Nebraska Transfer-on-Death Deed

At a glance

How the deed works

Nebraska authorizes transfer-on-death deeds through its Nebraska Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-3401 to 76-3424. A property owner may name one or more grantee-beneficiaries who take title automatically at the owner's death, so the real estate passes outside probate. During the owner's lifetime the deed has no effect: the owner keeps full ownership and may sell, mortgage, or change the beneficiary at any time.

The deed must be executed and acknowledged the way any Nebraska deed is — signed by the owner before a notary — and must contain language showing that the transfer takes effect at the owner's death. Under § 76-3413 the deed must be recorded, before the owner dies, in the office of the register of deeds for the county where the real property is located. A deed that is signed but never recorded before death is not effective.

Because the beneficiary receives nothing until death, no notice to or acceptance by the beneficiary is required while the owner is alive. This is educational information, not legal advice; anyone considering a TOD deed should confirm current requirements with an attorney licensed in Nebraska or the county register of deeds.

Recording & execution requirements

A transfer-on-death deed only works if it is executed and recorded correctly. In Nebraska:

• Recording before death: Must be recorded before the owner's death.
• Governing statute: Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-3401 to 76-3424 Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-3401 to 76-3424 — Nebraska Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act · adopted 2012 (LB536), operative Jan. 1, 2013; amended 2025 (LB422).

Changing or revoking the deed

A recorded Nebraska TOD deed is freely revocable during the owner's life, and any provision purporting to make it irrevocable is void under the Act. The owner may revoke by recording a new TOD deed that names a different beneficiary, by recording a separate instrument of revocation, or by recording a deed that expressly revokes the earlier one — in each case before death and in the same county records.

Simply tearing up or destroying the recorded deed does not revoke it, and a later will generally cannot override a recorded TOD deed. Where the owner records more than one TOD deed for the same property, the last one recorded before death controls.

Mortgages, Medicaid & community property

Existing mortgages and liens

A TOD deed passes only the interest the owner actually held at death, and the beneficiary takes the property subject to any existing mortgages, tax liens, judgment liens, and other encumbrances of record. Recording a TOD deed does not accelerate, extinguish, or refinance a mortgage; the debt stays attached to the property.

Medicaid estate recovery

A TOD deed does not shield the property from Medicaid estate recovery, and it can affect eligibility and recovery in ways that are easy to underestimate. Nebraska Medicaid (administered by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services) may pursue recovery against a deceased recipient's estate, and the reach of recovery to non-probate transfers is a fact-specific question. Anyone who has received or may need Medicaid long-term-care benefits should get advice from an attorney and confirm the state's current estate-recovery scope with DHHS before relying on a TOD deed.

Community property

Nebraska is a common-law (separate-property) state. Nebraska is a common-law (non-community-property) state, so there is no community-property survivorship regime interacting with a TOD deed. Spouses who own real estate jointly should confirm how they hold title (for example, joint tenancy with right of survivorship), because a survivorship co-ownership generally passes to the surviving co-owner ahead of a TOD-deed beneficiary.

State-specific quirks

Where to read next

• Nebraska estate & inheritance tax — whether Nebraska taxes what you leave behind, and the small-estate probate ceiling, each figure cited to the statute.
• The Executor & Heir’s Guide — the probate deadlines for Nebraska, cited to the controlling statute.
• Funding a revocable trust — a common way to keep many kinds of property out of probate.
• ← Back to the transfer-on-death deed comparison

Sources & methodology