Existing law governs the execution, revocation, and effectiveness of a revocable transfer on death (TOD) deed, defined as an instrument that makes a donative transfer of property to a named beneficiary, as defined, that operates on the transferor's death, and remains revocable until the transferor's death. Existing law establishes statutory forms for executing and revoking a revocable TOD deed that include provisions and instructions for the forms to be notarized by the transferor and recorded with the county recorder. Existing law requires that subsequent pages of the form to execute a revocable TOD deed include statutory "common questions" regarding the use of that form. Existing law requires that, in order to be effective, a revocable TOD deed be recorded on or before 60 days after the date it was executed. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2022.
California SB 315 (20212022) — Revocable transfer on death deeds.
Existing law governs the execution, revocation, and effectiveness of a revocable transfer on death (TOD) deed, defined as an instrument that makes a donative transfer of property to a named beneficiary, as defined, that operates on the transferor's death, and remains revocable until the transferor's death. Existing law establishes statutory forms for executing and revoking a revocable TOD deed that include provisions and instructions for the forms to be notarized by the transferor and recorded with the county recorder. Existing law requires that subsequent pages of the form to execute a revocable TOD deed include statutory "common questions" regarding the use of that form. Existing law requires that, in order to be effective, a revocable TOD deed be recorded on or before 60 days after the date it was executed. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2022.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
2021-03-15 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-03-17 March 23 hearing postponed by committee.
2021-03-18 Set for hearing April 6.
2021-03-25 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-04-07 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0. Page 686.) (April 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2021-04-08 Set for hearing April 19.
2021-04-20 April 19 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
2021-05-14 Set for hearing May 20.
2021-05-20 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1187.) (May 20). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-05-20 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2021-05-26 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1254.) Ordered to the Assembly. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-05-26 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
2021-06-03 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
2021-06-17 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-06-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2021-06-30 From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 30). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-07-01 Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. reading-1, reading-2
2021-07-08 From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Chau.
2021-07-08 Ordered to third reading.
2021-08-26 Read third time and amended. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-08-26 Ordered to third reading.
2021-09-01 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2593.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-09-01 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2021-09-02 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2352.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-09-09 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
2021-09-22 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2021-09-23 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 215, Statutes of 2021. became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/ef61cdb4-2190-4f8b-b234-b2171b2f0d3a. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).