---
title: "Ohio Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit | Funding LTC Marketplace"
url: https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/ohio/transfer-on-death-affidavit/
description: "Ohio's Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit can pass real estate outside probate, but it does not by itself avoid Medicaid estate recovery."
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.
---
Ohio · Asset Protection Tool

# Ohio Transfer on Death Designation Affidavit

Last updated 2026-10-20

**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.

## Sources and official resources

- [Ohio Administrative Code: Rule 5160-3-02.3, Nursing Facilities](https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-5160-3-02.3)
- [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 Ohio guide](https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/ohio/)