Ohio Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit

Quick answer: Ohio uses a Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit instead of a transfer-on-death deed. It lets an owner name beneficiaries to receive real property automatically at death and avoids probate, but on its own it isn't a complete Medicaid plan.

Rather than a transfer-on-death deed like many other states use, Ohio's tool of choice is the Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit. It works in a similar spirit — letting an owner name one or more beneficiaries to receive a real-property interest automatically at death — but it's a distinct statutory instrument with its own filing requirements.

Ohio law allows a sole owner, a tenant in common, a survivorship tenant, or spouses holding property as tenants by the entireties to designate all or part of their interest this way. It's a genuinely useful probate-avoidance tool, but it isn't, by itself, a complete Medicaid planning strategy — pairing it with a broader plan matters.