Nevada's transfer on death deed is called a deed upon death, it is created and revoked under NRS 111.655 to 111.699, it is valid only if signed, notarized and recorded with the recorder of the county where the property sits before the owner dies, and the beneficiary takes title afterward by recording a Death of Grantor Affidavit.
Nevada adopted the instrument in 2011, and NRS 111.655 says the sections may be cited as the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, so the Nevada version tracks the model act other states used. The statute is short, it prints its own forms, and it is worth reading before signing anything, because the answer to most questions about it is a single sentence somewhere in those sections.
This describes the mechanism. It is not legal advice, and a deed upon death sits inside a whole estate plan, so a Nevada estate planning attorney is the person to check it with.
Creating one, and the form the statute prints
NRS 111.671 lets the owner of an interest in property convey it to one or more beneficiaries by a deed that becomes effective on the owner's death, and names that instrument a deed upon death. NRS 111.669 limits it to real property located in Nevada, and NRS 111.679 sets the capacity to make or revoke one at the same level as the capacity to make a will.
NRS 111.681 is the requirement that trips people up: the deed is valid only if executed and recorded, as provided by law, in the office of the county recorder of the county where the property is located, before the death of the owner or of the last surviving owner. Recorded after the death, it does nothing.
NRS 111.695 prints the form. It carries the legal description and a block of capitals stating that the deed is revocable, that it does not transfer any ownership until the death of the grantor, and that it revokes all prior deeds by the grantor conveying the same property under these sections, whether or not those prior deeds conveyed the entire interest. It is signed and acknowledged before a notary. NRS 111.673 then lets the deed name several beneficiaries and say how they will hold, in any tenancy Nevada recognizes, and lets them take as sole and separate property without a quitclaim deed or disclaimer from a beneficiary's spouse.
It changes nothing while the owner is alive
NRS 111.685 answers most of the worried questions in one list. During the owner's lifetime the deed does not affect any interest or right of the owner, including the right to transfer or encumber the property; does not affect any other method of transferring property; does not affect any right of the designated beneficiary, even one who knows about the deed; does not affect the rights of the owner's creditors, present or future; does not affect the owner's or the beneficiary's eligibility for any form of public assistance; creates no legal or equitable interest in the beneficiary; and does not subject the property to claims or process of the beneficiary's creditors.
So the owner can still sell, refinance or give the house away, and NRS 111.677 says what happens if they do: the deed is void if the owner transfers the interest during life, and where more than one deed upon death has been recorded on the same property, the last one recorded before the death is the effective one. NRS 111.683 adds that the deed works without notice to, delivery to, or acceptance by the beneficiary, and without consideration. The beneficiary does not have to know it exists.
Revoking it
NRS 111.697 says the deed may be revoked at any time by the owner, or by any of several owners who created it, even if the deed says otherwise. The revocation is valid only if executed and recorded with the recorder of the county where the property is located before the death of the owner who executes it.
The same section says the deed may not be revoked by a revocatory act on the deed itself. Crossing it out, writing void on it or shredding the copy is not a revocation. The statute prints a revocation form, which identifies the recorded deed by document or file number, book and page, and is signed and notarized like the deed. Where the property is held with right of survivorship and the revocation is not signed by all the owners, it does not become effective unless the last surviving owner executes and records it.
What the beneficiary does after the death
NRS 111.699 sets the closing step. On the death of the last grantor, a Death of Grantor Affidavit is recorded where the deed was recorded, with a declaration of value of property under NRS 375.060 and a copy of each grantor's death certificate attached. The statute prints the affidavit: it identifies the decedent as the same person named as grantor in the recorded deed, identifies the affiant as a beneficiary or authorized representative, and describes the property.
NRS 111.691 states the obvious in one line: beneficiaries inherit the property subject to any liens in existence on the date of the grantor's death. The mortgage comes with the house. A beneficiary who does not want it can get out under NRS 111.687, by recording a disclaimer of all or part of the interest with the county recorder as chapter 120 of NRS provides.
Creditors, the notice, and Medicaid
NRS 111.689 is the longest section and the one that most affects how quickly a beneficiary can sell. To the extent the grantor's probate estate is insufficient to satisfy an allowed claim or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, the estate may enforce that liability against property transferred by a deed upon death, apportioned among several such properties in proportion to their net values at death.
The section puts the notice duty on the beneficiaries. After the death they have to publish a notice to creditors in the manner NRS 155.020 specifies and mail a copy to the grantor's personal representative if known, to the Nevada Health Authority, and to known or readily ascertainable creditors. Claims must be filed with the beneficiaries within 90 days of the mailing or of first publication, and a claim not filed in time is barred. Once that window closes and the Health Authority has provided a waiver of claim, the beneficiaries may sell or distribute without personal liability for untimely claims.
If the Health Authority is not given notice, the property remains subject to its right to recover public assistance the grantor received, and it may seek a lien. NRS 111.693 says in terms that these sections must not be construed to limit the recovery of benefits paid for Medicaid, so the deed is not a shelter from long-term care recovery. The same section also protects a buyer: a person dealing with a beneficiary in good faith and for valuable consideration has the rights they would have if the beneficiary had been named a distributee in a final order for distribution, provided a Death of Grantor Affidavit was recorded under NRS 111.699.
Community property, a spouse, and joint owners
Nevada is a community property state. Under NRS 123.220 property acquired after marriage by either spouse or both is community property unless a written agreement between the spouses, a decree of separate maintenance or one of the other listed exceptions applies, and NRS 123.225 says the spouses' interests in it are present, existing and equal. A deed upon death conveys the grantor's interest, so one signed by one spouse alone on a community property house reaches that spouse's interest and leaves the rest to be handled another way.
NRS 111.675 covers survivorship title directly. Where the owner holds as a joint tenant with right of survivorship or as community property with right of survivorship, a deed that includes a conveyance of the interest from each of the other owners becomes effective on the death of the last surviving owner; a deed that does not becomes effective on the death of the owner who created it only if that owner is the last survivor. In plain terms, survivorship comes first, and a deed signed by one co-owner sits behind it. Married couples who want the house to skip probate twice generally have both spouses sign one deed upon death naming the eventual beneficiary.
Questions people ask
Does a deed upon death avoid probate in Nevada?
For that parcel it does, since the property passes under the recorded deed rather than through the estate. The beneficiaries still have to publish and mail the notice to creditors NRS 111.689 requires, and any other property the person owned is unaffected.
How much does it cost to record a deed upon death in Nevada?
The charge is the county recorder's document recording fee, set by the county and charged by the page, not a percentage of the property's value. The Death of Grantor Affidavit recorded later carries its own recording charge and a declaration of value form.
Can one owner revoke a deed upon death without the other?
NRS 111.697 lets any one of the owners who created the deed revoke it, even if the deed says otherwise, by recording a revocation before their death. Where the property is held with right of survivorship and not all owners sign, the revocation takes effect only if the last surviving owner records it.