Texas Disclaimer of Interest by Transfer on Death Deed Beneficiary (Individual)

A beneficiary named in a Texas transfer on death deed is under no obligation to take the property. The refusal has a formal legal shape: a written, signed disclaimer of interest, recorded in the county where the land sits, after which the law treats the disclaimant as having died before the transferor and the property moves on to its next taker. This form prepares that instrument under Chapter 240 of the Texas Property Code, the Texas Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act, for one individual beneficiary acting after the transferor's death, the path Estates Code Section 114.105 opens for every designated beneficiary under a recorded deed.

Recording Is the Delivery

Every effective disclaimer under Chapter 240 must be delivered or filed the way Subchapter C of the chapter describes, and for real property passing by beneficiary designation the statute is specific: once the designation has become irrevocable, a disclaimer of an interest in real property must be recorded in the official public records of the county where the property is located. A transfer on death deed becomes irrevocable at the transferor's death, so the county clerk's records are where a post-death disclaimer takes legal effect. The instrument carries an acknowledgment certificate so the clerk records it, and its first page reserves space for the recording stamp.

A Refusal That Relates Back

Section 240.051 gives the recorded disclaimer its reach. It takes effect as of the moment the deed became irrevocable, relates back to that moment for all purposes, and places the disclaimed interest beyond the claims of the disclaimant's creditors. The interest then passes as though the disclaimant had died immediately before the transferor: to an alternate the deed names, to the disclaimant's own descendants where the anti-lapse rules of the Estates Code reach them, or otherwise as the statutes direct. The disclaimant selects none of that; a disclaimer refuses, it does not redirect, and the instrument says so on its face.

What Bars a Disclaimer

Texas sets no state deadline, but Section 240.151 closes the door once the beneficiary has accepted the interest or any of its benefits, or has assigned, conveyed, encumbered, or contracted around it. A 2021 amendment added a further gate: an individual's disclaimer must contain a statement under penalty of perjury regarding whether the disclaimant is a child support obligor whose disclaimer the statute bars, and the form carries that statement. Federal tax law runs on its own clock; a qualified disclaimer under Internal Revenue Code Section 2518 has a nine month window and separate conditions that operate independently of the Texas rules, a distinction the guide explains.

One Disclaimant, One Instrument

The form recites a single individual disclaimant and reaches only that beneficiary's interest; where co-beneficiaries also intend to refuse, each records a separate instrument. It disclaims the entire interest by default, with an optional section expressing a partial disclaimer as a fraction, percentage, or other portion, the forms Section 240.009(b) recognizes. The package pairs the blank fillable PDF with a completed example built on a realistic Williamson County fact pattern and a guide that walks through each numbered section, the statutes behind it, and the recording step. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a Texas attorney can apply these rules to a particular estate.