New York Transfer-on-Death Deed

New York Revocable Transfer on Death Deed — What This Package Is For

Use a New York revocable transfer on death deed to name a beneficiary for deeded New York real property under Real Property Law § 424, with no lifetime transfer of ownership.

A New York TOD deed is revocable during life and takes effect only at death if statutory signing and recording requirements are met. It is different from a life estate deed, which makes a present transfer of the remainder.

What You Receive

• Editable deed form: Revocable-Transfer-on-Death-Deed-NY.docx, a Microsoft Word document prepared for customer completion and recording after appropriate review.
• Separate instructions and recording checklist: Revocable-Transfer-on-Death-Deed-NY-Instructions.docx, a Microsoft Word checklist covering completion, signing, acknowledgment, recording, transfer forms, and stop-condition issues. The instructions are separate so they are not accidentally recorded as part of the deed.

Key New York Signing and Recording Points

• New York deeds are recorded with the County Clerk in the county where the land is located. In Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, recording is handled through the City Register / ACRIS system; Staten Island (Richmond County) records deeds with the Richmond County Clerk.
• A recordable deed generally needs an acknowledged grantor or transferor signature, a complete legal description attached as Exhibit A, a tax map / SBL or local parcel identifier where required, and legible black text suitable for optical imaging.
• Most present-transfer deeds require an online RP-5217 or RP-5217NYC transfer report and a TP-584 or TP-584-NYC transfer-tax return. Transfer-tax, exemption, nonresident withholding, LLC disclosure, mansion-tax, and local recording requirements are transaction-specific.
• New York does not treat co-op shares and proprietary leases as ordinary deeded real property. Use professional review for co-op, lender, title-insurance, fiduciary, probate, divorce, bankruptcy, capacity, tax, Medicaid, trust, entity, or disputed-title facts.
• A New York TOD deed requires two witnesses present at the same time, acknowledgment before a notary, and recording before the owner's death. An unrecorded TOD deed found after death is void.
• County guidance can treat ancillary transfer forms differently at lifetime TOD recording because no interest transfers during life; confirm current intake requirements before submitting.

Common Uses

• owners considering New York's statutory TOD deed path
• revocable beneficiary planning for deeded real property
• situations where the owner wants no present lifetime transfer and will record the TOD deed before death

When to Stop Before Using This Form

Do not use this form without reviewing capacity, two-witness signing, notary acknowledgment, record-before-death requirements, joint-owner survivorship rules, beneficiary capacity, tax, Medicaid, creditor, title, trust/entity/minor beneficiary, and revocation issues.