Oregon Transfer-on-Death Deed

Oregon enacted its version of the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act in 2011, with the law taking effect January 1, 2012 (Oregon Laws 2011, chapter 212). The statute lets an individual designate one or more beneficiaries to receive Oregon real property automatically at the owner's death.

A TOD deed is exactly that — a deed for a transfer that happens at death, not a lifetime transfer of ownership to the beneficiary. Oregon's law specifies that the deed is revocable and nontestamentary, and using one doesn't shut off any other lawful way of transferring the same property.

What a TOD deed doesn't do is resolve Oregon's separate, and broader, Medicaid estate-recovery exposure — that's addressed under the state's expanded recovery statute discussed in the estate-recovery pillar, and it's a big enough gap that Oregon-specific legal advice is worth getting before signing a deed.