Transfer on Death Deed in Washington: Rules and Process

A transfer on death deed in Washington lets you name someone to inherit your real property automatically at your death, with no probate, while you keep complete ownership and control during your lifetime. You sign the deed before a notary and record it with the county auditor now, but it has no legal effect until you die. The rules sit in Washington’s Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, Chapter 64.80 RCW.

How It Works While You’re Alive

Recording the deed changes nothing about your ownership. You stay the full owner and can sell the property, refinance, lease it, borrow against it, or do nothing at all. Your beneficiary has no legal interest in it until you die and doesn’t have to be told the deed exists.¹

Because the beneficiary holds no current interest, their creditors can’t attach the property, and they can’t borrow against it or block anything you want to do with it. If you sell the property while you’re alive, the TOD deed simply has nothing left to transfer at your death.

Who Can Create One

Only an individual can create a TOD deed. Property held by a trust, LLC, or other entity is outside the statute.²

The capacity you need is the same as for making a will: at least 18, of sound mind, understanding what you own, who your beneficiaries are, and what the deed does.³ If someone later challenges the deed on capacity grounds, they carry the burden of proving you lacked it.

How title is held matters. A tenant in common can use a TOD deed to pass their own share. Joint tenants with a right of survivorship face a practical wall: the surviving joint tenant automatically takes the deceased joint tenant’s interest, so a TOD deed signed by one joint tenant transfers nothing unless that person outlives all the others.² Community property has its own rules, covered below.

What Property It Covers

Any interest in real property located in Washington that can be transferred at death qualifies.² Houses, land, condominiums, and commercial buildings all fit. Personal property like bank accounts and vehicles does not; those need their own payable-on-death or beneficiary designations.

A mobile or manufactured home generally doesn’t qualify unless it’s been permanently affixed to land and converted to real property. If it’s still titled through the Department of Licensing as personal property, a TOD deed won’t reach it.

One boundary the statute draws explicitly: a TOD deed cannot be used to accomplish a deed in lieu of foreclosure on a deed of trust.⁴

How to Create and Record the Deed

A valid deed identifies you as the transferor, names your beneficiary, includes the legal description of the property, and states clearly that the transfer takes effect at your death. You sign and acknowledge it before a notary. Because the deed is treated as nontestamentary, witnesses aren’t required the way they are for a will.⁵

You don’t need to notify the beneficiary, deliver the deed to them, obtain their acceptance, or receive any payment.¹

The critical step is recording. The deed must be recorded with the county auditor in the county where the property sits, and it must be recorded before you die. An unrecorded TOD deed does nothing.⁶ Recording fees vary by county because of local surcharges for housing and technology funds; check with your county auditor for the current amount.

Recording the deed doesn’t trigger Washington’s real estate excise tax. A TOD transfer is not classified as a “sale” under the statute, so nothing is owed at recording or when the transfer eventually takes effect at death.⁷

Community Property Rules for Married Couples and Registered Domestic Partners

Washington is a community property state, and the statute treats the deed differently depending on who signs.

If only one spouse or partner signs a TOD deed covering community property, only that person’s interest passes to the beneficiary at death. The surviving spouse keeps their half.⁸

If both spouses sign together, the deed does not take effect at the first death. The survivor keeps full ownership of the community property, and the deed transfers the property to the named beneficiary only when the surviving spouse dies.⁸

A joint TOD deed can only be revoked by both spouses while both are living. Once one has died, the survivor can revoke it alone.⁶

Revoking or Changing the Deed

A TOD deed is always revocable during your lifetime, even if the deed itself says otherwise.⁶ The statute recognizes exactly three ways to do it:

Record a new TOD deed that either expressly revokes the old one or names a different beneficiary, which revokes the earlier deed by inconsistency.
Record a separate revocation instrument that expressly states it revokes the TOD deed.
Record an inter vivos deed (one transferring the property during your lifetime) that expressly revokes the TOD deed.

Whichever route you take, the revocation has to be notarized and recorded with the county auditor before you die. Tearing up the deed, crossing out the beneficiary’s name, or writing “revoked” on the paper accomplishes nothing. The statute specifically says a revocatory act on the deed itself is not effective.⁶

Divorce Automatically Revokes a Spouse Designation

If you divorce after recording a TOD deed that names your spouse, Washington law automatically revokes that designation. The property passes as if your former spouse died before you, meaning it goes to any alternate beneficiary named in the deed, or fails entirely if none was named. The same rule applies to a terminated registered domestic partnership.⁹

Two exceptions: a court order from the divorce that requires you to maintain the TOD deed for your former spouse or children, or language in the deed itself that says the designation survives dissolution.⁹ Even with the automatic revocation on your side, recording a new deed or a formal revocation after divorce is the cleaner practice; it removes any ambiguity from the public record.

What Happens When You Die

The property passes to your beneficiary by operation of law, but several rules control how that plays out.

The Beneficiary Has to Outlive You

Your beneficiary’s interest is contingent on surviving you. If they die before you do, their share lapses; it does not go to their heirs.⁸ This is a real limitation compared with a trust, which can build in successor beneficiaries.

If you named more than one beneficiary and one predeceases you, that share goes to the survivors in proportion to their interests rather than lapsing entirely.⁸ If no named beneficiary survives you, the deed fails and the property goes through your will or, if you have none, through Washington’s intestacy laws.

The Beneficiary Takes the Property With Everything Attached

Whatever is on the property at your death stays on it. Mortgages, liens, easements, and other encumbrances all follow the property to the beneficiary; the TOD deed doesn’t clear them.⁸

Creditors Can Still Reach the Property

Avoiding probate is not the same as escaping creditors. The beneficiary is liable for allowed claims against your probate estate, and for statutory allowances owed to a surviving spouse and children, to the extent set out in other Washington statutes governing nonprobate asset liability.¹⁰ If the estate can’t cover your debts, creditors can pursue the TOD property.

What the Beneficiary Needs to Do

The transfer happens automatically at your death, but the public record still needs updating. Washington’s excise tax exemption statute requires a certified copy of the death certificate to be provided to the county treasurer and recorded with the county auditor.¹¹ The beneficiary should also update the title with the county assessor and confirm property taxes are current. Any HOA rules or restrictive covenants continue to bind the new owner.

Tax Treatment

The transfer itself is exempt from Washington’s real estate excise tax because a TOD deed transfer isn’t classified as a sale.⁷

For federal income tax purposes, property passing through a TOD deed generally receives a stepped-up basis, just as inherited property does. The beneficiary’s basis becomes the fair market value at the date of death rather than what you originally paid. On appreciated property, that can save the beneficiary significant capital gains tax when they sell.

Washington’s estate tax is separate. A TOD deed does not remove the property from your taxable estate; its value is counted for estate tax purposes like any other asset you own at death.

When a TOD Deed Isn’t Enough on Its Own

The tool is straightforward, and that’s both its strength and its limit. One deed covers one piece of real property. Contingent planning is thin: you can’t set up “to my daughter, but if she doesn’t survive me, then to her children” the way a trust allows. If your only named beneficiary dies before you and you don’t update the deed, the property falls back into your estate and likely goes through probate anyway.

The deed also does nothing during incapacity. If you can no longer manage your affairs, the beneficiary still has no authority over the property while you’re alive. That gap is covered by a durable power of attorney or a living trust, not by a TOD deed.

For a straightforward situation — one property, clear beneficiaries, no complicated family picture — a TOD deed is often the most cost-effective way to keep real estate out of probate. For anything more complex, it usually works best as one piece of a broader estate plan rather than the plan itself.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 64.80.070 – Notice, Delivery, Acceptance, Consideration Not Required
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 64.80.010 – Definitions
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 64.80.050 – Capacity of Transferor
4
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 64.80.020 – Authorized, Prohibited Use
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 64.80.040 – Nontestamentary
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 64.80 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act – Section: RCW 64.80.080
7
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 82.45.010 – Sale Defined
8
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 64.80 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act – Section: RCW 64.80.100
9
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 11.07.010 – Nonprobate Assets, Dissolution or Invalidation of Marriage
10
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 64.80 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act – Section: RCW 64.80.120
11
FindLaw. Washington Code RCW 82.45.197 – Exemptions, Inheritance, Documents Required