Transfer-on-Death Deed by State — Explainer

Matrix explainer. Coverage: whether a state authorizes a statutory transfer-on-death deed for real property. Source matrix: transfer-on-death-deed-by-state. 51 jurisdictions. Not legal advice.

Short answer

31 states let you record a deed during your life that names a beneficiary who takes the property automatically at your death, with no probate and full control retained until then. Kansas was first, in 1997 (Missouri's citation traces to 1989, but whether its original enactment covered real property specifically is an open question this matrix didn't resolve). Georgia is the newest and the most different in structure — a 2024 law with a materially higher-friction design than every other TODD state. The 20 states without a dedicated statute aren't all in the same position: nine have a narrower securities-only version of the same idea, three have a real functional substitute for real property under different legal machinery, and the rest have neither.

The recurring trap: securities TOD is not real-property TOD

Nine states — Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania — authorize a transfer-on-death mechanism for securities and investment accounts, and nothing for real property. The naming is close enough that a search for "transfer on death" in these states' codes returns a real statute — just the wrong one. South Carolina has a related but distinct third category: a transfer-on-death mechanism scoped to titled personal property (vehicles, mobile homes, watercraft), not securities and not real property. Confirming TODD availability in any of these ten states means checking that the specific statute actually reaches real property, not just that a "transfer on death" chapter exists somewhere in the code.

Where there's no TODD but a real substitute exists

Michigan, Rhode Island, and Vermont each have a working alternative — the enhanced life estate deed, commonly called a "Lady Bird" deed — that lets an owner retain a life estate plus the power to sell, convey, or mortgage the property without a remainderman's consent, producing a similar probate-avoiding result. The three differ materially in how solid the underlying authority is: Michigan's is purely a judicial/ common-law creation with no statute behind it at all; Rhode Island's is a single codified section; Vermont has a full ten-section statutory chapter, including its own optional form — arguably the most mature version of this alternative found in the matrix, even though it isn't a TOD deed by name. None of the three is coded as available in this matrix's todd_available column, because the matrix tracks the formally named instrument, not every functional substitute.

Same tool, different friction

Most TODD states use a self-executing model derived from the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act: record it, the beneficiary takes automatically at death, done. Georgia breaks from that pattern in a way worth understanding before relying on it — the beneficiary must file a sworn affidavit plus a death certificate within nine months of death, or the interest reverts to the estate. That's a real, materially higher-risk design than the self-executing model nearly every other TODD state uses. Illinois is stricter in a different way — two witnesses plus a notary, generally must be attorney-prepared, and carries a spousal elective-share mechanism that can claim up to half the property regardless of what the deed says. Wisconsin doesn't use a standalone deed instrument at all — a TOD/POD designation gets appended directly to an existing recorded deed, a lighter-weight mechanism that reaches the same functional result.

One claim worth naming and rejecting directly: multiple sources describe Florida as having adopted a TOD deed via a "2024 HB 885, codified at F.S. 689.075." Both citations were checked against their actual text — HB 885 is Florida's biomarker-testing insurance-coverage law, and Section 689.075 concerns inter vivos trust powers. Neither has anything to do with transfer-on-death deeds. Florida has no TODD statute; its residents use the Lady Bird deed described above, which is a different mechanism entirely.

What the matrix does not prove

• Execution requirements differ even among "yes" states. Witness and notarization rules, whether attorney preparation is required, and spousal-consent mechanics vary by state — a self-help TOD deed that's valid in one state can fail in another. This matrix records availability, not a state-by-state execution checklist.
• A TOD deed doesn't override every competing claim automatically. Medicaid estate-recovery liens, existing mortgages, and — in states with an elective-share mechanism like Illinois — a surviving spouse's statutory claim can all reach a property that passed by TOD deed. This matrix records whether the tool exists, not how it interacts with every competing claim against the estate.
• Some states' absence findings carry a documented caveat rather than a flat no. A small number of no-TODD states (Louisiana, New Jersey, Tennessee) were checked for the securities-only pattern seen in nine other states but left open on one adjacent question rather than exhaustively ruled out — noted per row, not folded into the summary count.
• Statutes are point-in-time. This is an actively-legislating area — Delaware's statute took effect in December 2025 and Georgia's in mid-2024. Each row's last_checked date marks when the statute was confirmed.

See also: Transfer-on-Death Deed by State (matrix) · Domestic Asset Protection Trust States — Explainer · Homestead Exemption by State — Explainer