A transfer on death deed in California lets you name someone to inherit your home when you die without sending it through probate, as long as the property qualifies and you use the state’s exact statutory form. The deed does nothing while you are alive. You can revoke it, sell the house, or change your mind, and the beneficiary has no ownership, no access, and no rights until your death. The law authorizing these deeds is currently set to expire in 2032 unless the legislature renews it.
What Property You Can Use It For
California limits the TOD deed to residential property. Under Probate Code 5610, eligible property includes a parcel with one to four residential dwelling units, or a residential unit in a common interest development like a condominium, no matter how large the overall development is. Agricultural land of 40 acres or less with a home on it also qualifies. Agricultural parcels larger than 40 acres do not.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5610
Commercial buildings, industrial property, vacant land, and residential buildings with more than four units are out. The deed only transfers whatever ownership share you personally hold, not the full title if someone else is on the deed with you.
How to Fill Out and Record the Deed
You have to use the exact statutory form found in Probate Code 5642. Drafting your own language or using a generic deed form is not an option. Adding unauthorized terms or conditions can invalidate the whole document and push your beneficiary into probate court to clear title.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5642
The form asks for the full legal description of the property, which you can pull from your existing grant deed. Each beneficiary has to be named by full legal name. Class designations like “my children” or “my heirs” are not allowed.3California County Recorder/Registrar. Revocable Transfer on Death Deed If you want a trust as beneficiary, include the full trust name, the trustee’s name, and the trust’s date. The warnings and disclosures printed on the form have to stay on the document exactly as written.
Once the form is filled out, you sign it and have your signature notarized. The maximum notary fee in California is $15 per acknowledgment. Two witnesses also have to sign. They must either watch you sign or hear you personally acknowledge that you signed it. Witness signatures do not need to be notarized.
Then you record the deed with the County Recorder’s Office in the county where the property sits. A signed but unrecorded TOD deed does nothing. The recording deadline is strict: 60 days from the date of notarization. Miss it and the deed is void, and you have to start over.4California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5626 Recording fees vary by county but are usually modest for a short document.
How Co-Ownership Affects the Deed
If you co-own the property, your TOD deed only transfers your share, and each co-owner who wants to name a beneficiary has to record a separate deed.5County Recorder/County Clerk. Revocable Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed – FAQs
The form of co-ownership decides whether the deed does anything at all. If you hold as joint tenants or as community property with right of survivorship, the surviving co-owner’s automatic right takes precedence. Die first and your share goes to them; the TOD deed becomes void. The deed only takes effect if you are the last surviving owner.5County Recorder/County Clerk. Revocable Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed – FAQs For tenants in common or standard community property without a survivorship right, the deed works as expected and your share passes to your named beneficiary.
Changing or Revoking the Deed
A recorded TOD deed can be revoked any time before you die. A will or trust cannot revoke it. You need a recorded document, and California gives you three ways to get there.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5642
- Record a new TOD deed. A new deed for the same property automatically revokes the earlier one. This is the simplest option when you just want to change beneficiaries.
- Record a revocation form. If you want to cancel without naming anyone new, execute and record a standalone revocation. It has to be signed, notarized, and witnessed by two people, just like the original deed.
- Sell or transfer the property. A TOD deed can only affect property you still own at death. Selling it, moving it into a trust, or giving it away during your life makes the deed meaningless once that transaction is recorded.
Whichever route you take, the change has to be recorded before your death to count.
What Happens if You Divorce
If your spouse was your named TOD beneficiary and you later divorce, Probate Code 5040 applies. A nonprobate transfer to a former spouse fails if the beneficiary is no longer your spouse at your death due to dissolution or annulment. The former spouse is treated as if they died before you, so the property passes to any remaining named beneficiaries, or the deed has no effect at all. This can only be overridden by clear and convincing evidence that you intended to keep the former spouse as beneficiary. The cleaner move is to record a new TOD deed or revocation after any divorce.
If a Beneficiary Dies Before You
The statutory form handles this. When you name multiple beneficiaries and one dies before you, that person’s share is split equally among the surviving beneficiaries. If all your named beneficiaries die before you, the deed has no effect and the property passes through your estate as if you never signed it.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5642
There is no anti-lapse rule redirecting a deceased beneficiary’s share to their own children. If that equal-split default is not what you want, you need to revoke and record a new deed.
What Your Beneficiary Has to Do After You Die
The property does not appear in the beneficiary’s name automatically. Several steps have to happen to complete the transfer and clear title.
The beneficiary records an affidavit of death, along with a certified copy of your death certificate, with the county recorder where the property is located.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5682 They also file a Change in Ownership Statement with the county assessor, which triggers a review of the property’s tax assessment.
The beneficiary then has to notify your legal heirs about the transfer, providing copies of the deed and death certificate, and record a separate affidavit confirming that the notice required by Probate Code 5681 was served.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5682 When multiple beneficiaries are named, only one of them needs to handle the notice.
If you received Medi-Cal benefits at any point, the beneficiary has to send written notice of your death to the Department of Health Care Services within 90 days, with a copy of the death certificate. It can be submitted online or mailed to the DHCS Estate Recovery Program.7DHCS – CA.gov. Estate Recovery Program Skipping the notice doesn’t erase the Medi-Cal claim; it just delays things and can tangle up title.
Debts, Mortgages, and Taxes the Beneficiary Inherits
Creditor Claims
A TOD deed avoids probate. It does not shield the property from your debts. Under Probate Code 5672, a beneficiary who receives property through a TOD deed is personally liable for your unsecured debts, and a creditor can pursue the beneficiary the same way it could have pursued you.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5672
That liability is capped at the fair market value of the property at your death, minus liens and encumbrances, plus any net income the beneficiary received from the property. If the beneficiary already sold the property, interest accrues on the fair market value from the sale date. The beneficiary can raise any defense you could have raised against the debt.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 5672 Probate avoidance is not debt avoidance, and if you carry significant unsecured debt, your beneficiary could see claims that eat most of the property’s value.
Medi-Cal estate recovery can also file a claim. If you received Medi-Cal benefits after age 55, the state may seek reimbursement from the property, and the beneficiary should expect a waiting period before title is fully clear.7DHCS – CA.gov. Estate Recovery Program
The Mortgage
An existing mortgage does not get accelerated by the transfer. The federal Garn-St Germain Act bars a lender from calling the loan due on residential property with fewer than five units when the transfer happens because of the borrower’s death, or is a transfer to a relative resulting from the borrower’s death.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions A TOD deed transfer fits those categories. But the beneficiary inherits the mortgage and has to keep paying it. Foreclosure is still on the table if they can’t.
Property Tax Reassessment
When California real estate changes hands, the county assessor usually reassesses at current market value, which can spike the annual tax bill. That hurts most on properties held for decades under a low Proposition 13 base.
Proposition 19 offers a partial shield for parent-to-child transfers of a family home. The child can keep the parent’s lower assessed value if the child uses the property as a primary residence and files for the homeowners’ exemption within one year of the transfer. The exclusion covers the parent’s assessed value plus an inflation-adjusted amount, which is $1,044,586 for transfers between February 16, 2025, and February 15, 2027. Any market value above that combined figure gets added to the tax base.10California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19 Fact Sheet
To claim the exclusion, the beneficiary files Form BOE-19-P with the county assessor within three years of the transfer. Filing later is still possible as long as the beneficiary still owns the property, but the exclusion starts the year the claim is filed rather than reaching back.10California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19 Fact Sheet Transfers to non-relatives, or to children who don’t move in, generally get a full reassessment.
Capital Gains and Federal Estate Tax
Property received through a TOD deed gets a stepped-up cost basis under federal tax law, the same as property inherited through probate. The beneficiary’s basis resets to fair market value on the date of your death. If they later sell, capital gains tax applies only to appreciation after your death, not the entire gain from your original purchase price. On a long-held California home, that step-up can save a large amount compared to a lifetime gift.
Property transferred by a TOD deed is still part of your estate for federal estate tax purposes. For 2026, the federal exemption is $15,000,000 per person, so federal estate tax is not a factor for the vast majority of California homeowners.11Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
Where a TOD Deed Falls Short
The form is intentionally simple, and that comes with limits. You cannot attach conditions to the transfer, such as requiring the beneficiary to live in the home or barring a sale. If you need that kind of control, a trust is the right tool.
An agent under a power of attorney cannot fully step in either. Someone can physically sign the deed at your direction and in your presence, but you personally have to acknowledge the deed before a notary. For an incapacitated owner who cannot do that, a power of attorney does not fix the problem. If you want to use a TOD deed, do it while you are clearly competent and can handle the notarization yourself.
Title insurance can be another wrinkle. If several TOD deeds were recorded over the years as beneficiaries changed, title companies sometimes see ambiguity in the chain of title. They may require quitclaim deeds from anyone ever named as a beneficiary before issuing a policy, which adds cost and delay when the beneficiary eventually sells or refinances. One clean TOD deed with no prior revoked versions is the simplest scenario.
Finally, keep the 2032 expiration in mind. Unless the legislature extends the statute, the option to record new TOD deeds in California will end at that point, even for owners who were planning to use it.