How to Fill Out and Record a Virginia Transfer on Death Deed

To make a Virginia transfer on death deed effective, you fill out the statutory form at Va. Code § 64.2-635 with your full legal name, the beneficiary’s full legal name, and the exact legal description from your current deed; then you sign it in front of a notary and record the original at the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the jurisdiction where the property sits, all while you are still alive. A deed that is signed but not recorded before your death has no legal effect at all.¹

Gather What You Need Before Starting

Most rejections at the clerk’s window come from mismatched names or a bad property description. Pull these together before you touch the form:

The full legal description of the property, copied verbatim from your current recorded deed. A street address is not enough. The description uses metes-and-bounds language, lot-and-block numbers within a recorded subdivision, or both, and any plat references need to come across too. Your existing deed is on file with the Circuit Court clerk in the jurisdiction where the property sits, and most clerks let you look it up online or in person.
Your full legal name and current mailing address, spelled exactly as they appear on your existing deed and your government-issued identification.
The full legal name of every person or entity you want to receive the property, plus the full name of any alternate beneficiary.
The names of every other living joint owner with a right of survivorship, if the property is titled that way. All of them must sign the same TOD deed for it to work.¹
The statutory form itself. Virginia publishes an optional form at Va. Code § 64.2-635 that satisfies every legal requirement. Blank forms are also available through the Circuit Court clerk’s office or legal document services; if you use a third-party version, confirm the language tracks the statute.²

Who Can Use the Form and What It Covers

You need the same legal capacity required to make a will: at least 18 years old and of sound mind at the moment you sign.³ The deed works for any interest in Virginia real estate that would otherwise be transferable at your death — a house, a vacant lot, a share of a cooperative unit, or any other real property interest in the Commonwealth.⁴ It does not cover out-of-state property, personal property, or bank and investment accounts.

Filling Out the Statutory Form

The § 64.2-635 form walks you through each field in order. Here is what goes in each blank.²

Date and Grantor Information

Write the date you are signing the deed. Enter your full legal name as the transferor (the form calls you the “Grantor(s)”) and your current mailing address on the line provided. If two or more joint owners hold title with a right of survivorship, list every living joint owner in this block. All of them will need to sign later.

Primary Beneficiary

Write the full legal name of the person or entity you want to receive the property at your death. The form’s designation carries an automatic survivorship condition: if the beneficiary dies before you, the designation lapses.⁴ A lapsed designation with no backup puts the property into probate, which is the outcome most people are recording the deed to avoid.

Alternate Beneficiary

The form gives you a line for an alternate who inherits only if the primary beneficiary dies before you. It is optional, but filling it in is the cheap insurance against the lapse problem above. Name someone.

Property Description

Copy the full legal description from your current recorded deed. Do not paraphrase, abbreviate, or substitute the street address. If the description references a plat or recorded subdivision, include those references exactly. An incomplete or incorrect legal description is the single most common source of title trouble down the road.

Revocation Notice

The statutory form contains a preprinted block explaining your right to revoke and the methods available. Nothing to fill in here; the language is built into the form for the beneficiary’s notice.

Signing Before a Notary

The deed has to be acknowledged before a notary public. Virginia requires notarial acknowledgment for any document accepted in the land records, and the TOD statute pulls in those recordation requirements directly.¹ You sign in front of the notary, who verifies your identity, watches you sign, and then applies their seal and signature to the acknowledgment block on the form. If multiple joint owners are signing, each one goes through the same acknowledgment.

The beneficiary does not sign, does not need to be present, and does not need to know the deed exists. Virginia law makes a TOD deed effective without notice to or acceptance by the beneficiary during your lifetime, and no consideration from the beneficiary is required.⁵

Recording at the Circuit Court

Take the original notarized deed to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the jurisdiction where the property is located. Recording is typically available in person during business hours, and jurisdictions that accept electronic submissions allow filing through an approved e-recording vendor. If the deed is not recorded before you die, it is void.¹

Recording Fees

The base recording and indexing fee under Va. Code § 17.1-275 is $18 for a document of 10 pages or fewer, $32 for 11 to 30 pages, and $52 for 31 pages or more.⁶ On top of the base fee, expect a $3.50 Library of Virginia preservation surcharge and a $5 Technology Trust Fund surcharge.⁷ Some localities add a $3 Virginia Outdoor Foundation fee. A typical TOD deed runs well under 10 pages, so plan on roughly $27 to $30 in total.

The Recordation Tax Exemption

A transfer on death deed made without consideration is exempt from Virginia’s recordation tax.¹ The statutory form prints the exemption statement at the top of the page. Make sure the clerk sees that language on the face of the deed so they do not assess grantor or grantee taxes; because the property does not actually change hands until you die, there is no taxable transfer at recording.

Once recorded, the clerk scans the deed into the permanent land records and assigns it an instrument number. The original comes back to you by mail or in person. You still own the property outright; the public record simply reflects the future transfer.

Naming Multiple or Alternate Beneficiaries

You can name more than one primary beneficiary on a single deed. When you do, they take the property in equal, undivided shares as tenants in common, with no automatic right of survivorship among them.⁴ If one co-beneficiary dies before you, that share is redistributed proportionally among the survivors rather than lapsing.

Naming an alternate beneficiary is a different thing. The alternate steps in only when every primary beneficiary has predeceased you. So if you want one child to receive the property with a second child as the backup, use the primary and alternate fields. If you want both children to share equally, list both as primary beneficiaries.

Changing or Revoking the Deed Later

You can revoke a transfer on death deed at any point before you die, but the revocation has to be in writing and recorded. Tearing up your copy or crossing out the beneficiary’s name does nothing, because the recorded version in the land records is what controls.⁴ Virginia recognizes four methods:

Record a new TOD deed that expressly revokes the earlier one. The new deed should identify the original by recording date or instrument number and state that it is revoked.
Record a new TOD deed naming a different beneficiary. An inconsistent designation for the same property automatically supersedes the prior deed.⁴
Record a standalone instrument of revocation that expressly voids the earlier deed.
Convey the property to someone else during your lifetime through a regular inter vivos deed, so you no longer own it at death.

Whichever method you pick, the revocation instrument itself must be acknowledged before a notary and recorded in the same Circuit Court clerk’s office before you die. An unrecorded revocation has no effect. If you own the property jointly, a revocation by one joint owner does not affect the others’ shares; all living joint owners must act together to revoke a joint TOD deed completely.⁴

After a Divorce

Virginia law generally revokes beneficiary designations in favor of a former spouse when a couple divorces or has the marriage annulled. The Virginia State Bar has said this revocation applies to TOD deeds unless the deed provides otherwise.⁸ If you previously recorded a TOD deed naming your spouse, do not rely on the automatic rule alone; record an express revocation or a new deed naming a different beneficiary to remove any ambiguity from the land records.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 64.2-628 – Requirements
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 64.2-635 – Optional Form of Transfer on Death Deed
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 64.2-627 – Capacity of Transferor
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 64.2 Chapter 6 Article 5 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 64.2-629 – Notice, Delivery, Acceptance, Consideration Not Required
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 17.1-275 – Fees Collected by Clerks of Circuit Courts
7
Virginia Judicial System. Circuit Court Fee Schedule
8
Virginia State Bar. The Basics of Virginia Transfer on Death Deeds