Transfer on death deed in Nebraska

Nebraska at a glance

TOD deed for real estate

Yes

Name in Nebraska law

Transfer on death deed

Law

Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-3401 to 76-3424 (Nebraska Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act)

Notary

Required

Witnesses

2

When to record

Within 30 days of signing

Where to record

Register of deeds of the county where the property is located

After-death document

Certified death certificate with an attached cover sheet (§ 76-2,126), plus a Real Estate Transfer Statement under § 76-214 (Form 521)

Notice to heirs

Not required

Official form

Yes

Your checklist

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Making a valid TOD deed in Nebraska

• What the law does. An individual can transfer Nebraska real estate to one or more beneficiaries effective at death by a recorded transfer on death deed.
• Signing. The owner (or someone signing in the owner's presence at the owner's direction) signs. Two or more disinterested witnesses must also sign, and the owner and witnesses all sign and swear before an officer authorized to administer oaths (such as a notary), who completes the certificate set out in § 76-3409. A disinterested witness is someone who is not a beneficiary or an heir, child, or spouse of a beneficiary. Capacity required is the same as for a will. A challenge based on the disinterested-witness rule must be filed within 90 days after the owner's death.
• Recording. The deed must be recorded within 30 days after it is signed, AND before the owner's death, with the register of deeds. The deed must also contain the statutory warnings (inheritance tax; Medicaid and creditor liability; DHHS may require revocation for Medicaid). Deeds made after September 3, 2025 must also carry a warning that property insurance may end 30 days after the owner's death. A wording defect in the warnings does not invalidate a recorded deed.
• Recording deadline. within thirty days after being executed
• Payment, delivery, acceptance. No payment, and no notice, delivery, or acceptance by the beneficiary is needed during the owner's life.
• Form. The statute sets the required signing/witness/oath certificate wording in § 76-3409; § 76-3410 sets the warnings the deed must contain. No full statutory deed form.

Changing it, and who you can name

• Revoking or changing. Revoke only by a recorded instrument: a later TOD deed, a revocation signed with the same witness/oath formalities as the deed, or an inter vivos deed that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency. It must be acknowledged after the deed being revoked and recorded before death with the register of deeds where the deed is recorded (a deed to a bona fide purchaser must be recorded by the later of 30 days after signing or death). Tearing up a recorded deed does not revoke it. The statute lists no revocation by will. Divorce after recording revokes gifts to the former spouse.
• Beneficiaries. A beneficiary can be any person, including an individual, trust trustee, estate, corporation, or other entity. A beneficiary must survive the owner by 120 hours unless the deed sets a different period; one who does not is treated as having died first. Co-beneficiaries take equal shares with no survivorship, and a failed share goes to the other co-beneficiaries. For farmland the deed may say who gets the growing crops.

After the owner dies

• Document. Certified death certificate with an attached cover sheet (§ 76-2,126), plus a Real Estate Transfer Statement under § 76-214 (Form 521)
• Where. Register of deeds of the county where the property is located
• Steps. File a death certificate with the register of deeds, with a cover sheet showing the document title, the recorded TOD deed's recording data, the grantor, the surviving grantee, and the legal description. A completed real estate transfer statement under § 76-214 must be filed when the transfer takes effect at death. The property stays subject to Nebraska inheritance tax. A beneficiary may disclaim under § 30-2352.

Debts, Medicaid and the spouse

• Creditors and Medicaid. If the estate is not enough, the beneficiary is personally liable, up to the value of the equity received, for claims, statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and children, and administration expenses. A proceeding needs a written demand to the personal representative and must start within one year after death. The beneficiary is also personally liable, up to the value received, to repay Medicaid (§ 68-919) for assistance given before or after the deed was signed. DHHS may require the owner to revoke the deed to qualify for Medicaid.
• Surviving spouse. The transfer is subject to Nebraska's elective-share sections (§§ 30-2313 to 30-2319) and to statutory allowances for the surviving spouse and children if the estate is insufficient.

Good to know in Nebraska

• The 30-day recording deadline is unusual: a deed recorded later than 30 days after signing does not meet § 76-3410(a)(4).
• Beneficiary takes subject to mortgages and liens; the deed gives no warranty of title.
• If a joint owner dies, the survivor takes; the deed works only if the transferor is the last surviving joint owner.
• From the owner's death the beneficiary is treated as an insured under the owner's property policy until the earliest of policy end, new coverage, or 30 days (if premium paid) (§ 76-3424, added 2025).
• A buyer or lender from the beneficiary takes free of estate claims but not of the inheritance-tax lien.

Official pages

• Nebraska TOD deed form
• Nebraska statute
• No TOD deed or other plan? How Nebraska handles a small estate without probate →

Sources

• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3409 (signature; witnesses; form) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3410 (requirements; 30-day recording; warnings) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3413 (revocation) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3415 (effect at death) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3417 (creditor liability) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3418 (Medicaid reimbursement) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3412 (transfer statement) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-2,126 (death certificate and cover sheet) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3424 (insurance) (read October 28, 2026)
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-3403 (applicability) (read October 28, 2026)

Legal information from the official sources above, not legal advice. A TOD deed can affect Medicaid, taxes, creditors and co-owners; for a decision about your own property, ask the county recorder, a legal aid office or a lawyer. How we check: methodology.