---
title: "California Transfer-on-Death Deed | Funding LTC Marketplace"
url: https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/california/transfer-on-death-deed/
description: "California's revocable transfer-on-death deed is a tightly formal residential probate-avoidance tool — not a Florida-style Lady Bird deed."
last_updated: 2026-10-20
author: George A. Mellendorf, CLTC, LTCP (Central States Insurance Services, Inc.)
publisher: Funding LTC Marketplace
note: Educational content; not legal, tax or financial advice. Markdown copy of the HTML page at the URL above.
---
California · Asset Protection Tool

# California Transfer-on-Death Deed

Last updated 2026-10-20

California doesn't recognize anything like Florida's Lady Bird deed. Its closest equivalent is the revocable transfer-on-death deed, available for transferors who die on or after January 1, 2016. As currently written, the statute is scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2032, subject to whatever the law says about deeds already signed before then (California Probate Code § 5600).

The property that qualifies is narrower than many assume: one-to-four unit residential properties or a qualifying residential unit in a common-interest development, but not, among other exclusions, agricultural parcels over 40 acres (California Probate Code § 5610). That's a meaningfully tighter scope than treating every California property as automatically eligible.

## Sources and official resources

- [DHCS: Medi-Cal Changes (asset limits)](https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/medi-cal/updates/medi-cal-changes/)
- [U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. § 1396p (liens, estate recovery, transfers of assets, Partnership disregard)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1396p)
- [CMS: 2026 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards](https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/cib04272026.pdf)

Rules and figures change. Confirm current details with the agency before you act.

[← Back to the full California guide](https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/california/)