Utah Transfer-on-Death Deed

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: Utah

Utah authorizes a transfer-on-death deed

Utah’s statutory tool is a transfer-on-death deed. Utah Code Section 75-6-405 authorizes an individual to transfer property to one or more named beneficiaries effective at the transferor’s death, and it does not permit a class gift through this deed. This is a death-time real-property transfer mechanism, not an enhanced life-estate deed (Utah Code Section 75-6-405).

The Utah Legislature’s Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act materials include a statutory form and state that the form must be recorded before the owner dies to be effective. The statute and form should be read in their current form by the drafting lawyer and county recorder; a beneficiary name, title issue, later deed, or attempted revocation can change the result (Utah Code Section 75-6-416; Utah Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act).

Probate avoidance is not a Medicaid conclusion

A deed effective at death may be relevant to probate administration, but it does not supply a published Utah Medicaid exception. Utah’s resource rule separately analyzes home and life-estate resources, including a life estate’s value for institutional Medicaid unless an exclusion applies. It also treats certain transfers for less than fair market value as a basis for a long-term-care penalty period (Utah resource and transfer rule).

Utah’s estate-recovery page says the state may recover after death from a Medicaid recipient’s estate and from a trust in which the recipient was both grantor and beneficiary. The located DHHS recovery explanation does not specifically state how a transfer-on-death deed is treated for recovery. It would be unsafe to promise that a TOD deed defeats recovery simply because it may avoid a conventional probate step (Utah Medicaid Estate Recovery).

Compare legal tools by their actual effects

A retained life estate, an outright deed, a revocable trust, an irrevocable trust, and a Utah TOD deed create different control, title, tax, creditor, eligibility, transfer-review, and recovery questions. A home can be excluded for an eligibility determination under stated conditions, yet Utah Medicaid says that an exempt home is not automatically exempt from Estate Recovery after death (Utah home rule; Utah Medicaid Estate Recovery).

Utah TOD deed: authorized for named beneficiaries effective at death; use requires current-form and recording analysis, and it is not a proven Medicaid-recovery shield (Utah Code Section 75-6-405).

For broader home context, see The Home. Obtain Utah real-estate and elder-law advice before signing, recording, revoking, or relying on a deed for long-term-care planning.

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Utah authorizes a transfer-on-death deed

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