How to Avoid Probate in Oregon

Oregon moves property outside probate five ways: a transfer on death deed under ORS 93.948 to 93.979, survivorship title, payable on death and beneficiary registrations on accounts and securities, contract beneficiary forms, and a funded revocable trust under ORS chapter 130. Each one reaches a single class of asset, and none of them defeats a creditor.

Every rule below was read on the Oregon Legislature's own 2025 Edition of the Oregon Revised Statutes, which prints each section's amendment history inline. Read this page as a planning map rather than a signing kit. It is general information about Oregon law, not advice about your estate. Ask a licensed Oregon attorney to review any plan that involves real property, a blended family, or a dispute you can already see forming.

Start with what the alternative costs. The Oregon probate process runs on a four-month creditor window and a statewide fee schedule, so the honest comparison is between a step you take now and a court file your family opens later. Avoidance earns its place because it moves an asset on a death certificate instead of on a court appointment, it keeps the transfer out of a public file, and it spares an out-of-state family an Oregon courthouse.

The Transfer on Death Deed Moves Oregon Real Property

ORS 93.948 gives ORS 93.948 to 93.979 the name Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. Oregon enacted it in 2011 c.212, and ORS 93.950 applies it to a deed made before, on or after January 1, 2012 by a transferor dying on or after January 1, 2012. Use an Oregon transfer on death deed when the goal is passing a house or a parcel without a probate case.

ORS 93.961 sets four requirements. The deed must carry the elements and formalities of a properly recordable inter vivos deed, must state that the transfer to the designated beneficiary occurs at the transferor's death, must identify the beneficiary by name, and must be recorded before the transferor's death in the deed records of the county clerk for the county where the property sits. Recording after the death does nothing. Subsection (2) voids a designation that identifies beneficiaries only as members of a class, so wording such as to my children fails and each person has to be named.

Two features make the Oregon version easier to use than the same act in most states:

• Oregon prints the form. ORS 93.975 carries a full transfer on death deed form inside the statute, and ORS 93.977 carries the revocation form. Many states adopted the act without a form, which leaves every template online as somebody's draft. Oregon's sits in the code.
• The deed does nothing until death. ORS 93.963 makes it effective without notice, delivery, acceptance or consideration, so no beneficiary has to sign or even be told. ORS 93.967 confirms that during the transferor's life the deed does not touch the owner's right to sell or encumber, creates no interest in the beneficiary, does not expose the property to the beneficiary's creditors, and does not affect either person's eligibility for any form of public assistance or medical assistance as defined in ORS 414.025.

ORS 93.955 makes the deed revocable even if the deed says otherwise, and ORS 93.965 controls how. A revoking instrument works only if the transferor acknowledges it after acknowledging the deed being revoked and records it before death. Subsection (4) is the trap: once a transfer on death deed is recorded, it may not be revoked by a revocatory act on the deed. Tearing up your copy changes nothing, because the county's copy is the operative one.

At death, ORS 93.969 governs. A beneficiary who survives takes, and a beneficiary who does not survive lapses. Concurrent beneficiaries take equal undivided shares with no right of survivorship between them, and a lapsed share redistributes among the remaining beneficiaries in proportion to their interests. Subsection (3) settles the co-owner question: if the transferor is survived by another joint owner, the property goes to that surviving owner, and the deed operates only when the transferor is the last surviving joint owner. Subsection (4) transfers title without covenant or warranty even if the deed promises one, and subsection (2) passes the property subject to every encumbrance and lien it carried at death.

Two clocks close the act. ORS 93.959(3) gives 18 months after the death to contest the transferor's capacity or to attack a deed procured by fraud, duress or undue influence. ORS 93.973(3) gives the same 18 months to enforce a creditor liability against the transferred property.

The Deed Reaches Land and Nothing Else

ORS 93.949(5) defines property for the whole act as an interest in real property located in this state. That definition is the boundary. A transfer on death deed does not carry a car, a boat, a bank balance or a brokerage position, and the answer for a house does not generalize to the rest of the estate. Vehicles run on their own paperwork, so read Oregon vehicle title after death before assuming the deed covers the driveway.

Survivorship Title in Oregon Is Not Joint Tenancy

This is where a plan copied from another state breaks. ORS 93.180(3) states it plainly: except for trustees and personal representatives under ORS 93.190, joint tenancy in real property is abolished in Oregon, and using the words joint tenants without any other indication of an intent to create a right of survivorship creates a tenancy in common. A deed that says joint tenants with right of survivorship in Portland does not do what the same words do in Seattle.

What Oregon does provide sits in ORS 93.180(1). A conveyance or devise to two or more people creates a tenancy in common unless it clearly and expressly declares that the grantees take with right of survivorship. Between spouses married to each other it creates a tenancy by the entirety unless the instrument clearly and expressly says otherwise. ORS 93.180(2) then describes what a survivorship declaration actually builds: a tenancy in common in the life estate with cross-contingent remainders in the fee simple.

Two consequences follow. Married Oregon couples usually already hold the family home in a form that passes to the survivor without probate, so their planning question is the second death rather than the first. And anyone using survivorship language between unmarried co-owners has to write the express declaration ORS 93.180(1)(a) demands, because the shorthand alone produces a tenancy in common and a probate.

Payable on Death Accounts and Beneficiary Registrations

Bank and credit union accounts follow ORS 708A.455 to 708A.515. ORS 708A.465 sets lifetime ownership: a joint account belongs to the parties in proportion to net contributions unless clear and convincing evidence shows a different intent, and a P.O.D. account belongs to the original party alone during that person's life. ORS 708A.470 then handles the death. Sums left in a joint account are rebuttably presumed to belong to the surviving parties, and subsection (6) names the two grounds for rebutting that presumption: the deceased party intended a different result, or the deceased party lacked capacity when the joint account was created. On the death of the sole original party, a P.O.D. account belongs to the surviving payee. ORS 708A.480 places those transfers outside estate administration.

Here is the sentence almost nobody publishes. ORS 708A.470(5) says a will may not change a right of survivorship arising from the express terms of the account or under that section, a beneficiary designation in a trust account, or a P.O.D. payee designation. Several states let a will that names a nonprobate account by description redirect it. Oregon does not. The account paperwork wins, which means an Oregon plan has to fix the forms at the bank rather than describing them in a will.

Securities have their own act. ORS 59.535 to 59.585 is the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act. ORS 59.550 lets a registration name a beneficiary who takes at the death of the owner or of all multiple owners, ORS 59.560 confirms the designation has no effect on ownership until then and can be canceled or changed by the sole or surviving owners without the beneficiary's consent, and ORS 59.565 passes ownership to the beneficiaries who survive all owners. ORS 59.575(1) makes that transfer nontestamentary, and subsection (2) says the act does not limit the rights of creditors of security owners against beneficiaries. ORS 59.540 restricts beneficiary form to sole owners and to co-owners holding with right of survivorship, as tenants by the entireties, or in community property survivorship form, never as tenants in common. ORS 59.570(1) allows a broker to decline the service, so confirm your own broker offers it.

Retirement accounts, annuities and life insurance pass by contract. Refreshing those forms is the cheapest avoidance step on this page and the one most often left stale after a divorce, a death or a remarriage. While you are updating them, settle online accounts after death too, because access to an account is a planning question rather than a court question.

A Funded Revocable Trust

ORS 130.150 lists how a trust comes into existence, including a lifetime transfer of property to a trustee and a declaration by an owner that the owner holds identified property as trustee. ORS 130.500(1) sets capacity at the will standard: a person who can make a will can create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust. ORS 130.505(1) makes a trust revocable unless its terms expressly say it is irrevocable, and subsection (3) allows revocation or amendment by substantial compliance with the method written into the trust or, where the trust gives none, by any method except a will or codicil that shows clear and convincing evidence of intent. Compare an Oregon revocable living trust against the cheaper devices honestly before paying for one.

The word that decides everything is funded. A signed trust that never received title to the house, the accounts or the business interest moves nothing, and the estate opens a probate anyway. Retitling is the work. Signing is the easy part.

Oregon adds one rule married couples should know before retitling. ORS 130.518 preserves the creditor immunity of tenancy by the entirety property conveyed into a joint revocable trust or into each spouse's separate revocable trust, but only while three conditions hold: the spouses stay married to each other, the property stays in trust, and both spouses are beneficiaries. A trustee acting under an express trust provision, or both spouses in writing, can waive that protection. Section 12 of 2021 c.272 applies the rule to property conveyed on or after that act's effective date, so an older transfer needs its own review.

The Trust Does Not End the Creditor Question

A trust changes who administers the property, not whether debts get paid. ORS 130.315(1)(a) subjects the property of a revocable trust to the settlor's creditors during the settlor's life, and subsection (1)(c) subjects it to creditors' claims under ORS 130.350 to 130.450 once the settlor dies.

Oregon runs that process through the probate court. Under ORS 130.355 a trustee may petition the probate court to determine creditor claims, paying the ORS 21.135 plaintiff filing fee, in the county where the settlor was domiciled, where trust assets sit, or where the settlor died. ORS 130.360 then bars claims not submitted before the later of four months after first publication or 30 days after a mailed notice. ORS 130.365 requires publication once in each of three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation. ORS 130.370 requires the trustee to mail notice to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority along with every known claimant.

One more clock: ORS 130.515(1) requires a contest to the validity of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death within the earlier of three years after the death or four months after the trustee sends a copy of the trust instrument with the required notice.

What Avoiding Probate Does Not Do

• It does not defeat creditors. ORS 93.973 reaches transfer on death deed property when the probate estate falls short of an allowed claim or a statutory allowance under ORS 114.015. ORS 59.575(2) preserves creditor rights against security beneficiaries. ORS 130.315 does the same for a revocable trust.
• It does not defeat a surviving spouse. See the next section, which is the piece most avoidance pages leave out.
• It does not avoid Oregon estate tax. ORS 118.010(2) taxes the transfer of a resident decedent's property, and the rate table in ORS 118.010(4) starts at an Oregon taxable estate of $1,000,000 and runs from 10.0 percent to 16.0 percent. ORS 118.160(1)(c) requires an estate tax return for a decedent dying on or after January 1, 2012 when the gross estate reaches $1 million, and ORS 118.160(2) applies whether or not the estate is subject to administration. Take the estate tax question separately from the probate question.
• It does not stop Medicaid estate recovery. ORS 416.350(2) lets the state recover medical assistance paid to a person who was 55 or older when the assistance was paid, from that person's estate or from any recipient of property the person held at death. ORS 416.350(6)(a) then defines estate to include assets conveyed to a survivor, heir or assign through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust or other similar arrangement. ORS 93.969(2) reinforces it from the deed side, passing the property subject to a state reimbursement lien where the probate estate cannot cover it.
• It does not replace incapacity planning. An Oregon power of attorney handles money while you are alive, and an Oregon advance directive names who speaks for your care. Neither one substitutes for the other, and no death-transfer device does either job.

The Elective Share Reaches Assets That Skipped Probate

Oregon calculates a surviving spouse's elective share against an augmented estate, and ORS 114.630(1) builds that figure from the probate estate, the nonprobate estate and the surviving spouse's own estate. ORS 114.665 spells out what the nonprobate half captures: a fractional interest in property held in any form of survivorship tenancy immediately before death, an interest in property or accounts held under a payable on death designation or deed, a transfer on death registration, a co-ownership registration with right of survivorship, property for which the decedent could have named a beneficiary, and property the decedent could have reclaimed by exercising a revocation.

Read that last item twice. A funded revocable trust is property the settlor could have reclaimed, so it lands inside the augmented estate.

ORS 114.605(2) scales the share by the length of the marriage, from 5 percent of the augmented estate for a marriage under two years up to 33 percent at 15 years or more. ORS 114.610 requires the surviving spouse to file the motion or petition within nine months after the death. ORS 114.705 then makes the original recipients of the nonprobate estate, and anyone who took from them for less than fair consideration, contribute proportionally toward satisfying the share.

Two limits keep this honest. ORS 114.635(2) excludes property irrevocably transferred before the decedent's death, so a completed lifetime gift sits outside the calculation while a revocable arrangement sits inside it, and ORS 114.620 lets a spouse waive the right to elect. ORS 114.600(3) sends the whole question to the law of the decedent's domicile when the decedent died domiciled outside Oregon.

The Simple Estate Affidavit Is a Shortcut, Not Avoidance

Oregon retired the phrase small estate affidavit in 2023. The route is the simple estate affidavit, and ORS 114.510(1)(a) sets two caps that must both hold: no more than $75,000 of the fair market value of the estate attributable to personal property other than manufactured homes, and no more than $200,000 attributable to the combined fair market value of real property and manufactured homes. That grouping is date-banded: 2025 Or. Laws ch. 34 and ch. 342 both amended ORS 114.510 for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2026, and for an earlier death a manufactured home counted as personal property against the $75,000 cap instead. ORS 114.510(1)(b) adds a testate variant for an estate whose balance is devised to the trustee of a pre-existing trust the decedent settled. ORS 114.510(2)(b) values everything without reduction for liens or other debts, so a mortgaged house counts at full value.

That is simplified administration rather than a way around it. The affidavit is filed with the court, ORS 114.555(2) keeps the conveyed property subject to creditor rights for two years, and ORS 114.555(1)(a)(B) preserves the surviving spouse's elective share claim on top of that. Read the simple estate affidavit for how the route runs.

A narrower shortcut sits in banking law. ORS 708A.430(1) lets a bank pay a deceased depositor's balance of $25,000 or less on an affidavit, in a statutory order of priority that puts the surviving spouse first and the state's medical assistance claim second. ORS 723.466 gives credit unions the same rule. Both were last amended by 2025 c.65, which took effect January 1, 2026, moved an agency demand window and left the $25,000 figure alone.

Divorce Cancels Some of These and Not Others

ORS 107.115(1) lists what a judgment of dissolution or annulment revokes on its own: a will under ORS 112.315, a transfer on death deed under ORS 93.981, and an agent's authority under ORS 127.015 along with a health care representative's under ORS 127.545 and an attorney-in-fact's under ORS 127.722. ORS 130.535 revokes trust provisions favoring the former spouse, that person's powers of appointment, and any provision naming that person trustee, then construes the trust as though the former spouse predeceased the settlor.

Beneficiary forms work differently, and the difference costs money. ORS 107.121(1) says a judgment may revoke a designation of beneficiary made in favor of a spouse or a relative of the spouse, which turns the outcome on what the judgment says rather than on the divorce itself. ORS 107.118(2) lists the instruments this covers, including life insurance policies, ERISA pension plans, public and federal retirement systems, section 457 deferred compensation plans, and individual retirement accounts and annuities under sections 408 and 408A. ORS 107.127(1) then protects a payer that pays the old beneficiary in good faith until it receives written notice of the revocation.

The practical reading: after an Oregon divorce, change the forms yourself. Do not assume the judgment did it.

Choosing Between Them

For most Oregon households the answer is a recorded transfer on death deed for the house, current beneficiary forms on every account, and a will that catches whatever is left. A trust earns its cost when land sits in another state, when a beneficiary should not receive money outright, or when the plan runs past a single line of descent.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to avoid probate in Oregon?

It depends on the asset. A house or a parcel of land moves through a transfer on death deed under ORS 93.948 to 93.979, recorded with the county clerk before the owner dies. Bank money moves through a payable on death designation under ORS 708A.470, and securities move through registration in beneficiary form under ORS 59.535 to 59.585. Retirement accounts and life insurance move under their own contract forms. A funded revocable trust under ORS chapter 130 covers everything at once and costs more to set up and maintain.

Does Oregon have a transfer on death deed?

Yes. ORS 93.948 names ORS 93.948 to 93.979 the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, enacted by 2011 c.212 and applying to a transferor dying on or after January 1, 2012 under ORS 93.950. Oregon prints a statutory form inside ORS 93.975, which is unusual. ORS 93.961 requires the deed to carry the elements of a recordable inter vivos deed, to state that the transfer happens at the transferor's death, to name the beneficiary, and to be recorded before the death in the deed records of the county where the property sits. A designation naming only a class, such as my children, is void.

Can an Oregon will override a payable on death designation?

No. ORS 708A.470(5) says a will may not change a right of survivorship arising from the express terms of the account or under that section, a beneficiary designation in a trust account, or a P.O.D. payee designation. ORS 708A.480 puts the same transfers outside estate administration. Oregon differs from states that let a will redirect a nonprobate account, so an Oregon plan has to fix the account paperwork itself.

Does avoiding probate protect Oregon assets from creditors?

No. ORS 93.973 lets the transferor's estate enforce a liability against transfer on death deed property when the probate estate cannot cover an allowed claim or a statutory allowance under ORS 114.015, with an 18-month window to start the proceeding. ORS 130.315(1)(c) subjects a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death to creditors' claims, and ORS 130.350 to 130.450 supply the claims process. Under ORS 114.555(2) property an affiant conveys stays subject to creditor rights for two years.

Can a surviving spouse claim Oregon assets that skipped probate?

Yes. Oregon computes the elective share against an augmented estate, and ORS 114.630(1)(b) folds in the nonprobate estate described in ORS 114.660 and 114.665. That reach covers survivorship interests, payable on death and transfer on death registrations and deeds, and property the decedent could have reclaimed by revoking an arrangement. ORS 114.605 sets the share from 5 percent of the augmented estate under two years of marriage up to 33 percent at 15 years or more, and ORS 114.705 makes recipients of the nonprobate estate contribute.

Does an Oregon divorce cancel a beneficiary designation?

Some, and by different routes. ORS 107.115(1) makes a dissolution judgment revoke a will under ORS 112.315, revoke a transfer on death deed under ORS 93.981, and end an agent's authority under ORS 127.015. ORS 130.535 revokes trust provisions favoring a former spouse. A life insurance or retirement designation is different: ORS 107.121 says the judgment may revoke one, so it turns on what the judgment says, and ORS 107.127 protects a payer who pays the old beneficiary until it receives written notice.

Related Guides

• Oregon Probate Guide
• Oregon Transfer on Death Deed
• Oregon Revocable Living Trust
• Oregon Simple Estate Affidavit
• Oregon Power of Attorney
• Oregon Advance Directive
• Oregon Digital Assets
• Oregon Estate Tax and the Federal Estate Tax
• Oregon Vehicle Title After Death

Sources:

• Title: ORS 93.948 URPTDA 1. Short title (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.961 URPTDA 9. Requirements (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.965 URPTDA 11. Revocation by instrument; revocation by act (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.969 URPTDA 13. Effect of transfer on death deed at transferor's death (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.973 URPTDA 15. Liability for creditor claims and statutory allowances (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.975 URPTDA 16. Form of transfer on death deed (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 93.180 Forms of tenancy in conveyance or devise to two or more persons (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 93, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS 708A.470 Multiple-party accounts; disposition of deposit upon death of party or trustee; effect of will (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 708A, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors708A.html
• Title: ORS 708A.430 Disposition of deposit on death of depositor (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 708A, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors708A.html
• Title: ORS 723.466 Disposition of deposit on death of depositor (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 723, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors723.html
• Title: ORS 59.565 Ownership on death of owner (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 59, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors059.html
• Title: ORS 130.505 UTC 602. Revocation or amendment of revocable trust (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 130, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors130.html
• Title: ORS 130.315 UTC 505. Creditor's claim against settlor (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 130, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors130.html
• Title: ORS 130.518 Creditor protections retained upon conveyance of property held as tenants by the entirety to revocable trust (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 130, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors130.html
• Title: ORS 114.510 Simple estate criteria (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 114, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
• Title: ORS 114.665 Decedent's nonprobate estate; property owned immediately before death (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 114, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
• Title: ORS 118.010 Imposition and amount of tax in general; Oregon taxable estate; out-of-state property; nonresident decedents; rules (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 118, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors118.html
• Title: ORS 416.350 Recovery of medical assistance; estate claims; transfer of assets (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 416, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors416.html
• Title: ORS 107.115 Effect of judgment; effective date; appeal pending upon death of party (Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 107, 2025 Edition). Publisher: Oregon State Legislature, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors107.html
• Title: House Bill 3370, Chapter 65, Oregon Laws 2025, Relating to financial institutions. Publisher: Oregon State Legislature. Publication Date: May 12, 2025. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0065.pdf

It is not legal advice.