Smith County Transfer on Death Deed (Community Property with Right of Survivorship) Form

Community property with right of survivorship lets a married couple in Texas pass their home to the surviving spouse at the first death without probate. By itself it does not say who receives the property after both spouses are gone. A transfer on death deed in this form answers that, naming the beneficiaries who take at the death of the last surviving spouse under Chapter 114 of the Texas Estates Code, built around the couple's community property survivorship agreement under Chapter 112.

Two Instruments, Two Deaths

The survivorship agreement and the deed divide the work. At the first death, the deceased spouse's interest passes to the surviving spouse under the survivorship agreement, and the deed transfers nothing. At the death of the last surviving spouse, the deed operates and the named beneficiaries receive the property. The form states this timing expressly, and its survival requirement runs from the last surviving spouse: a beneficiary qualifies by surviving the second death by 120 hours.

Why Community Property Has Its Own Deed Form

Section 114.002(3) of the Estates Code excludes owners of community property, with or without a right of survivorship, from the statutory definition of joint owners with right of survivorship. A deed that recites a joint tenancy, or leans on the joint owner provisions of Chapter 114, misdescribes how these Texas spouses hold title. This form recites community property with right of survivorship, identifies the Chapter 112 agreement by date and recording reference, and relies on that agreement, not a joint tenancy, for the first death. Each spouse may revoke the deed as to that spouse's interest under Chapter 114, and the deed neither creates nor modifies the survivorship agreement.

Recording Both Instruments

The deed must be recorded before death in the county where the property is located; that is an effectiveness requirement under Section 114.055. The survivorship agreement is effective when signed, and recording it serves notice and title purposes. Where both instruments exist, Texas practice is to record both, often together. Both spouses sign, and the form carries a separate notary certificate for each.

What Is Included

• The blank form as a fillable PDF, completed on screen or by hand.
• A plain language guide covering every numbered section: what each blank asks, where the information comes from, and what a correct entry looks like.
• A completed example filled in for a realistic Texas fact pattern.

The document is formatted for Texas recording: letter size pages within Local Government Code Section 191.007, body text above the 8 point minimum, the notice of confidentiality rights required by Property Code Section 11.008 in 12 point boldfaced capitals at the top of the first page, and reserved space on page one for the clerk's recording stamp. A separate instructions page at the front describes how an entry that outgrows its space continues on a recorded exhibit page, and that page is removed before recording.

Related Texas Forms

The Texas Community Property Survivorship Agreement documents the survivorship arrangement this deed recites. The Texas Revocation of Community Property Survivorship Agreement ends that arrangement. A recorded deed on this form is revoked under Chapter 114, including by a recorded cancellation instrument. The Texas Affidavit of Death for Transfer on Death Deed documents the transfer in the title records after the death of the last surviving spouse.