Transfer on Death Deeds and Quitclaim Deeds in New York: What They Do and the Title Risks

A transfer on death deed lets a New York owner name who will get a property at death, without probate. New York has allowed it since July 19, 2024 (state TOD deed law). A quitclaim deed is a different tool. It hands over whatever share the signer owns right now, with no promise that the share is good.

Both are legitimate. Both also leave gaps that a title company will look at closely when the home is later sold or mortgaged.

These rules apply statewide. Only where the deed is recorded differs:

Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx: the City Register, through ACRIS, the city’s online records.
Staten Island: the Richmond County Clerk.
Everywhere else, including Westchester: the county clerk.

How a transfer on death deed works

The transfer on death deed (often called a TOD deed or TODD) was created in the 2024-25 State Budget. It took effect July 19, 2024 (the budget bill; National Notary Association; Rivkin Radler). It covers New York real estate. The law does not mention co-op shares, which are not real estate in the legal sense. So a TOD deed is a tool for houses, condos and land, not co-op apartments.

What makes one valid

The deed must:

have everything a normal recordable deed needs;
say that the transfer happens at the owner’s death;
be signed by two witnesses who are present at the same time;
be acknowledged before a notary (the owner appears before the notary, proves who they are, and confirms the signature is theirs); and
be recorded before the owner dies in the county where the property is.

The last point fails most often. A TOD deed left unrecorded in a drawer does nothing. The owner needs the same mental capacity required to make a will. The law includes an optional model form with plain-language instructions.

The beneficiary does not need to be told, accept, or pay anything. Recording is simpler than for a sale. The state Tax Department says TOD deeds do not need Form RP-5217 or TP-584, the usual sale and transfer tax forms. In ACRIS they appear under the codes TODD and RTOD (a revocation); see how to read ACRIS.

While the owner is alive

Nothing changes. The owner can still sell, refinance or mortgage without the beneficiary’s consent. The beneficiary owns nothing yet, and the beneficiary’s creditors cannot reach the property. The law also says the deed does not affect the owner’s or the beneficiary’s eligibility for public assistance.

Changing or cancelling it

A TOD deed can always be cancelled (revoked), even if it says otherwise. Once recorded, it can be revoked only by a later document. That document must be acknowledged before a notary at a later date than the TOD deed, and recorded before the owner’s death. It can be:

a new TOD deed that revokes it expressly or simply conflicts with it;
a revocation form; or
an ordinary deed that expressly revokes it.

A will cannot revoke it, and tearing up the original after recording does nothing. If several joint owners signed one TOD deed, it is revoked only if all living joint owners revoke it.

At the owner’s death

The property passes to the named beneficiaries, along with every mortgage, lien and other debt or claim on it. Key rules:

A beneficiary who dies before the owner gets nothing. That share goes to the other beneficiaries. The beneficiary’s own heirs do not take it unless an alternate was named.
If a co-owner who takes by survivorship (a joint tenant, or a spouse who owned as tenants by the entirety) is still alive, that person keeps the property. The TOD deed waits for the last owner’s death. See removing a deceased spouse from a deed.
The deed carries no promise that the title is good, whatever its wording.
Fraud, undue influence, pressure (duress) and lack of capacity can still make it invalid. A divorce or annulment affects a former spouse named as beneficiary.
A beneficiary can refuse (renounce) all or part of the gift.

Creditors and the 18-month window

Sometimes the rest of the estate cannot pay allowed debts, or the amount the law sets aside for a surviving spouse or children. Then the estate can reach property that passed by TOD deed, but only in a case started within 18 months of death. By comparison, creditors of a probate estate are expected to file claims within seven months of the first letters (state law on creditor claims).

Medicaid recovery is not settled. New York’s Medicaid estate recovery law defines “estate” as property passing through probate or administration (state Medicaid recovery law). A TOD deed passes outside that. Whether a Medicaid claim can still reach TOD property through the 18-month rule is an open question, and some practitioners think it can. Do not treat a TOD deed as protection from Medicaid recovery.

What the title company asks for after a TOD transfer

When the beneficiary sells or mortgages, the title company will want:

a certified death certificate;
proof the TOD deed was recorded before death and never revoked; and
evidence the named beneficiaries outlived the owner.

Some county clerks accept a recorded notice of death with the death certificate (Monroe County Clerk). Practice varies by office.

The bigger issue is the 18-month window. Title insurer guidance from October 2025 covers sales within 18 months of death. It asks title agents to learn as much as possible about whether the estate can pay its debts (Abstracts, Inc.). It also lists warning signs (see the professional section). Expect sworn statements about debts and whether the estate can pay them. The title company may also leave the risk out of coverage or delay, until the window closes. Each title insurer sets its own requirements.

On coverage: New York has used the 2021 standard owner’s title policy since October 1, 2024. It covers someone who receives the home through a transfer at the insured owner’s death. So the owner’s existing policy can continue for the beneficiary, but the insurer keeps every defense it had against the owner. Older 2006 policies have no matching clause; ask the insurer.

Types of deeds in New York

New York law sets out standard short deed forms (state deed forms law). No promise is implied in a New York deed (state law on implied promises). The buyer gets only the promises written in it (state law defining the promises).

Deed	Signer promises	Typical use
Full covenant and warranty	Good title, defends it	Less common
Bargain and sale with covenant	No liens of own making	Most sales
Bargain and sale without covenant	None	Less common
Quitclaim	None; only what signer has	Family transfers, clearing title problems
Executor’s / administrator’s	No liens of own making	Estate sales
Transfer on death	None (by law)	Pass at death

The bargain and sale deed with covenant against grantor’s acts is the standard deed in New York home sales. The seller promises only that it has not done or allowed anything that put a lien or other claim on the property. It does not promise anything about problems from before the seller owned it. Buyers rely on the owner’s title insurance policy for that. That is why the warranty deed common in other states is used less here.

New York deeds also routinely include a “trust fund” clause (state Lien Law). In it, the seller promises to use the sale money first to pay the cost of any improvement work on the property, before using it for anything else.

For estate deeds and probate, see buying or selling from an estate.

What is a quitclaim deed?

A quitclaim deed releases whatever share the signer has. It promises nothing: not that the signer owns the property, and not that there are no liens. If the signer owns nothing, the person receiving it gets nothing. The NYC Bar calls it the deed with the least protection, “generally used between family members or in a divorce situation” (NYC Bar).

Common uses:

Adding or removing a spouse or family member.
Moving property from an owner into their own LLC or revocable trust (see deeding a NYC rental into an LLC).
Releasing a possible claim to clear a problem on the title, such as a former spouse’s interest after divorce.

The title risks of a quitclaim

A quitclaim validly transfers whatever the signer holds. The risk is what it does not do. At least one major title insurer calls it the least desirable deed and a warning sign in a property’s history (Stewart underwriting manual). Other insurers have their own rules.

In practice, a quitclaim in the property’s history raises questions. Was it a gift or a disguised sale? Did it come out of a divorce? Could it be fraud or deed theft? The title company may ask about the circumstances, or for a divorce judgment or a sworn statement. A recent quitclaim from an elderly owner to someone outside the family gets extra scrutiny (see deed theft in NYC).

Three practical points before using one:

Your title insurance may not follow. Under the 2021 owner’s policy, the person receiving the deed is covered only if they fit the policy’s list. Examples are a company the policy treats as an affiliate, a trustee or beneficiary of the owner’s estate-planning trust, a spouse who receives title in a divorce, or another named insured. Adding a new spouse or a child by quitclaim does not make them insured.
The mortgage stays. The deed does not take anyone off the loan. A federal law stops lenders from demanding full repayment for certain transfers of homes with fewer than five units. These include transfers to a spouse, or into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary (federal due-on-sale law).
Transfer tax forms still apply. A quitclaim is a deed. A gift with no payment is exempt from the state transfer tax (state exemptions). But a mortgage on the property can count as payment (state definitions), and the forms are still filed. See NYC and NYS transfer taxes and, for Westchester, recording a deed in Westchester.

Does New York use lady bird deeds?

Not as a recognized form. A lady bird deed (an “enhanced life estate deed”) lets an owner keep the home for life. The owner can still sell or cancel without the future owner’s consent. A handful of states recognize it, such as Florida, Texas and Michigan (Nolo). New York has no law authorizing it, and the TOD deed now fills much of the same role.

New Yorkers instead choose between a TOD deed, a traditional life estate deed, a revocable or irrevocable trust, or joint ownership with survivorship. With a life estate deed, the people who will own the home later must sign any later sale or mortgage.

Tool	Owner can sell alone?	Avoids probate?	Can be cancelled?
TOD deed	Yes	Yes	Yes
Life estate deed	No	Yes	No
Revocable trust	Yes, as trustee	Yes	Yes
Joint tenancy	Own share only	Yes, at first death	Limited

Details for attorneys and title professionals

Enactment. The TOD deed law was Part O of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2024 (the 2024-25 budget), signed April 20, 2024, effective July 19, 2024.
Revocation wording. The revoking document must be acknowledged after the TOD deed was acknowledged and recorded before the owner’s death. The law’s model form also states that a TOD deed cannot be revoked by will.
Divorce. The effect of divorce or annulment on a former spouse’s designation follows the general state rule for revoking gifts to a former spouse.
Post-death underwriting. The October 2025 guidance (the underwriter is not named in the source) lists warning signs: a beneficiary from outside the family chosen over family, a beneficiary in a fiduciary or caregiving relationship with the owner, signs of diminished capacity, and whether the drafting attorney will confirm how the deed was signed.
2021 owner’s policy. The TOD transferee is an insured under the policy’s definition of “Insured” (Condition 1(g)), which includes “a transferee by a transfer effective on the death of an Insured,” subject to the insurer’s defenses against the transferor.
Quitclaim in a chain. The Stewart national manual also says a quitclaim does not carry title the signer acquires later, and tells agents not to accept one to vest title in a proposed insured unless that reliance is customary locally or underwriting approves. The statutory quitclaim form uses the words “does hereby remise, release, and quitclaim.”
Bargain and sale covenant. The statutory wording is that the seller has “not done or suffered anything whereby the said premises have been incumbered.” The trust fund clause is the Lien Law covenant that the seller will receive the sale price as a trust fund, to be applied first to pay the cost of the improvement.

Official sources

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.