A brand-new transfer-on-death deed
After years of failed attempts, Maryland finally enacted its own version of the transfer-on-death deed in 2026. The Maryland Transfer-on-Death Deed Act, codified at Real Property § 14-1001 through § 14-1014, lets an owner name a beneficiary who receives real estate automatically at death, outside probate — but it applies only to a transferor who dies on or after October 1, 2026. See our full guide to the Maryland TOD deed for how it works and why it took so long to arrive.
Joint tenancy needs the words, not the whole phrase
Under Real Property § 2-117, no deed, will, or other instrument creates a joint tenancy unless it expressly says the property is held that way — without that language, co-owned real estate defaults to a tenancy in common, with no survivorship. But Maryland courts have held that once the deed says "joint tenants," the right of survivorship is automatically presumed — you don't also need the fuller phrase "with right of survivorship" for it to apply. See our full breakdown of Maryland joint property and tenancy by the entirety rules.
Married couples get an automatic form — until divorce
Real estate conveyed to a married couple is presumed to be held as tenants by the entirety, carrying automatic survivorship and protection from either spouse's individual creditors. That protection isn't permanent: an absolute divorce automatically converts the tenancy by the entirety into a tenancy in common by operation of law, ending the survivorship right.
Bank accounts default to survivorship — with an open question
Nearly all Maryland deposit accounts with more than one owner carry rights of survivorship under the Financial Institutions Article's multiple-party account rule. But Maryland's own appellate courts haven't fully settled exactly how much of the account the survivor gets in every situation. See our guide to Maryland beneficiary and P.O.D. accounts for that unresolved question.
Where this feeds into other Maryland calculators
The probate-estate total from this tool is the starting point for Maryland's probate cost and executor fee calculators, and for checking Maryland's small estate affidavit. Maryland is one of the few states with both a state estate tax and an inheritance tax — see our Maryland Estate Tax Calculator and Maryland Inheritance Tax Calculator for those separate calculations.