California Transfer on Death Deed in 2026: How It Works and When a Trust Beats It

A California transfer on death deed, also called a revocable TOD deed or RTODD, lets you name a beneficiary for a house or condo so it passes to them directly when you die, without a probate court proceeding, using a form you sign, witness, and record now while you are still alive and can still change your mind later.

What a California TOD Deed Actually Does

A TOD deed is a statutory deed authorized under Probate Code § 5600 et seq. You keep full ownership and control of the property while you live. The deed has no effect until death: you can sell the property, refinance it, or change the beneficiary at any time, and none of that requires the beneficiary’s consent or even their knowledge. When you die, if the deed is still in effect and still recorded, title passes to the named beneficiary outside of probate.

The appeal is straightforward. A California probate case for real property typically runs twelve to eighteen months in our office’s experience, and the attorney and personal representative can each collect the statutory fee under Probate Code §§ 10810 and 10800, calculated on the property’s gross appraised value with no deduction for a mortgage. A TOD deed sidesteps both the timeline and that fee schedule for the one asset it covers. What it does not sidestep is everything else a full estate plan handles, which is the tradeoff this page walks through below.

How Long Is the TOD Deed Authorized in California?

The California TOD deed is not a permanent fixture of the Probate Code. It is authorized only through January 1, 2032, unless the Legislature extends it again (Prob. Code § 5600(c), sunset extended by SB 315, Stats. 2021, ch. 215). The law was originally set to expire earlier and has already been extended once. A deed you sign and record before the sunset date stays valid and effective even if the statute later expires without a new extension, but no one can say with certainty today what the rule will look like for deeds signed after 2032. If you are relying on a TOD deed as your only estate planning document, that uncertainty is worth building into your plan.

Requirements to Sign a Valid TOD Deed

For deeds signed on or after January 1, 2022, Probate Code § 5624 requires all of the following. Miss one and the deed is void.

1. The transferor signs and dates the statutory TOD deed form.
2. Two witnesses, present at the same time as the transferor’s signature, also sign (§ 5624).
3. A notary public acknowledges the transferor’s signature.
4. The deed is recorded with the county recorder within 60 days of the date of notarization, not the date of signing (§ 5626).

That 60-day clock is the trap people miss most often. It runs from the notary’s acknowledgment date, so a deed signed and witnessed correctly but recorded on day 61 after notarization has missed its window and needs to be redone.

What Property Qualifies for a TOD Deed?

Probate Code § 5610, as amended by AB 288 effective January 1, 2024, limits a TOD deed to two kinds of real property: a parcel improved with one to four residential dwelling units, or a residential separate interest in a condominium or other common interest development. Agricultural parcels over 40 acres are excluded. Vacant land, commercial property, and larger agricultural holdings do not qualify. If your property does not fit § 5610, a TOD deed is not available to you for that parcel regardless of how simple your beneficiary designation would otherwise be.

A single-family home, a duplex, a triplex or fourplex, and a condo unit all qualify. A rental you own alongside forty-plus acres of farmland, a commercial building, or an undeveloped lot do not. If you own several qualifying properties, each one needs its own TOD deed, its own witnessing, and its own 60-day recording clock running separately from the others.

How Do You Revoke or Change a TOD Deed?

You can revoke or change a TOD deed at any time while you have capacity to contract (§ 5630), using any of these methods:

• Record a formal revocation instrument executed with the same signing, witnessing, and notarization formalities as the original deed (§ 5632). No notice to the beneficiary is required.
• Record a new TOD deed naming a different beneficiary. A later-recorded revocable TOD deed automatically revokes the earlier one (§ 5628).

Two traps defeat a TOD deed even without a formal revocation. First, an irrevocable lifetime transfer of the property, such as a sale or an outright gift deed, defeats the TOD deed entirely (§ 5660); once you no longer own the property, there is nothing left for the deed to transfer. Second, and this is the one that catches people off guard: if title is held in joint tenancy or as community property with right of survivorship at the moment of death, the TOD deed is VOID (§ 5664). Adding a spouse or child to title as a joint tenant after recording a TOD deed, without redoing the deed, can silently cancel the beneficiary designation you thought was in place.

What Happens When the Owner Dies?

If the TOD deed is still in effect at death, the property passes outside probate directly to the named beneficiaries, who take title as tenants in common in equal shares (§ 5652). No probate petition, no court order, and no personal representative are needed to transfer title.

The transfer is not, however, immune from challenge. The person recording the beneficiary’s claim of ownership must serve notice on the decedent’s heirs (§ 5681), and the beneficiary typically records an affidavit of death under § 5682(c) to complete the transfer of record title. Two deadlines run from those events, not from the date of death:

• Heirs have 120 days from service of the § 5681 notice to bring a fully effective challenge to the transfer.
• Anyone contesting the transfer needs to file suit and record a lis pendens within 120 days of the § 5682(c) affidavit’s recording to get full contest relief (§ 5694).

A related trap for beneficiaries: liens recorded against the property within 120 days after the affidavit is recorded still bind the property (§ 5652(b)). A TOD deed transfers the house, but it does not hand the beneficiary a clean title on day one.

Is a TOD Deed Beneficiary Liable for the Owner’s Debts?

Yes. Probate Code §§ 5672 through 5674 make the beneficiary personally liable for the transferor’s unsecured debts, but that liability is capped at the fair market value of the property at death, less any liens against it (§ 5674(b)). A beneficiary cannot be forced to pay more than the property was worth, but they can absolutely be pursued for the transferor’s unpaid bills up to that value. This is one of the tradeoffs people skip over when they treat a TOD deed as a free, no-downside way to skip probate.

Does a TOD Deed Protect Against Medi-Cal Estate Recovery?

Yes, and this is one of the deed’s genuine strengths. California’s Medi-Cal estate recovery program can only reach assets that pass through the probate estate (SB 833, Stats. 2016, ch. 30, § 22; Welfare & Institutions Code § 14009.5). Because a TOD deed moves the property outside of probate, a house that passes by TOD deed is outside the reach of a Medi-Cal recovery claim for deaths on or after January 1, 2017.

Don’t confuse that with the separate question of Medi-Cal eligibility while the owner is alive. The principal residence is exempt from the Medi-Cal asset test regardless of whether a TOD deed is recorded on it, but other countable assets still count toward the asset limit while the applicant is living. A TOD deed is a death-transfer tool. It does nothing for eligibility planning during life. See our Medi-Cal asset limit page for the current eligibility figures.

TOD Deed vs. Living Trust vs. Joint Tenancy

When the TOD Deed Is the Right Tool, and When It Fails You

A TOD deed earns its keep when the facts are genuinely simple: one property, one or a small number of adult beneficiaries you trust to split it evenly, no minor children in the mix, no concern about your own incapacity before death, and a client who is cost-sensitive and does not want or need a full estate plan. In that narrow case, a TOD deed does the one job it is built for cheaply and well.

It fails people in every direction it wasn’t designed for. It does nothing if you become incapacitated before death, since the deed has zero effect until you die; you still need a durable power of attorney, or better, a funded trust with a successor trustee ready to step in. It does not scale past a small handful of properties without a separate deed, a separate 60-day recording clock, and a separate revocation risk for each one. It has no answer for a beneficiary who predeceases you, is a minor at your death, or should not receive an outright equal share for their own protection. And it can be silently voided by something as ordinary as adding a spouse to title as a joint tenant later without redoing the deed (§ 5664).

There is also a family-dynamics failure mode worth naming directly. Because § 5652 splits the property among named beneficiaries as tenants in common in equal shares, a TOD deed cannot easily give one child the house and equalize with cash to another, cannot condition a distribution on age or milestones, and cannot name a backup if your first choice is gone. Every one of those is routine in a trust. A blended family, a beneficiary with creditor problems or a pending divorce, or a beneficiary you want to protect from their own decisions are all situations where a TOD deed’s simplicity stops being an advantage and starts being a liability.

A TOD deed moves the house. A trust manages the life around it. That is the honest way to decide between them: if all you need moved is a house, and everything else about your life and your beneficiaries is simple, a TOD deed can do it. If you need someone to step in if you can’t act for yourself, or you have more than one property, or your beneficiaries are minors, or contingent, or complicated, the TOD deed is the wrong tool and a trust is the right one. See our trust vs. will comparison and our living trust page for what a funded trust adds beyond a deed. For a deed drafted and recorded correctly the first time, our property deed transfer page covers the mechanics. And if your estate would otherwise go through probate, a TOD deed on your home is often the fastest single fix for that one asset while you decide on the rest of your plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the California TOD deed still valid in 2026?

Yes. As of 2026 the California revocable transfer on death deed is authorized and in active use under Probate Code § 5600 et seq. It is not permanent, though. The statute is authorized only through January 1, 2032, unless the Legislature extends it again, as it already did once with SB 315. A deed you sign and record before the sunset date remains valid even if the law later expires.

Does a TOD deed avoid probate?

Yes, for the specific property it deeds. Under § 5652, the property passes directly to the named beneficiaries as tenants in common in equal shares when the transferor dies, without a probate petition. Heirs still have a 120-day window from the § 5681 notice to challenge the transfer, and a beneficiary can face personal liability for the transferor’s unsecured debts up to the property’s value (§§ 5672 to 5674), so “avoids probate” does not mean “immune from every claim.”

Can Medi-Cal take a house that passes by TOD deed?

No. California’s Medi-Cal estate recovery program can only reach assets that pass through the probate estate (SB 833; W&I Code § 14009.5). Because a TOD deed passes the property outside of probate, a house transferred by TOD deed is outside the reach of a Medi-Cal recovery claim for deaths on or after January 1, 2017. The same house, however, is still a countable factor in Medi-Cal’s rules while the owner is alive in ways unrelated to the deed; see our Medi-Cal asset limit page for the current eligibility figures.

TOD deed or living trust?

It depends on what you actually need moved and managed. A TOD deed moves the house. A trust manages the life around it. If you own one property, your beneficiaries are simple adults you trust, and cost is the deciding factor, a TOD deed can be the right, inexpensive tool. If you own more than one property, want a plan in place for incapacity before death, or have minor, contingent, or complicated beneficiaries, a living trust does the job a TOD deed cannot.

If you are not sure which one fits your property and your family, we can walk through it with you and lay out the cost either way. Our current flat fee for a full estate plan is on our fees page.

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