Connecticut: Transfer-on-Death Deed Requirements
The short answer
No. Connecticut does not allow a transfer-on-death or beneficiary deed for real estate. It has not adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, and although bills to do so have been introduced again and again — most recently HB 5266 in 2026 — every one has died in committee. A deed naming who inherits your home at your death has no effect in Connecticut today. To keep a home out of probate here, people hold title in joint tenancy with right of survivorship or put the property into a revocable living trust.
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This is the general rule in Connecticut. Ezel applies current Connecticut law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | No transfer-on-death or beneficiary deed for REAL property. Connecticut has not enacted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. Real property passes at death by will (through probate) or by intestate distribution under Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 802b (e.g. § 45a-439); the real-property probate-avoidance tool Connecticut does provide is joint tenancy with right of survivorship (§ 47-14a) |
|---|---|
| TOD deed available? | Not available. No Connecticut statute allows a revocable transfer-on-death or beneficiary deed for real estate. The General Assembly has considered the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act many times — HB 6448 (2017), HB 5433 and HB 7096 (2019), HB 6115 (2023), HB 5181/HB 6896/SB 211 (2025), and HB 5266 (2026) — and each died in committee; HB 5266 got only a Feb. 27, 2026 public hearing before the session adjourned May 6, 2026. Owners avoid probate on a home through joint tenancy with survivorship or a living trust |
| How to sign it | N/A There is no real-property TOD deed to execute. To avoid probate a person instead records a survivorship deed under § 47-14a or deeds the home into a revocable living trust, each signed and acknowledged under Connecticut's ordinary deed rules, not a TOD-deed statute |
| Recording requirement | N/A No TOD deed. Ordinary deeds (a survivorship deed or a deed into a trust) are recorded on the town land records; a will is not recorded during life and takes effect only through probate after death |
| Revoking it | N/A A living trust is revocable by its own terms and a will is revocable until death, but there is no recorded real-property TOD instrument to revoke; a survivorship deed, once delivered, gives the co-owner a present interest that cannot be undone unilaterally |
| Eligible property & owner | N/A for real property. Connecticut has no TOD/beneficiary deed for any real property or owner. Payable-on-death accounts and transfer-on-death securities registration are separate mechanisms outside this survey |
| Beneficiary survival & effect | N/A No TOD deed. A home passes by will (through probate), by intestate distribution under ch. 802b, under a trust's terms, or to a surviving joint tenant; there is no TOD-deed survival, lapse, or anti-lapse rule for real estate |
| Creditor & Medicaid reach | N/A for a TOD deed. Real property in the probate estate remains subject to the decedent's creditors and to any Connecticut Medicaid estate-recovery claim against the estate; a survivorship deed or living trust carries its own creditor and Medicaid treatment outside this survey |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Connecticut does not allow a transfer-on-death deed — sometimes called a "beneficiary
deed" — for real estate. No Connecticut statute lets you record a deed that names who inherits
your house at your death while you keep full control during life. If you want your home to
skip probate, you have to use a different tool.
Connecticut is one of the states that has not adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer
on Death Act. It is not for lack of trying: lawmakers have introduced the Act again and again
— in 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025, and 2026 — and it has never made it out of committee. The most
recent attempt, HB 5266 (2026), got a single public hearing on February 27, 2026 and went
no further before the General Assembly adjourned on May 6, 2026. Because it is not law, a
"transfer-on-death deed" recorded in Connecticut today does nothing.
How Connecticut owners keep a home out of probate instead
Because there is no TOD deed, the practical options are:
- Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14a, a deed to
two or more people "as joint tenants with right of survivorship" creates a joint tenancy in
fee simple, and the survivor automatically owns the whole property when the other dies — no
probate. The trade-off is that the co-owner gets a present ownership interest now, and once
the deed is delivered you cannot simply take it back. - A revocable living trust. You create the trust and deed your home into it during life.
You keep control as trustee, and at your death your successor trustee transfers the property
to your beneficiaries without probate. This is the closest functional substitute for a TOD
deed, because you keep the power to revoke or change it.
If you do neither, the home passes by your will or, with no will, by intestate
distribution under Connecticut's decedents'-estates statutes (chapter 802b, e.g. §
45a-439) — either of which runs through probate court.
What trips people up
- A "Connecticut transfer-on-death deed" form is legally empty today. These forms are sold
nationwide, but Connecticut has not enacted the TOD deed Act, so recording one does not pass
your house at death. Watch the Legislature — a version has been filed almost every session —
but until one passes, the form does nothing here. - "TOD" on your investment account is not the same thing. Connecticut lets you name
transfer-on-death beneficiaries on bank and brokerage accounts; that is a separate mechanism
and does not extend to real estate. - A survivorship deed is not revocable like a TOD deed. Adding someone as a joint tenant
gives them a real ownership stake immediately. Unlike a TOD deed (which you could revoke),
you generally cannot undo it without the co-owner's cooperation.
Common questions
I found a "Connecticut transfer-on-death deed" form online. Will it work? No. Connecticut
has no statute that makes a real-property TOD deed effective. Recording one will not pass your
house at death; the property will still go through probate or under your will.
Connecticut lets me name a beneficiary on my bank account — why not my house? Because
Connecticut's nonprobate-transfer tools cover accounts and securities (payable-on-death and
TOD registration), not a recordable real-estate deed. Bills to extend the idea to land keep
being filed (HB 5266 in 2026) but have not become law.
What is the simplest way to avoid probate on my home in Connecticut? For most people it is
either holding title in joint tenancy with right of survivorship with the person who
should inherit, or a revocable living trust with the home deeded into it. An attorney can
tell you which fits your situation and your Medicaid and creditor concerns.
Statutes and sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-14a (joint tenancy in fee simple with survivorship — the real-property probate-avoidance tool Connecticut provides in place of a TOD deed) — https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/title-47/chapter-821/section-47-14a/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-439 (intestate distribution under the decedents'-estates chapter — how real property passes at death absent a will or nonprobate mechanism) — https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/title-45a/chapter-802b/section-45a-439/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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