Does a transfer on death deed avoid probate in California?

Yes for the property it covers. A recorded revocable transfer on death deed passes the transferor's interest at death under Probate Code section 5652, so that property does not pass through administration.

Is the California TOD deed expiring?

Section 5600 currently repeals the part on 1 January 2032 unless a later statute extends it. A deed executed before that date stays valid, and the power to revoke survives the repeal — but the ability to make a new one would end.

What happens if the beneficiary dies first?

The interest lapses. Section 5652 makes a beneficiary's interest contingent on surviving the transferor, and expressly displaces the ordinary anti-lapse rule in section 21110. With multiple beneficiaries, a lapsed share passes to the others equally.

Does the beneficiary take the property free of debts?

No. The property passes subject to liens and encumbrances of record, and under section 5674 a beneficiary can be personally liable to the transferor's creditors — capped at the fair market value at death, less liens and encumbrances at that time.

The Revocable Transfer on Death Deed

A California revocable transfer on death deed passes real property at death without probate. It applies to transferors dying on or after 1 January 2016, and the statute is currently set to repeal itself on 1 January 2032 unless the Legislature extends it again.

A thick bound document open under a brass lamp, one page lifted to reveal an older yellowed page beneath a newer white sheet. — A one-page deed can move a house outside probate. It can also be revoked the week before death, and often is.

What it does, and how long it lasts

Probate Code section 5600 sets the frame: the revocable transfer on death deed applies to a transferor who dies on or after 1 January 2016, whether the deed was executed before or after that date, and the part remains in effect only until 1 January 2032, when it repeals itself unless the Legislature acts. The repeal would not invalidate a deed executed beforehand, nor remove the power to revoke one. Section 5652 governs the transfer. The deed passes all of the transferor’s interest at death, contingent on the beneficiary surviving them — and it expressly displaces the ordinary anti-lapse rule, so a beneficiary who predeceases simply lapses. Where there is more than one beneficiary they take as tenants in common in equal shares, and a share that lapses passes to the others equally. The property arrives subject to any lien, encumbrance, easement or lease of record at death.

Sources: Probate Code s.5600 - Revocable transfer on death deed, scope and sunset · Probate Code s.5652 - Effect of a revocable transfer on death deed · Probate Code s.5674 - Limit on beneficiary liability · Verified 2026-08-20.

How it compares with the alternatives

Route	Avoids probate?	Revocable in life?	Statutory sunset
Transfer on death deed	Yes, for that property	Yes	1 Jan 2032
Living trust	Yes, for funded assets	Yes	None
Joint tenancy	Yes, by survivorship	No — gives away an interest now	None
Will alone	No	Yes	None

Where these end up in dispute

The deed’s virtues are also its weaknesses. It is cheap, one page, revocable without telling anyone, and recorded in a county office nobody in the family is watching — which makes it a common instrument in the late-life transfers that turn into undue influence and financial elder abuse claims. Because it takes effect outside administration, a beneficiary of the estate may not learn of it until the property is already gone. It is also not a shield from debts: section 5674 caps a beneficiary’s personal liability at the fair market value at death less liens, but it does not eliminate it.