantee should insist on a title search before accepting the gift; discovering a lien after recording is far more expensive to clear than catching it first.

Federal Tax Consequences the Grantor Should Know

Texas has no state income tax, but a gift of real estate has real federal tax consequences. Two of them matter for almost every gift deed.

Form 709 and the Annual Exclusion

For 2026, the IRS annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.¹² If the fair market value of the gifted property exceeds that, the donor must file IRS Form 709 (United States Gift Tax Return) by April 15 of the year after the gift.¹³ Almost any Texas real estate exceeds $19,000, so a Form 709 filing is virtually guaranteed. Spouses must each file their own return; the IRS does not allow joint gift tax returns.

Filing the form does not usually mean owing tax. Each person has a lifetime gift and estate tax exemption that absorbs taxable gifts above the annual exclusion. For 2026, that lifetime exemption is $15,000,000, following the increase enacted by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill signed into law on July 4, 2025.¹⁴ Unless you have already used most of that lifetime amount, Form 709 is a reporting formality with no check attached.

Carryover Basis

This is where gift deeds cost families real money. When you gift property, the grantee takes your original cost basis, adjusted for improvements and depreciation.¹⁵ Buy a house in 1990 for $80,000, gift it to your daughter when it’s worth $400,000, and her basis is $80,000. If she sells for $400,000, she owes capital gains tax on $320,000 of gain.

An heir who inherits the same property receives a stepped-up basis equal to the property’s fair market value at the date of death, and would owe nothing on a same-day sale. For appreciated property, the difference between gifting during life and passing it at death can run into tens of thousands of dollars. If the property has declined in value below what the donor paid, the basis for calculating a loss is the lower fair market value at the time of the gift, not the donor’s original cost.¹⁵

Medicaid Look-Back Warning

Gifting real estate can jeopardize eligibility for Medicaid long-term care benefits. Federal law imposes a 60-month look-back. If you apply for Medicaid nursing-home coverage and transferred assets for less than fair market value within the preceding five years, you face a penalty period of ineligibility.¹⁶ A gift deed reciting “love and affection” is a textbook transfer for less than fair market value.

The penalty length is calculated by dividing the uncompensated value of the property by the average monthly cost of nursing facility care in your state at the time of the Medicaid application. On a $300,000 home, that can mean years of ineligibility, during which you would need to pay for care out of pocket. If the grantor may need Medicaid within five years, consult an elder-law attorney before signing.

When a Transfer on Death Deed Fits Better

If the goal is to pass property to a family member and avoid probate, but the grantor is not ready to give up ownership today, a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD) is often the better tool. Under Texas Estates Code Chapter 114, a TODD names a beneficiary who receives the property only after the owner dies. During the owner’s lifetime, the deed has no effect on ownership, homestead rights, tax exemptions, or creditor claims.¹⁷

A TODD is revocable at any time. The owner can cancel or replace it by recording a new instrument before death, and a will cannot revoke a TODD.¹⁷ Because the property passes at death, the beneficiary gets a stepped-up basis instead of the carryover basis that follows a gift deed. The TODD also does not trigger a due-on-sale clause and does not count as a transfer for Medicaid look-back purposes during the owner’s lifetime. Choose the gift deed only if the grantor genuinely wants to hand over ownership and control now.

Homestead Exemption After the Transfer

If the grantor had a homestead exemption on the property, that exemption does not automatically pass to the grantee. The new owner must file a separate Application for Residence Homestead Exemption (Texas Comptroller Form 50-114) with the county appraisal district. To qualify, the grantee must own the property and occupy it as a principal residence.¹⁸ A property owner who acquires the property after January 1 can receive the exemption for the applicable portion of that tax year, as long as the previous owner did not already receive the same exemption for the year. File the application promptly after recording the deed so the exemption paperwork catches up before the next tax bill.

1
Texas Real Estate Research Center. Deeds and the Texas Recording Statutes
2
Texas Law Help. Property Deed Basics
3
State of Texas. Texas Property Code Title 2 Chapter 5
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 5.021 – Instrument of Conveyance
5
State of Texas. Texas Property Code 12.001 – Instruments Concerning Property
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code 13.001 – Validity of Unrecorded Instrument
7
Bexar County, TX – Official Website. Real Property/Land Records
8
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 118.011 – Fee Schedule
9
Cameron County Clerk. Cameron County Clerk Real Property Land Records
10
Harris County Clerk’s Office. Real Property
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
13
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
14
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1396p – Liens, Adjustments and Recoveries, and Transfers of Assets
17
Justia Law. Texas Estates Code Chapter 114 – Transfer on Death Deed
18
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Application for Residence Homestead Exemption