Washington Transfer on Death Deed: Rules, Recording, and Limits

Washington adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, codified at chapter RCW 64.80, in 2014. A transfer on death deed (often shortened to TOD deed) lets a property owner name who inherits their real estate at death without a will and without probate for that parcel. This is one of the tools covered in estate planning in Washington State. What follows is how the deed works, what it must contain, how to record and revoke it, and the debts and taxes it does not erase.

What a Washington transfer on death deed does

A TOD deed is a recorded deed that takes effect only when the owner dies. RCW 64.80.040 authorizes an owner to transfer real property to one or more named beneficiaries, effective at the owner’s death. Because the transfer is nontestamentary under RCW 64.80.060, the property passes outside the will and does not go through probate.

The deed is revocable regardless of what it says. RCW 64.80.050 makes any attempt to waive the power to revoke void, so a beneficiary cannot hold the owner to an irrevocable promise. During the owner’s lifetime the named beneficiary has no legal interest in the property at all. The owner keeps the full right to sell it, mortgage it, or give it away, and doing so does not require the beneficiary’s consent or knowledge, under RCW 64.80.110.

A TOD deed applies only to real property, land, a house, a condominium unit. It does not cover vehicles, bank accounts, or personal belongings, which pass through other mechanisms such as a will, a payable-on-death designation, or intestate succession.

Who can create one and what the deed must contain

An owner making a TOD deed must have the same mental capacity the law requires to make a will, under RCW 64.80.070. That is a lower bar than the capacity needed for an ordinary contract, but the owner must still understand the nature of the act and the property involved.

The deed itself has to meet the requirements in RCW 64.80.080. It must contain the essential elements and formalities of a properly recorded inter vivos deed, state that the transfer to the beneficiary is to occur at the owner’s death, and be recorded before the owner dies in the county where the property is located. A deed signed but left in a drawer accomplishes nothing; recording is what makes it effective.

Neither notice to the beneficiary nor any payment is needed for the deed to be valid. RCW 64.80.090 provides that a TOD deed is effective without notice or delivery to the beneficiary and without consideration.

How to create and record the deed

Washington publishes an optional statutory form in RCW 64.80.150. Using the statutory form is not mandatory, but a deed that follows it satisfies the content requirements.

1. Identify the property and confirm capacity

   Use the full legal description of the property from the current recorded deed, not just the street address. The owner must have capacity to make a will at the time the deed is signed.

2. Name the beneficiary and state the transfer

   Name each beneficiary clearly, and state that the transfer takes effect at the owner’s death. Naming an alternate beneficiary covers the situation where the first choice dies before the owner. The optional form in RCW 64.80.150 walks through each element.

3. Sign and acknowledge before a notary

   The owner signs the deed and has the signature acknowledged before a notary public, the same as any deed being recorded in Washington.

4. Record it with the county before death

   Submit the signed, notarized deed for recording in the county where the property is located, and pay the recording fee. In King County this is handled by the King County Recorder’s Office. Recording must happen while the owner is still living.

Recording fees are set by the county and change periodically, so the current fee comes from the recorder’s office where the property is located. A TOD deed transfers nothing during life, so recording it does not trigger real estate excise tax at that time.

Changing or revoking the deed

A TOD deed can be undone, but only in specific ways. RCW 64.80.100 allows revocation through a recorded instrument: a later TOD deed that revokes the earlier one, a formal revocation, or an inter vivos deed that expressly revokes the transfer. Whichever instrument is used, it must be acknowledged by the owner after the deed being revoked was acknowledged, and it must be recorded before the owner dies.

A will cannot revoke a TOD deed. Because the deed operates outside the estate, language in a later will leaving the same property to someone else does not override the recorded deed. Washington provides an optional revocation form in RCW 64.80.160.

Selling or transferring the property during life also defeats the TOD deed, because there is nothing left to pass at death. Under RCW 64.80.110, the owner’s lifetime conveyances take priority over the beneficiary’s expectancy.

What the beneficiary receives, and what it does not avoid

At the owner’s death, the beneficiary takes the property subject to all conveyances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, liens, and other encumbrances in effect at that time, under RCW 64.80.120. A TOD deed passes the owner’s interest as it stands; it does not wipe out a mortgage or a lien. If the named beneficiary dies before the owner and no alternate is named, the transfer to that beneficiary lapses.

A TOD deed also does not put the property beyond creditors. RCW 64.80.140 keeps the transferred property liable for the owner’s debts, expenses of administration, and statutory family allowances to the extent the probate estate is insufficient to satisfy them. This is the same rule that lets Washington pursue estate recovery against non-probate property.

Two tax points matter. When the property passes at death, the beneficiary generally claims an inheritance exemption from real estate excise tax by filing the appropriate affidavit with the county; the Washington Department of Revenue real estate excise tax pages describe the affidavit and exemptions. Separately, the value of the property is still counted in the owner’s taxable estate, so the Washington estate tax can apply to real estate that passes by a transfer on death deed.

Because a TOD deed covers only the one parcel it names, most owners still need a will or other plan for the rest of their property.