DelawareHS 1 for HB 147153rd General Assembly (2024–2026)HouseWALLET

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12, TITLE 18, TITLE 25, AND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE UNIFORM REAL PROPERTY TRANSFER ON DEATH ACT.

Sponsored By: Kerri Evelyn Harris (Democratic)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

8 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 5 mixed.

Death-transfer deeds avoid transfer tax paperwork

Qualifying transfer-on-death deeds are not subject to Delaware's real-estate transfer tax. Recording or making the deed effective does not require a transfer-tax affidavit or an estimated-income-tax declaration. Related state, county, and municipal transfer-tax forms are also not required. The law does not specify a tax savings amount.

Temporary insurance protects property heirs with limits

Beneficiaries get insured status under the former owner's property policy for 60 days after death, limited to that owner's insurable interest. If the policy expires within those 60 days, coverage continues for 30 days after death or until expiration, whichever is later. Coverage beyond policy expiration requires payment of the applicable premium, and this protection ends when the beneficiary obtains a separate policy. Beneficiaries take on the former owner's policy rights, duties, and liabilities. The rule covers losses on or after the law's effective date; older policies cannot give unintended additional rights beyond the stated temporary coverage.

Simpler estate paperwork for deed transfers

Beneficiaries can file the owner's death certificate with the Register of Wills, which can provide a notice-of-death form. Delaware's Office of Vital Statistics must give beneficiaries a certified death certificate. The estate's inventory and appraisal, due within 3 months after estate authority is issued, exclude property transferred by these deeds. Remaining inventory items are valued at fair market value on the date of death. Registers of Wills promptly report inherited real estate to assessment officials after the inventory is filed, including transfer dates and owner and recipient details.

Inherited property can face estate claims

Property received through a transfer-on-death deed can help pay estate debts when probate assets are insufficient. This includes allowed claims and legal allowances for a surviving spouse or child. If several properties were transferred, liability is divided according to their net values at death. A case to enforce this liability must begin within 8 months after the owner's death.

Beneficiaries can refuse property with paperwork

Beneficiaries can refuse all or part of property transferred by a transfer-on-death deed using Delaware's legal disclaimer process. Before a beneficiary designation becomes unchangeable, the refusal must be delivered to the person who made it. Afterward, a refusal of real property must be recorded in the county where the property lies. A refusal of personal property must instead be delivered to the person responsible for distributing it.

Beneficiaries inherit property with existing limits

At death, the deed transfers the owner's property to named beneficiaries who outlive the owner and controls over contrary will provisions. Beneficiaries receive equal undivided shares unless the deed says otherwise; a lapsed share goes proportionately to the remaining beneficiaries. Surviving joint owners with survivorship rights keep the property, and the deed takes effect only when the transferor is the last surviving joint owner. Beneficiaries take the property with existing mortgages, liens, contracts, and other attached interests, without any title warranty. Although recording must happen before death, it counts as occurring at death when deciding priority among competing interests.

Homeowners get a new inheritance option

You can leave Delaware real property to people, but not trusts or companies, through a transfer-on-death deed separate from your will. You must have the same legal capacity needed to make a will. The deed must state that transfer happens at death, meet standard deed requirements, and have required signatures notarized. Two people must witness it, at least one cannot be a beneficiary, and you must record it in the property's county before death. Beneficiaries need not receive notice, accept the deed, or pay for the transfer during your life. The law takes effect 90 days after enactment and covers deeds made earlier or later when the owner dies on or after that date.

Owners keep control but revocation takes steps

During your life, the deed leaves ownership and existing creditor rights unchanged; you can still sell or borrow against the property. Beneficiaries gain no current ownership, their creditors cannot claim the property, and neither person's public-assistance eligibility changes. You can revoke the deed even if it says otherwise, but a recorded deed cannot be canceled by writing on or destroying it. Revocation requires a later acknowledged deed or cancellation document recorded before death in the same county; a cancellation document needs two witnesses. One owner's revocation leaves other owners' interests unchanged, and all living joint owners must revoke a joint-owner deed.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Kerri Evelyn Harris
Democratic • House

Cosponsors

Eric Buckson
Republican • Senate
Mara Gorman
Democratic • House
Debra Heffernan
Democratic • House
Russell Huxtable
Democratic • Senate
Kendra Johnson
Democratic • House
Larry Lambert
Democratic • House
S. Elizabeth Lockman
Democratic • Senate
Edward S. Osienski
Democratic • House
Cyndie Romer
Democratic • House
Melanie Ross Levin
Democratic • House
Ray Seigfried
Democratic • Senate
Claire Snyder-Hall
Democratic • House
David P. Sokola
Democratic • Senate
Madinah Wilson-Anton
Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 61 • No: 0

Senate vote • 6/30/2025

Passed (SM required)

Yes: 21 • No: 0

House vote • 6/10/2025