---
title: "Indiana Transfer-on-Death Deed | Funding LTC Marketplace"
url: https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/indiana/transfer-on-death-deed/
description: "Indiana authorizes recorded transfer-on-death deeds, but nonprobate property remains within the state's broad Medicaid estate-recovery definition."
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.
---
Indiana · Asset Protection Tool

# Indiana Transfer-on-Death Deed

Last updated 2026-10-20

**Quick answer:** Yes. Indiana's Transfer on Death Property Act allows a transfer-on-death deed for real estate, but it must be recorded with the county recorder before the owner dies. It avoids probate, but Indiana Medicaid estate recovery can still reach property passed this way.

Indiana's Transfer on Death Property Act gives homeowners a specific tool: a transfer-on-death deed for real property. For it to work, the deed has to be executed by the owner or their legal representative and recorded with the county recorder before the owner dies — an unrecorded deed is void under the statute.

The mechanics have some helpful flexibility built in. The statute doesn't require consideration or delivery to the beneficiary, it supplies sample TOD wording, and it requires county-auditor endorsement before recording. Those procedural details are exactly why it's worth using Indiana-specific real-estate counsel or a recorder-approved process rather than a generic online deed template.

The bigger caution, though, is what a TOD deed does — and doesn't — protect against. It keeps the property out of probate, but Indiana's Medicaid estate-recovery definition reaches beyond probate property, so nonprobate transfers made through a TOD deed can still land inside the state's recovery net.

## Sources and official resources

- [Indiana Medicaid: Eligibility Guide](https://www.in.gov/medicaid/members/apply-for-medicaid/eligibility-guide/)
- [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 Indiana guide](https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/indiana/)