Oregon law, for title research

Oregon transfer on death deed: the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, quoted from ORS chapter 93

Every rule below is quoted from the Oregon Revised Statutes or another official source, linked and checked on the date shown. General information, not legal advice.

Does Oregon have a transfer on death deed?

Yes. Oregon adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, ORS 93.948 to 93.979. ORS 93.953 lets an individual transfer real property to one or more designated beneficiaries effective at death, naming primary beneficiaries and alternates who take only if no primary beneficiary is qualified or survives. ORS 93.950 applies the act to every such deed, whenever made, of a transferor dying on or after January 1, 2012.

It is nontestamentary, and revocable even if the deed or another instrument says otherwise, under ORS 93.955 and 93.957. Making or revoking one takes the same capacity as making a will, and ORS 93.951 leaves every other lawful way of transferring property in place.

What must an Oregon transfer on death deed contain?

ORS 93.961(1) sets four requirements. It must contain the essential elements and formalities of a properly recordable inter vivos deed, state that the transfer to the beneficiary is to occur at the transferor's death, identify each designated beneficiary by name, and be recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records of the county clerk where the property lies. A designation that identifies beneficiaries only as members of a class, such as my children, is void under ORS 93.961(2).

Some things are not required. ORS 93.963 makes it effective without notice or delivery to, or acceptance by, the beneficiary during the transferor's life, and without consideration. Because the deed must have the formalities of a recordable inter vivos deed, whether a general deed rule elsewhere in chapter 93, such as ORS 93.030 or 93.040, applies to a particular deed is for an Oregon attorney. ORS 93.975 supplies an optional form, whose notice to the owner warns that it must be recorded before the owner's death or it will not be effective.

How does an Oregon owner revoke the deed?

By a recorded instrument, with one caution about outright transfers. ORS 93.965(1) makes an instrument effective to revoke a recorded deed, or part of it, only if the transferor acknowledged it after acknowledging the deed being revoked, it was recorded before the transferor's death in the county where the property lies, and it is a later transfer on death deed, an instrument of revocation, or an inter vivos deed of the property, which revokes to the extent of the interest it conveys.

Three limits follow in the same section. A designated agent may revoke if the deed expressly grants that authority; when several transferors signed, one transferor's revocation leaves the others' interests in place; and once recorded, the deed cannot be revoked by a revocatory act on the deed itself. ORS 93.977 supplies an optional form of revoking instrument.

ORS 93.965(5) adds that the section does not limit the effect of an inter vivos transfer of the property, and the death rules in ORS 93.969(1) reach property owned by the transferor at death. So a lifetime conveyance that was never recorded can still matter, and what it did to a particular title is for an Oregon attorney.

What does it change while the owner is alive?

No one's rights, though the recorded deed is of record. ORS 93.967 provides that during the transferor's life the deed does not affect the rights of the transferor or any other owner, including the right to sell or mortgage the property, does not affect the transferor's creditors even if they know of the deed, does not affect the eligibility of the transferor or a beneficiary for public or medical assistance, and creates no legal or equitable interest in the beneficiary. The beneficiary's own creditors cannot reach the property during that time either.

What happens when the owner dies?

Unless the deed provides otherwise, and subject to the statutes it names, ORS 93.969(1) applies to property subject to the deed and owned by the transferor at death. It passes the interest to each designated beneficiary who survives the transferor and lapses the share of one who does not. Multiple beneficiaries take equal and undivided shares with no right of survivorship, and a lapsed share goes to the remaining beneficiaries in proportion, unless the deed provides otherwise. The section does not say who takes if every designated beneficiary fails, which is a question for an Oregon attorney.

Survival has rules of its own, because ORS 93.969(1) is subject to ORS 112.570 to 112.590. ORS 112.578 treats a person whose survival a governing instrument requires as having died first unless clear and convincing evidence shows survival by at least 120 hours. ORS 112.590 protects a purchaser for value without notice of the claim from liability under those survivorship rules. ORS 112.465, which names transfer on death deeds, passes property as if a slayer or abuser had died first, and ORS 93.983 and 93.985 can do the same to a parent who deserted or neglected an adult transferor.

Joint ownership comes first. ORS 93.949 defines a joint owner as a joint tenant, a tenant by the entirety or another co-owner entitled to the whole on an owner's death. If the transferor was a joint owner survived by another joint owner, ORS 93.969(3) provides that the property belongs to the survivors by right of survivorship, and the deed takes effect only if the transferor was the last surviving joint owner. ORS 93.969(4) adds that the transfer carries no covenant or warranty of title, even if the instrument says otherwise, and ORS 93.971 lets a beneficiary disclaim all or part of the interest.

What does a divorce change?

As a rule, it cuts out the former spouse. ORS 93.981 provides that, unless the deed evidences a different intent, a divorce or annulment of the transferor's marriage after the deed is recorded revokes all provisions in favor of the former spouse, and the deed operates as though the former spouse did not survive the transferor. ORS 107.115(1)(b) says a judgment of annulment or dissolution revokes a transfer on death deed pursuant to ORS 93.981. In search practice, the recording date of the deed is compared with the date of any judgment found.

Do liens, creditors and contests follow the property?

Liens do, and claims can. The beneficiary takes subject to every conveyance, encumbrance, contract, mortgage, lien and other interest on the property at the transferor's death, as ORS 93.969(2) provides, including a state claim for public or medical assistance if the probate estate cannot pay it.

ORS 93.973 lets the transferor's estate, as the party it names, enforce a liability against the property to the extent the probate estate is insufficient to pay a claim allowed or established as that section describes, or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, apportioned by net value when there are several properties, in a proceeding commenced within 18 months after the death. A contest of the transferor's capacity, or a claim of fraud, duress or undue influence, has the same 18-month limit under ORS 93.959(3).

Can a surviving spouse or the state reach the property?

Possibly, under statutes outside the act. The elective share in ORS 114.600 to 114.725 counts a nonprobate estate. ORS 114.665 includes property held immediately before death under a payable on death designation or deed, and property for which the decedent had the power to designate a beneficiary, to the extent the decedent could have designated the decedent or the spouse. It does not use the words transfer on death deed. ORS 114.705 lets recipients of the nonprobate estate be required to make a proportional contribution, and ORS 114.610 sets a nine-month election deadline. Whether a particular deed falls within these sections is for an Oregon attorney.

ORS 416.350(2), except as ORS 178.380 prohibits, allows recovery of medical assistance paid to a person who was 55 or older or a permanently institutionalized inpatient, from the estate or from any recipient of property or other assets held by that person at death. Recovery waits until after a surviving spouse dies, and only at a time when no child under 21, blind or permanently and totally disabled survives.

What a title search checks after an Oregon owner dies

A probate title search traces vesting at death with images, and reports any transfer on death deed, later deed, revocation or inter vivos conveyance it finds of record, with acknowledgment and recording dates, any divorce judgment it finds, and liens to pay. Whether each beneficiary survived by the required time, whether an unrecorded transfer matters, and whether the 18-month periods have run are for an Oregon attorney.

The Oregon transfer on death deed rules on this page, with their sources

Sources: ORS 93.953, Authority for transfer on death deed; ORS 93.950, Applicability; ORS 93.949, Definitions; ORS 93.961, Requirements; ORS 93.963, Notice, delivery, acceptance, consideration; ORS 93.955, Revocability; 93.957, Nontestamentary nature; ORS 93.959, Capacity of transferor; ORS 93.965, Revocation by instrument; ORS 93.965, Revocation by act; ORS 93.967, Effect during transferor's life; ORS 93.969, Effect at transferor's death; ORS 93.973, Liability for creditor claims; ORS 93.981, Effect of divorce or annulment; ORS 93.971, Disclaimer; ORS 93.975, Form of transfer on death deed; Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93; Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 112; Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 107; Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 114; Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 416. Each row links the section it summarizes.

Questions people ask

More on how Oregon property law shapes a title search: title research in Oregon.