Texas · Estates Code chapter 114Texas transfer on death deed: selling a house that passed by TODD

Texas's Real Property Transfer on Death Act (Estates Code chapter 114) lets an individual pass real estate to beneficiaries at death without probate, for deeds executed and acknowledged on or after September 1, 2015 by a transferor who died on or after that date. To be effective, a transfer on death deed (TODD) must have the elements of a recordable deed, state that the transfer happens at the transferor's death, and be recorded before the death in the deed records of the county where the property is. It needs no delivery, acceptance or consideration, can't be made through a power of attorney, and is always revocable – by a later TODD or a recorded revocation acknowledged and recorded before death, but never by a will. A divorce judgment revokes it as to the former spouse only if notice of the judgment was recorded before the death. During the owner's life the TODD changes nothing: the owner can still sell or mortgage, homestead and tax exemptions stay, it doesn't trigger a due-on-sale clause or any disclosure requirement, and a later conveyance recorded before death defeats it. At death, a beneficiary must survive the transferor by 120 hours; several beneficiaries take equal, undivided shares with no right of survivorship; a surviving joint owner with right of survivorship takes ahead of the deed. The TODD transfers title without any warranty, and the beneficiary takes subject to every mortgage, lien and other interest on the property. If the estate can't pay claims, administration expenses, estate tax or family allowances, the personal representative – or, after 90 days, a creditor or family member – can reach the property, but only in a proceeding started within two years after the death.