(a) A grantee beneficiary or the beneficiaries of a transfer-on-death deed shall take the interest in real estate of the record owner upon the acceptance of such interest pursuant to Code Section 44-17-2, free and clear of any claims or interest as to a person who became the spouse of the record owner subsequent to the execution of the transfer-on-death deed, subject to all recorded conveyances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, liens, and security pledges made by the record owner or to which the record owner was subject during the lifetime of such record owner, including, but not limited to, any recorded executory contract of sale, option to purchase, lease, license, easement, mortgage, deed of trust or lien, and to any interest conveyed by the record owner that is less than all of the record owner’s interest in the property.
Provided, however, that a nonconsensual lien against the grantee beneficiary or beneficiaries shall not attach to the property until the recording of the affidavit described in subsections (d) and (e) of Code Section 44-17-2.
A transfer-on-death deed takes precedence and priority over all unsecured debts of the record owner’s estate filed upon the death of the record owner, unless the property is unredeemed.
(b) If one or more of the designated grantee beneficiaries dies prior to the death of the record owner, the transfer to those beneficiaries who predecease the record owner shall lapse and shall be deemed revoked, and the lapsed interest shall be split evenly among the remaining designated grantee beneficiaries who are living at the time of the death of the record owner and shall not revert to the estate.
Similarly, if one or more of the designated grantee beneficiaries die after the death of the record owner, but before acceptance of the property, the transfer to such beneficiaries who die after the record owner shall lapse and shall be deemed revoked, and the lapsed interest shall be split evenly among the remaining designated grantee beneficiaries who are living at the time of the death of the record owner and shall not revert to the estate.
In the event the grantee beneficiary or beneficiaries are designated in the deed to be joint tenants with right of survivorship, the death of one or more of the designated grantee beneficiaries prior to the death of the record owner shall not invalidate an otherwise validly created joint tenancy estate as to those designated grantee beneficiaries who are living at the time of the death of the record owner.