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# Transfer on Death Deed Texas: Seven Steps to Sell the House You Received
- URL: https://fast-house-buying.ghost.io/transfer-on-death-deed-texas/
- Published: 2026-10-21T11:17:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T11:20:56.000Z
- Description: A transfer on death deed can move a Texas house to you without probate, but it does not hand you a clean title. Here is the order of work to confirm the deed, clear what comes with it, and sell.
- Author: Fast House Buying Team
- Tags: Probate and Inherited Homes

A parent or relative named you in a transfer on death deed, they have passed, and now you want to sell the house. This transfer on death deed Texas guide is for that moment. A house that passes this way "is not considered property of the probate estate for any purpose" (Sec. 114.106(b)), but the deed does not hand you a clean, ready-to-sell title. It hands you the house as it stood on the day of death, with its loans, liens and open questions. Below is the order of work we would follow.

Every legal point here comes from the Texas Estates Code, mainly Chapter 114 (the Texas Real Property Transfer on Death Act), and the disclaimer rules in Chapter 122\. Read the sections yourself and bring them to your title company or attorney.

## Transfer on death deed Texas basics: what did you actually receive?

A transfer on death deed lets an owner name who gets the house at death while keeping full control during life. The statute says the deed is "revocable regardless of whether the deed or another instrument contains a contrary provision" (Sec. 114.052). The owner could sell it, borrow against it, or cancel the deed at any time.

At death, the house passes to you only if you outlive the owner by 120 hours (Sec. 114.103(a)(1)). If two or more people are named, they take "equal and undivided shares with no right of survivorship" (Sec. 114.103(a)(3)). These rules can give way, because Sec. 114.103(a) opens with "Except as otherwise provided in the transfer on death deed, this section, or any other statute or the common law of this state governing a decedent's estate." The share rule matters for a sale. If you and a sibling are both named, you each own half unless the deed sets different shares, and both of you sign to sell.

![Dim concrete front steps with a metal railing leading to a white panel door of an older wooden house](https://storage.ghost.io/c/28/2c/282c05bc-4417-4544-9579-a61f1ab303f1/content/images/2026/10/c9809620.jpg)

## Step 1: Is the deed valid and still in force?

Before you call anyone about selling, confirm the deed will hold up. Check these four things:

1. **It was recorded before the death.** The deed must be "recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records in the county clerk's office of the county where the real property is located" (Sec. 114.055(3)). A deed found in a desk drawer and never filed does not work.
2. **It falls under the Act's dates.** Chapter 114 covers a deed "executed and acknowledged on or after September 1, 2015, by a transferor who dies on or after September 1, 2015" (Sec. 114.003).
3. **Nothing later canceled it.** A later recorded revocation or a later transfer on death deed can undo it (Sec. 114.057(a)). A will cannot: "A will may not revoke or supersede a transfer on death deed" (Sec. 114.057(b)). A divorce from a named spouse after the deed was recorded revokes the deed as to that spouse if notice of the judgment was recorded before death (Sec. 114.057(c)).
4. **The owner did not sell or deed the house away.** If the owner conveyed the house during life and that deed was recorded before death, the transfer on death deed is void as to that buyer (Sec. 114.102).

One more check: the deed had to be signed by the owner personally. The statute says it "may not be created through use of a power of attorney" (Sec. 114.054(b)).

## Step 2: What if the owner held the house with someone else?

Look at how the owner held title. If the owner was a joint owner with right of survivorship and another joint owner is still alive, the house "belongs to the surviving joint owner or owners" (Sec. 114.103(b)). The deed is effective only if the owner was the last surviving joint owner. A tenant in common or a community property co-owner is not a "joint owner" under the Act (Sec. 114.002(a)(3)). In that case the deed passes the owner's own interest (Sec. 114.051), and you sign alongside the surviving co-owner to sell.

## Step 3: What debts come with the house?

Under Sec. 114.104(a), you take the house "subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, liens, and other interests" that were on it at death. The mortgage does not disappear. Neither does a tax lien, a contractor's lien or a judgment lien.

Do this before you list or sign anything:

- Get a current payoff statement from the mortgage servicer, in writing.
- Pull the property tax account from the county appraisal district and tax office and note any unpaid years.
- Ask a title company to run a title search and send you the commitment, so every recorded lien shows up on paper.
- Keep paying the mortgage, insurance and utilities meanwhile.

Also know that the deed passes the house "without covenant of warranty of title even if the deed contains a contrary provision" (Sec. 114.103(d)). Nobody stands behind the title for you. That is one more reason the title search comes first.

## Step 4: Could the estate's creditors still reach the house?

Yes, for a limited time. If the rest of the estate cannot cover the owner's debts, administration costs or certain family allowances, the personal representative "may enforce that liability against real property transferred at the transferor's death by a transfer on death deed" (Sec. 114.106(a)). The deadline reads: "A proceeding to enforce liability under this section must be commenced not later than the second anniversary of the transferor's death, except for any rights arising under Section 114.104(d)." (Sec. 114.106(e)). That exception covers a secured lender that elects to have its claim treated as a matured secured claim under Sec. 114.104(d).

In plain terms: for two years after the death, an unpaid estate creditor may have a claim that follows the house. If the owner left medical bills, credit cards or other debts and little else, talk to a probate attorney before you close, and ask the title company how it will handle that window.

## Step 5: Do you even want the house?

You are not forced to accept it. A named beneficiary "may disclaim all or part of the designated beneficiary's interest as provided by Chapter 122" (Sec. 114.105), and Chapter 122 points to the disclaimer rules in Chapter 240 of the Property Code. A disclaimer has formal steps. If the house is underwater or the debts are heavy, get legal advice before you move in, rent it out or start repairs.

## Step 6: How do you show the title company you now own it?

A buyer's title company has to see a clean chain from the owner to you. Gather this folder:

1. Certified copies of the death certificate.
2. A copy of the recorded transfer on death deed, with the recording information.
3. A deed records search from the date of the deed to the date of death, showing no later revocation or sale.
4. IDs for every named beneficiary who will sign.
5. The mortgage payoff, tax account printout and title commitment from Step 3.

Ask the title company, in writing, what it wants recorded to show the death and your ownership before you pay for any document.

## Step 7: How do you choose the way to sell?

Once title is clear, you have the same choices as any owner. You can list with an agent, sell to a cash buyer, rent the house out or, if every beneficiary agrees, keep it. Compare them on the numbers you gathered:

- **Net after payoff:** sale price minus the mortgage payoff, liens, back taxes and closing costs.
- **Repairs:** what the house needs before a lender-backed buyer will close.
- **Time:** how long you can carry the costs of an empty house.
- **Co-owners:** whether every named beneficiary agrees on price and timing.

If you want to see how [house buyers in San Antonio](https://www.fasthousebuying.com/cities/san-antonio) approach an inherited home that needs work, compare that route against a listing using the same net figures, and pick the one that leaves the most after the two-year creditor window and the costs you listed.

## What is the short version?

Confirm the deed was recorded and never revoked. Check for a surviving joint owner. Pull the payoff, taxes and title commitment. Mind the two-year creditor window. Decide whether to disclaim. Build the title folder. Compare options on net dollars and time.

Written by the Fast House Buying team. We buy houses for cash in Texas, so we have a commercial interest in this topic. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.