Maryland has now joined the majority of US states and territories that will allow property owners to use a Transfer-on-Death (“TOD“) deed as a way to ensure, through execution and recording of a simple, present-day legal instrument, that when they die, title to their property will pass directly to their children or other designated beneficiaries without probate.

On May 26, 2026, Governor Wes Moore officially signed The Maryland Transfer-on-Death Deed Act (House Bill 738/Senate Bill 651) into law. The new Act, which will become effective on October 1 of this year, amends multiple provisions of the Estates and Trusts, Real Property, and Tax-Property Articles of the Maryland Code, to provide for the creation, revocation, recordation, and effects of TOD deeds for real property in Maryland.

As we have noted in a previous RKW Insights article (which concerned a prior, similar iteration of the TOD deed bill that had then been introduced in the 2025 legislative session, but ultimately failed to gain passage) TOD deeds offer property owners a substantially simpler, less costly, and more straightforward means of causing their property’s title, upon their death, to be transferred to a beneficiary(-ies) of their choosing, without going through probate court, than is available through other probate-avoidance transactions such as creating, and then deeding the property into, a trust, or executing and recording a life estate deed (with or without “powers”).

Under the new Act, TOD Deeds will:

An important provision of the Act to be aware of is that it will apply retroactively to TOD deeds that are executed and even recorded prior to the October 1, 2026 effective date of the Act, so long as the grantor does not pass away prior to that date.

As we noted in our prior article, TOD deeds can be a valuable estate planning tool, and we believe that for many Maryland homeowners, they may be a perfect fit for attaining the owner’s goal of executing and recording a simple document now that will provide for an orderly, direct, and immediate transition of their property’s title upon their death to the person(s) they have designated in the instrument, without unduly burdening their loved ones, financially and otherwise … but TOD deeds may also have some drawbacks for some property owners and their families, so they are not going to be invariably considered the right estate planning choice for every person’s circumstances.

That is why the passage of the Maryland Transfer-on-Death Deed Act does not change our general view that estate planning decisions are best made in consultation with experienced legal and financial advisors, as well as advisors in other professional specialties such as insurance, who can help you review and select, and then implement, the options and strategies – which, in Maryland, have now been expanded to include TOD deeds – that will help you achieve the goals you most wish to achieve, while avoiding the drawbacks you most wish to avoid. And we think it is important to remember that all estate planning documents, including TOD deeds, need to be periodically reviewed and, if circumstances then warrant, updated to ensure that, if there are changes in facts (for example, events within the family such as deaths, illnesses, marriages, divorces, and births) and/or changes in applicable law, the owner’s estate planning wishes can still be honored and achieved, to the greatest extent possible.

If you have legal questions about your Maryland property and may be wondering whether a TOD deed or any other estate planning approach for your property may be right for you and your family, the attorneys at RKW Law Group are here to help.