Maine Transfer on Death Deed (Married Owners, Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship)

Two Maine spouses who hold their home as joint tenants with right of survivorship can sign a single transfer on death deed that names who takes the property after both of them are gone. This form prepares that deed for exactly that configuration, two owners married to each other and holding as joint tenants with right of survivorship, under Part 4 of Article 6 of the Maine Probate Code, Title 18-C, Sections 6-401 to 6-420. The same deed is also searched for as a Maine TOD deed or beneficiary deed.

A deed that waits for the second death

The first death between joint tenants is handled by the title itself. Under 18-C M.R.S. Section 6-413, subsection 3, when a joint owner is survived by another joint owner the property belongs to the survivor with right of survivorship, and the transfer on death deed is effective when the last surviving joint owner dies. The form states that timing as fixed deed text: at the death of the last surviving owner, the owners transfer their interest in the described property to the beneficiaries designated in the deed. Nothing passes under the deed at the first death, and the surviving spouse keeps every right to sell, mortgage, or lease.

Revocation takes both living owners

Section 6-411 adds a joint-owner rule. While both spouses live, a deed of joint owners is revoked only if it is revoked by all of the living joint owners, and revocation by one transferor does not affect the deed as to the other transferor's interest. After the first death the survivor is the only living joint owner and may revoke alone, by a later transfer on death deed, an instrument of revocation, or a lifetime deed that expressly revokes it, acknowledged after this deed and recorded before the survivor's death. A will does not revoke it, and neither does tearing up the recorded original.

What the owners' section recites

The form carries the configuration as fixed text: the two owners named are married to each other and hold title as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and each makes the deed as a joint owner within the meaning of Section 6-402. The only entries are the two names and mailing addresses. Two signature blocks follow, each with the printed name line Title 33, Section 651-A, makes a condition of recording, and two acknowledgment certificates in the Title 4, Section 1917, short form, so the spouses may acknowledge on different dates or before different officers. Spouses who took title as joint tenants, with rights of survivorship, or as tenants by the entirety present this pattern, because Title 33, Section 159, treats each of those wordings as creating a joint tenancy. The form is not set up as a deed by a sole owner, by tenants in common, by three or more owners, or by a trustee, entity, or attorney-in-fact.

Beneficiaries who survive the second death

The primary beneficiary section designates the beneficiaries named in it if the beneficiary survives the last surviving owner, the Section 6-417 template's condition restated for two owners, and an optional alternate section names who takes if no primary beneficiary survives. A beneficiary may be a person, a trust named through its trustee, or an entity; where more than one is named, Section 6-413 supplies the default shares and lapse rules, subject to the antilapse section, 2-603. The guide walks through them, along with what a later marriage of the survivor, a divorce, and the creditor provisions of Section 6-102 mean for the second death.

Recording in the registry of deeds

Section 6-409 makes recording before the transferor's death, in the registry of deeds for the county where the property lies, a condition of the deed having any effect, and the form prints that requirement under its title. With two owners, recording while both are living places the deed of record before either death. The deed is exempt from transfer tax and from the declaration of value under Title 36, Sections 4641-C and 4641-D, the registries record it for the flat nongovernment fee of $40, and the layout follows the Maine Registers of Deeds Association all-county standard for margins and type size.

The package contains the fillable deed, a completed example worked through for a York County couple, and a guide covering each numbered section, the acknowledgments, revocation, and recording. The description above and the guide explain the form and the Maine statutes behind it in general terms and are not legal advice.