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California Law Revision Commission

-- Last revised 01/23/24 --

Revocable Transfer on Death Deeds -- Follow-Up Study - Study L-3032.1

    In 2006, the Commission recommended that California authorize the use of a revocable transfer on death deed, to transfer real property outside of probate. See Revocable Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed, 36 Cal. L. Revision Comm’n Reports 103 (2006).

    In 2015, the Legislature enacted AB 690 (Gatto), which largely implemented the Commission's recommendation. See 2015 Cal. Stat. ch. 293. Section 21 of that bill assigned the Commission responsibility to conduct a follow-up study:

(a) The California Law Revision Commission shall study the effect of California’s revocable transfer on death deed set forth in Part 4 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5 of the Probate Code and make recommendations in this regard. The commission shall report all of its findings to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020.

(b) In the study required by subdivision (a), the commission shall address all of the following:

(1) Whether the revocable transfer on death deed is working effectively.
(2) Whether the revocable transfer on death deed should be continued.
(3) Whether the revocable transfer on death deed is subject to misuse or misunderstanding.
(4) What changes should be made to the revocable transfer on death deed or the law associated with the deed to improve its effectiveness and to avoid misuse or misunderstanding.
(5) Whether the revocable transfer on death deed has been used to perpetuate financial abuse on property owners and, if so, how the law associated with the deed should be changed to minimize this abuse.

Related Material


Legislation

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Final Recommendation

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Tentative Recommendations and Other Requests for Comment

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Meeting Minutes

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Staff Memoranda