Texas Transfer on Death Deed (Community Property, Individual Beneficiaries)

Two Texas spouses who hold their real estate as community property can sign one transfer on death deed that operates twice: at each spouse's death, that spouse's community property half passes to the individuals named in the deed, outside probate. This Texas transfer on death deed form is built for that configuration under Chapter 114 of the Texas Estates Code, for a married couple holding community property with no right of survivorship between them and naming individual beneficiaries.

A Deed That Operates at Each Spouse's Death

Texas community property is owned in undivided halves, and nothing in the community property system sends the deceased spouse's half to the survivor automatically; a will or intestacy ordinarily moves it. When the first spouse dies, that spouse's half transfers to the named beneficiaries, who then hold it together with the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse's half is untouched: it stays the survivor's property and transfers under the same deed only at the survivor's death. The form says so in its operative section, and its survival requirement is measured against the spouse whose interest is passing, so a beneficiary qualifies at each death by surviving that spouse by 120 hours.

What This Configuration Recites

The form recites exactly two transferors who are married to each other and hold the property as their community property with no right of survivorship between them; both spouses sign, each over a separate notary certificate, and each spouse's community interest transfers at the death of the spouse who owns it. The deed also recites that every designated beneficiary is an individual, a natural person named with a mailing address, with the same primary and alternate designation applying to each spouse's half. Chapter 114 supports this shape directly: Section 114.002(3) keeps community property outside the statutory joint owner definition, so the chapter's last surviving owner rule does not apply to these spouses, and Section 114.057(d) lets one of two transferors revoke as to that transferor's own interest without disturbing the other's designation. The form prints that rule in capital letters beside the statement that it creates no survivorship between the spouses.

Spouses who hold their home as plain community property and send each half directly to the same children, and a blended family in which each spouse's half goes by name to the same individuals rather than through the survivor's estate, present the two spouse pattern this deed recites. The form is not set up as a one transferor designation, as a designation that waits for the second death under a survivorship agreement, or as a designation in favor of a trust or an entity; each of those is a different configuration of the Texas TOD deed.

The Surviving Spouse and the Homestead

A first death under this deed leaves the surviving spouse and the beneficiaries as co-owners of the property, which raises the question of who lives there. Texas answers it in the constitution. Article XVI, Section 52 gives the surviving spouse the right to occupy the homestead for life, a right that arises automatically at death and operates independently of any deed. Beneficiaries who take the deceased spouse's half under this form take it subject to that occupancy right for as long as the survivor elects to use or occupy the property as a homestead. During life the deed changes nothing about homestead status or tax exemptions, as Section 114.101 provides.

Recording Before Either Death

Recording is an effectiveness requirement under Section 114.055: the deed must be recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records of the county where the property is located. Because this deed carries two designations, recording promptly after both spouses sign, while both are living, places both designations of record. The notice of confidentiality rights required by Property Code Section 11.008 appears at the top of the first page in 12 point boldfaced capitals. A beneficiary deed of this kind transfers each spouse's interest without covenant of warranty of title under Section 114.103(d), and the beneficiaries take subject to any mortgage or other matter affecting title at the transferor's death.

The package contains the fillable form as a PDF, completed on screen or printed and completed by hand, a completed example filled in for a realistic Texas fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the community property rules the deed relies on, and the recording process. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.