Delaware owners can pass property at death with a recorded deed

An owner may name who receives real property at the owner’s death using a transfer-on-death deed. The rules cover individuals transferring real property located in Delaware to one or more named beneficiaries. The deed must be acknowledged, witnessed by two people, and recorded in the county where the property is located before the owner dies. The owner may revoke the deed while alive and may still transfer or borrow against the property. The deed takes effect at the owner’s death if the owner still owns the property and has not revoked the deed.

The property passes to a surviving named beneficiary, subject to existing claims; an estate may also seek payment from it for certain debts or family allowances. A beneficiary must survive the owner to receive a share. If the owner was a joint owner who leaves another joint owner alive, the property remains with the surviving joint owner or owners; the deed takes effect if the owner was the last surviving joint owner. The estate may seek payment from transferred property only to the extent the probate estate cannot cover an allowed claim or an allowance for a surviving spouse or child. When there are multiple properties, liability is shared based on their net values. A beneficiary takes the property subject to mortgages, liens, and other interests already affecting it. A case to collect from transferred property must begin within eight months after the owner’s death.

A beneficiary temporarily receives insurance coverage rights and duties for property received through the deed. This applies to a beneficiary who receives property through a transfer-on-death deed and to an insurance policy covering the former owner’s property. Coverage is limited to the former owner’s insurable interest in the property. If the policy expires less than 60 days after death, coverage continues for 30 days or until the policy’s expiration, whichever is later. The beneficiary must pay the premium for any extension past expiration. This coverage ends if the beneficiary obtains a policy for the property. It does not remove duties or liabilities the policy places on the beneficiary. The rule applies to losses or damage occurring on or after the Act’s effective date. The Act takes effect 90 days after enactment.

The law provides rules for filing information about transferred property and exempts the deed from certain transfer-related forms. These provisions concern beneficiaries, executors or administrators, county Registers of Wills, and transfer-on-death deeds for Delaware real estate. If a probate estate is opened, the transferred property must be listed in its inventory; if none is opened, no inventory form is required under this section. A transfer-on-death deed does not need a transfer-tax affidavit, an estimated-income-tax form, or other forms required under the specified tax chapter or related county or local law to be effective. Registers of Wills provide property transfer information to county assessment boards after an inventory is filed.