Utah transfer-on-death deed

What a transfer-on-death deed does in Utah

A transfer-on-death deed (a beneficiary deed in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado and Missouri) names the person who should receive your real estate when you die. You record it now, but it transfers nothing until death: you keep full ownership, you can sell or mortgage the property, and you can revoke the deed at any time without your beneficiary's consent. When you die, the property passes outside probate. Your beneficiaries then record the documents your state requires to show them as the owners; in a few states that filing has a deadline, or is what completes the transfer.

In Utah the governing statute is Utah Code § 75-6-401 et seq.

The Utah law behind this deed

Start with Utah Code § 75-6-401 et seq. if you want to read the statute's own language. The table below lists the main statutes behind the rules on this page.

When Utah homeowners use a transfer-on-death deed

• Leave a house to your children without probate
• Keep real estate out of a will contest
• Get probate avoidance without paying for a full living trust
• Name a backup beneficiary in case your first choice dies first
• Revoke or change an earlier beneficiary designation

What Utah requires on the deed

These are the execution and formatting rules county recorders enforce. Getting any of them wrong is the usual reason a deed comes back in the mail.

How to complete and record it in Utah

1. 1Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the County Recorder can provide one, usually for a few dollars.
2. 2Identify everyone by full legal nameNames must match the current deed and government ID exactly, middle names included. A mismatch creates a gap in the chain of title that shows up years later at closing.
3. 3Complete the deedDeedly builds it with the wording, notary certificate, and 3-inch first-page margin used for Utah deeds.
4. 4Sign in front of a notaryBring photo ID. Wait to sign until you are in front of the notary: you have to appear before the notary anyway, and signing there leaves no question about who signed.
5. 5Record it with the County RecorderFile in the county where the property is located and pay the recording fee. Every Utah county recorder accepts electronic recording (Utah Code § 17-71-402(2)), through vendors such as Simplifile, CSC, or ePN. Those vendors usually take filings only from approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders, so if you prepared the deed yourself, plan to record in person or by mail. Keep the stamped receipt. It fixes your priority date.
6. 6Tell your beneficiaries where it isAfter your death, a beneficiary records an affidavit in the form set out in Utah Code § 57-1-5.1. It must include the legal description and the entry number (and book and page) of your recorded deed, with a copy of the death certificate attached (Utah Code § 75-6-413(5)).

What it costs in Utah

Utah imposes no state real estate transfer tax, so the recording fee is normally your only cost beyond notarization.

Where to record it in Utah

Utah deeds are recorded with the County Recorder in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 29 counties in Utah.

Every Utah county recorder accepts electronic recording (Utah Code § 17-71-402(2)), through vendors such as Simplifile, CSC, or ePN. Those vendors usually take filings only from approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders, so if you prepared the deed yourself, plan to record in person or by mail.

Recording offices we cover in Utah: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, Washington, Cache. See all Utah recording offices.

What a transfer-on-death deed does NOT do

Being honest about the limits is more useful than a sales pitch. Every one of these catches somebody out.

• Only 34 states plus DC recognize it. Recording one in a state that does not accept it accomplishes nothing.
• It does not clear the mortgage. Your beneficiary takes the property subject to any loan, lien, or judgment against it.
• It doesn't protect the property from your creditors, and in many states it doesn't shield the property from Medicaid estate recovery.
• The beneficiary receives no ownership interest until you die. They cannot be added as a co-owner this way.
• If a beneficiary dies before you, what happens to their share depends on state law: in some states it passes to the other beneficiaries or to the beneficiary's descendants, in others it fails. Naming an alternate, where your state's form allows one, avoids the question.

Quirks of Utah law that catch people out

• The legal description must be one Utah Code § 57-3-105(4) allows: a lot in a recorded plat, a metes-and-bounds or government-survey description, or another form that section lists. A street address is not enough.
• A deed must name the grantees and give a mailing address to be used for property tax notices (Utah Code § 57-3-105(3)). Deedly prints it in a MAIL TAX NOTICE TO block on page one.
• The notary's seal must be legible (Utah Code § 17-71-402(3)(f)). A smudged or unreadable seal gets a deed sent back.
• Each signer's name must be typed or printed just beneath the signature (Utah Code § 17-71-403). Deedly prints it.
• A recorder may require a blank space 2.5 inches down and 4.5 inches across the upper right corner of page one (Utah Code § 17-71-402(4)). Write nothing at the top of page one.
• A deed to a trustee must give the trustee's name and address and the trust's name and date (Utah Code § 75B-2-816(3)).
• Utah has no tenancy by the entirety: a deed that uses it is treated as a joint tenancy (Utah Code § 57-1-5(7)). Since May 1, 2024, a deed to two or more people that says nothing more is presumed to create a joint tenancy with right of survivorship (§ 57-1-5(1)(a)(i)(C)), so co-owners who want separate shares must say "as tenants in common".
• Water rights tied to the land pass with it unless the deed reserves them (Utah Code § 73-1-11). If the property has a well, irrigation rights or water shares, you may attach Utah's Water Rights Addendum, available from the Division of Water Rights; it is optional (Utah Code § 57-3-109). Shares in a water company are not part of the land and do not pass with it; transfer them through the company (§ 73-1-11(4)).
• Utah Code Title 59 (Revenue and Taxation) has no real estate transfer tax.
• Utah's statutory warranty deed form under Utah Code § 57-1-12 conveys full covenants in just a few lines.
• Utah recognizes transfer-on-death deeds under its Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act.