Legislation
State: Delaware
Signed: September 05, 2025
Effective: December 04, 2025
Chapter: 212
SummaryDelaware enacts the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, authorizing a property owner to transfer interest in the property to a beneficiary upon the death of the owner through a Transfer on Death Deed that must be notarized and filed in the local land records.
AffectsAdds Chapter 2, Sections 201-221 to Title 25, Part I of the Delaware Code.
Changes
- Permits the transfer of real property via a transfer on death (TOD) deed upon death of the owner.
- Requires a transfer on death deed to conform to the formalities (e.g. acknowledgment, notarization) of an inter vivos deed.
- Requires the transfer on death deed to be recorded prior to the grantor’s death.
- Provides that the transfer on death deed is non-testamentary (a TOD deed is not a “last will” and is not required to be probated as such).
- Provides that the capacity required to make or revoke a transfer on death deed is the same as the capacity required to make a will.
- Provides a TOD deed form.
AnalysisFrom the original bill synopsis: “Delaware currently permits the nonprobate transfer of bank accounts, investments, and vehicles. This Act provides a mechanism for the nonprobate transfer of real estate without creating a revocable trust. This is done by permitting an owner of an interest in real estate to execute and record a transfer on death (TOD) deed designating a beneficiary who will automatically receive the real estate on the owner’s death without a probate procedure. During the owner’s lifetime the beneficiary of a TOD deed has no interest in the real estate and the owner retains full power to transfer or encumber the real estate or to revoke the deed.”
Read House Bill 147.