Smith County Transfer on Death Deed Form

A Kansas transfer on death deed lets the owner of Kansas real estate name who takes the property at the owner's death, outside probate, without giving up anything while the owner lives. This form prepares that deed for one or two record owners under K.S.A. 59-3501 through 59-3507, in the form K.S.A. 59-3502 prescribes; it is also searched for as a Kansas TOD deed or beneficiary deed.

One statutory sentence does the work

K.S.A. 59-3502 titles real estate in transfer-on-death form through a deed in substantially one sentence: the named owner, as owner, transfers on death to the named beneficiary, as grantee beneficiary, the described interest in real estate. A legend in capital letters follows, stating that the deed is revocable, transfers no ownership until the owner's death, and revokes all prior beneficiary designations by this owner for this interest. This form carries that sentence and legend word for word. The revocation clause does real work: under K.S.A. 59-3503 a later recorded deed for the same interest revokes every earlier designation, a will cannot, and cancelling the designation outright takes a recorded revocation instrument, prepared and recorded separately and not included in this package.

Nothing moves until death, and recording decides whether it moves at all

During the owner's life the beneficiary has no interest in the property. K.S.A. 59-3501 provides that the deed transfers ownership upon the death of the owner, that no consideration is required, and that the beneficiary's signature, consent, and notice are not required. The owner keeps the right to sell, mortgage, or lease. What the statute insists on is timing: the deed is executed, acknowledged, and recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the real estate is located prior to the death of the owner, and a deed left unrecorded at death transfers nothing.

Joint owners and the last to die

Under K.S.A. 59-3505 a joint tenant with right of survivorship may title that owner's interest in transfer-on-death form; the deed does not sever the joint tenancy, and title vests in the beneficiary only if that joint owner is the last of the joint owners to die. Two joint tenants who sign one deed naming the same beneficiaries see the property pass to the survivor at the first death and to the beneficiaries at the second. Each tenant in common's undivided interest vests in that owner's beneficiary at that owner's death under K.S.A. 59-3504.

How this form is set up

The deed is built for one or two natural persons who are the record owners and sign in their own capacity. Section 1 is a free-form owner block, so a sole owner, a married owner signing as to that owner's own interest, two joint tenants, and two tenants in common each enter their names and, where they choose, their marital status and vesting words; nothing about status or vesting is preprinted. The deed carries two owner signature blocks, headed OWNER and SECOND OWNER, and a separate acknowledgment certificate for each in the Kansas short form of K.A.R. 7-43-17, while a single owner leaves the second block and certificate blank. The grantee beneficiary block takes one or more natural persons, and an optional block names an alternative grantee beneficiary, the designation K.S.A. 59-3504(c) contemplates when a named beneficiary dies before the owner. An owner acting through a power of attorney, a trustee, a business entity, and three or more owners on one instrument are configurations this deed is not set up as.

Recording in the county where the land lies

Kansas has no deed transfer tax; the register of deeds collects the K.S.A. 28-115 fees, published by the counties as $21 for the first page and $17 for each additional page. The Kansas Department of Revenue instructs registers in Directive #19-041 that a transfer on death deed does not require the real estate sales validation questionnaire that accompanies a deed transferring title, because nothing transfers at filing. The form leaves the top three inches of its first page open for the recording stamp, meeting the published intake rules of the largest Kansas counties.

The package contains the fillable transfer on death deed with a non-recorded instructions cover page, a completed example filled in for a Johnson County fact pattern, and a guide that describes every section, the signing formalities, the joint owner and lapse rules, and recording. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Kansas statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.