Pennsylvania does not recognize a transfer on death deed for real estate. About half the states let an owner name a beneficiary directly on a deed so the property passes automatically at death, but Pennsylvania has not adopted that approach. To keep real estate out of probate here, you have three practical options: a revocable living trust, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or a life estate deed. They differ sharply in cost, control, and how easily you can change your mind.
Why the Option Does Not Exist in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s real property statutes contain no provision for TOD deeds. The Uniform Law Commission approved the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act in 2009, and more than twenty states have enacted it. Pennsylvania has not. A bill to adopt the act was introduced in the General Assembly, with sponsors acknowledging that “Pennsylvania does not currently have a similarly straightforward, inexpensive and reliable means of passing real estate directly to a beneficiary outside of the probate process.”1Pennsylvania General Assembly. House Co-Sponsorship Memo 47631 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act That legislation had not passed as of early 2026.2American Bar Association. Uniform Laws Update: The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act Until that changes, you work with the alternatives below.
The Three Alternatives
Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust is the closest functional substitute for a TOD deed. You create a trust document naming yourself as initial trustee and beneficiary during your lifetime, then name a successor trustee and beneficiaries who take over at your death. The step that actually matters is transferring the deed into the trust’s name. Skip it and the trust is a piece of paper; the property will still go through probate.
The advantage is control. You can change beneficiaries, sell the property, or dissolve the trust at any time while you have capacity. The disadvantage is cost. Setup usually involves attorney fees, a new deed, and recording fees, plus ongoing attention to keep the trust funded as you acquire property later.
Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship
With joint tenancy with right of survivorship, two or more owners hold the property together, and when one dies the survivors automatically own the whole thing without probate. Pennsylvania adds a wrinkle that trips people up: state law treats joint tenants as tenants in common by default, so a deceased owner’s share goes through probate rather than passing to the survivor.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 68 110 – Lands Held by Joint Tenancy to Descend as Estates of Tenants in Common To get survivorship rights, the deed must explicitly say “joint tenants with right of survivorship” or use similarly clear language. Miss those words and you likely have a tenancy in common with no automatic transfer at death.
The trade-off is significant. Once you add someone as a joint tenant, they are a co-owner right now, not just at your death. They can force a sale, their creditors may reach the property, and you cannot remove them without their consent. This is not a reversible arrangement the way a trust is.
Life Estate Deed
A life estate deed splits ownership between you, the “life tenant,” and a beneficiary, the “remainderman.” You keep full rights to live in and use the property for the rest of your life, and ownership passes to the remainderman at your death without probate. Unlike a joint tenant, the remainderman has no right to force a sale during your lifetime.
The catch is that you cannot sell, mortgage, or otherwise transfer the full property without the remainderman’s agreement, because they already hold an ownership interest. Reversing the arrangement generally requires them to cooperate on a new deed. For people confident in their beneficiary and unlikely to need to sell, a life estate deed is straightforward. For everyone else, a trust offers more room to maneuver.
Recording the Deed and Paying the Transfer Tax
Whichever alternative you choose, you need to execute a new deed and record it with the recorder of deeds in the county where the property sits. The deed must be signed, notarized, and meet Pennsylvania’s standard recording requirements. When transferring into a trust, the deed should name the trust (not just the trustee) as the new owner, and you typically need to attach or reference the trust document.
Pennsylvania imposes a state realty transfer tax of 1% on the value of real estate transferred by deed, and counties add a local transfer tax on top of that.4Department of Revenue. Realty Transfer Tax The combined rate is commonly around 2%, though the local portion varies. Several categories of transfers are exempt, including conveyances between spouses, between parents and children, and between grandparents and grandchildren. Transfers to a revocable trust where the grantor remains the lifetime beneficiary are also typically exempt. Recording fees vary by county.
What Beneficiaries Actually Receive at Death
What happens after you die depends entirely on the method you chose.
If the property is in a revocable living trust, the trust becomes irrevocable at your death. The successor trustee then has a legal duty to manage and distribute the property according to its terms and executes a new deed to the designated beneficiary. No court involvement is required, though the trustee still has to comply with recording requirements and pay any applicable fees. Beneficiaries who believe the trustee is ignoring the trust’s instructions can petition a court under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Trust Act.
For property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, the surviving co-owner takes full ownership the moment the other owner dies. Pennsylvania law lets title vest automatically in the survivor, but the survivor should record an affidavit of survivorship with a certified copy of the death certificate to clear the public record for a future sale or refinance. Anyone who expected to inherit through a will but was not named on the deed generally has no claim. The only realistic challenge is proof that the joint tenancy was created through fraud, forgery, or undue influence. In In re Estate of Quick, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court confirmed that the intent to create survivorship rights controls the outcome.5Justia. In Re: Estate of Robert H. Quick
A life estate deed operates similarly on the automatic side: ownership passes to the remainderman at your death by operation of the deed itself.
If you use none of these tools, the property goes through probate. A valid will controls who inherits. Without a will, Pennsylvania’s intestacy statute sets the order: a surviving spouse takes either the entire estate or a share depending on whether you left children or surviving parents, with the remainder passing to children, then parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Chapter 21 – Section 2102 Probate typically runs several months at minimum, longer if the estate is contested. Pennsylvania’s simplified small-estate procedure for personal property valued at $50,000 or less does not apply to real estate; if real property is involved, full probate administration is required regardless of value.
One point worth flagging on will conflicts: if a deed and a will name different beneficiaries for the same property, the deed wins. Joint tenancy transfers by operation of law, and a trust follows its own terms, no matter what the will says.
How Easily You Can Change Your Mind
Reversibility varies dramatically among these tools, and it should weigh heavily in your choice.
A revocable trust can be amended or revoked at any time as long as you have capacity. Under Pennsylvania’s trust code, you revoke by substantially complying with whatever method the trust document specifies, or, if none is specified, by a signed writing (other than a will) that expressly refers to the trust.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 20 Pa.C.S. 7752 – Revocation or Amendment of Revocable Trust After revocation, the trustee returns the property, and you record a new deed transferring it back to your personal name.
Revoking a joint tenancy is harder. You cannot simply sign a document removing the other owner’s survivorship rights. Both owners can agree to convert the joint tenancy to a tenancy in common, but if the other owner refuses to cooperate, your options are limited. In Grant v. Grant (2025), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a joint tenant cannot sever a joint tenancy by executing a quitclaim deed to themselves, because such a deed does not destroy any of the unities that define joint tenancy.8Justia. Grant v. Grant Once you create a Pennsylvania joint tenancy, unwinding it without the other owner’s agreement is exceptionally difficult.
Life estate deeds are the hardest to reverse. Because the remainderman already holds a vested ownership interest, you generally need their written consent and a new recorded deed to undo the arrangement. Unless the deed itself reserves a specific power to revoke, you cannot unilaterally take back full ownership. This is why many estate planning attorneys push clients toward trusts.
Inheritance Tax and Stepped-Up Basis
Pennsylvania imposes its own inheritance tax on property transfers at death. The rate depends on the recipient’s relationship to the decedent:
- Direct descendants and lineal heirs (children, grandchildren, parents): 4.5%
- Siblings: 12%
- All other heirs: 15%
Transfers to a surviving spouse, charitable organizations, and certain government entities are exempt.9Department of Revenue. Inheritance Tax The tax applies regardless of whether the property passes through probate, a trust, or joint tenancy. Adding a child as a joint tenant during your lifetime does not avoid inheritance tax on the share they receive at your death.
Federal capital gains treatment moves the other way. When someone inherits property, their cost basis is generally the fair market value at the date of the owner’s death, not what the owner originally paid.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent This stepped-up basis can save beneficiaries substantial tax if they later sell.
How the step-up applies depends on how the property was held. Property owned solely by the decedent or held in a revocable trust receives a full step-up to fair market value at death.11Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances Property held in joint tenancy between spouses generally receives a step-up on the deceased spouse’s half, while the surviving spouse retains their original basis on their own half. For joint tenancy between a parent and child where only the parent contributed to the purchase, the IRS treats the parent as having owned the entire interest, and the child typically receives a full step-up at the parent’s death. A revocable trust preserves the full step-up without the lifetime risks of putting someone else on the deed.
Medicaid and Creditor Considerations
If long-term care is on your horizon, ownership structure interacts with Medicaid rules in ways that can undo an otherwise sensible plan. Pennsylvania’s Estate Recovery Program seeks reimbursement from the estates of deceased Medicaid recipients, and property that never enters the probate estate is generally beyond its reach. The state’s own guidance confirms that a home held in tenancy by the entireties or joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes to the surviving spouse free of Medical Assistance claims.12Department of Revenue. Estate Recovery Program Brochure
Transfers into a life estate deed or an irrevocable trust can trigger Medicaid’s five-year lookback. If you apply for nursing home benefits within five years of the transfer, the state may impose a penalty period during which you are ineligible. A revocable trust does not protect assets from Medicaid, because you retain control over the property. And creditors of a living co-owner can potentially reach that person’s interest in jointly held property during their lifetime, which is a real risk of adding a child or other non-spouse as a joint tenant. Anyone whose estate plan involves Medicaid should work with an elder law attorney; the consequences of getting the timing or structure wrong are severe.