One of the earlier adopters, since 2010
Utah adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act in 2010 through House Bill 224, making it one of the earlier states to enact the uniform act — well ahead of many states that only adopted similar laws in the 2020s. The law was later amended in 2018 (HB 94) and again in 2019, refining details around beneficiary rights and effect during the transferor's life.
You sign, notarize, and record before death
The owner must sign the deed, get their signature notarized, and record it with the county recorder's office before death, or it has no effect. The beneficiary doesn't sign the deed and has no legal right to the property until the owner's death — or, if the property is jointly owned, until the last surviving joint owner dies.
Crossing it out doesn't revoke it
Here's Utah's most distinctive and specific rule: once a transfer on death deed is recorded, it may not be revoked by a revocatory act performed on the deed itself — marking through it, writing "void" across it, or tearing up a copy accomplishes nothing legally. Revocation requires recording a separate instrument of revocation, or recording a later transfer on death deed, in the county land records. This is a genuinely specific statutory protection that some people might not expect, since crossing out or destroying a document is often assumed to undo it.
Joint owners must all agree to revoke
If two or more joint owners made a TOD deed together, it can only be revoked if all of the living joint owners revoke it — one joint owner acting alone can't unilaterally undo a deed the group created together. This gives every joint owner an equal say over whether the beneficiary designation stays in place.
The risk of an unrecorded "desk drawer" deed
Because Utah follows a race-notice deed priority rule, signing a TOD deed and simply leaving it in a drawer without recording it creates real risk. A later deed — for any reason, intentional or not — that actually gets recorded can take priority over the earlier, unrecorded TOD deed, even though the TOD deed was signed first. Recording promptly after signing is the only way to actually lock in the intended beneficiary designation.
Creditors get 12 months after death
If the transferor's probate estate turns out to be insufficient to pay outstanding debts, creditors may enforce claims against the property the TOD beneficiary received, up to the property's value — but any such proceeding must be commenced within 12 months of the transferor's death. After that window closes, the beneficiary's interest is generally secure from these estate-related creditor claims.
Joint ownership still comes first
Utah's TOD deed doesn't override an existing right of survivorship. If the transferor dies as a joint owner survived by one or more other joint owners, the property belongs to those surviving owners instead — the TOD deed only becomes effective if the transferor turns out to be the last surviving joint owner. See our guide to Utah's joint tenancy presumption for how that co-ownership question gets decided in the first place.