When a Co-Owner Dies: Who Can Sell a Maryland House?

A parent, spouse, sibling or partner who shared ownership of a Maryland house has died, and now you need to know whether you can sell. The answer is on the deed. The words describing how the owners hold title decide whether the house belongs entirely to the survivor or whether part of it now belongs to an estate.

Step one: find the deed

Recorded deeds can be searched through Maryland Land Records (MDLANDREC). Look at the line naming the owners. It usually says something like “as tenants by the entirety,” “as joint tenants,” or “as tenants in common,” or it says nothing about the form of ownership.

How each type of ownership works

Joint tenancy has to be spelled out

Real Property §2-117 says a deed does not create a joint tenancy unless it expressly says the property is held in joint tenancy. So two unmarried people on a deed that says nothing about survivorship are generally tenants in common. That catches many families by surprise, because the survivor does not automatically own the whole house.

When the survivor owns it all

For tenancy by the entirety and joint tenancy, no probate is needed for the house itself. Expect the title company handling the sale to ask for proof of death, such as a certified death certificate, and to review the deed wording. Ask the title company early exactly what it needs.

When part of the house is in an estate

With a tenancy in common, the deceased owner’s share is estate property. Someone has to open an estate with the Register of Wills and be appointed personal representative before that share can be sold. The surviving co-owner and the personal representative then sign together. How that works while the estate is still open is covered in selling an inherited house before probate is finished.

Maryland’s new transfer-on-death deed

Chapter 750 of 2026 created the Maryland Real Property Transfer-on-Death Deed Act, effective October 1, 2026. An owner can record a deed naming who receives the property at death. Under the act:

• The property passes at the owner’s death to a beneficiary who survives the owner, outside probate.
• If the owner held the house with a surviving joint owner, the joint owner’s survivorship rights come first.
• The beneficiary takes the property subject to existing mortgages and liens.
• Recording a notice of the death is optional under the act, but a title company will still want proof.

Because the act is new, its codified text may not yet appear on the statute website. The chapter law linked below is the enacted text.

Other problems that can come up

• The heirs don’t agree on selling. See what happens when heirs disagree about an inherited house.
• Old mortgages, judgments or a deceased owner who is still on title years later. The Maryland liens and title help guide covers how those get cleared.
• The whole house is in the estate. The Maryland inherited property guide explains the probate paths.