Nevada · Transferring a house
The order moves the house. Recording it is what makes that true.
A Nevada set-aside order says in terms that it is the document transferring title — there is no separate deed to draft. But until it is recorded with the county recorder, nothing has moved, and recording it means a tax form, a tax, and one question worth several hundred dollars.
What you take to the recorder
- A certified copy of the signed order — not the copy you brought to the hearing. The clerk issues certified copies for a fee, and the recorder wants a certified one.
- Exhibit A, the legal description of the property. The order's own instructions send the legal description here rather than into the body, so it has to be attached.
- A completed Declaration of Value (LGS-F049). The recorder will not record without it, and there is no charge for the form itself.
- The assessor's parcel number for every parcel. It is on the property tax bill and on the Clark County Assessor's site.
- Payment for the recording fee, and for the transfer tax if no exemption applies.
The Declaration of Value
A Nevada Department of Taxation form, LGS-F049, required by NRS 375.060 for anything that transfers real property. It is one page. The recorder will not record your order without it and charges nothing for the form itself.
One box on it is worth pausing over. Where there has been no sale — and an inheritance is not a sale — the instructions say to use the Assessor's taxable value, or the last sale price within the previous five years, whichever is greater. Not your estimate, and not the figure in the probate schedules, which was gathered for a different purpose. Look the parcel up on the Assessor's site and use that number. This form is signed under penalty of perjury too.
The transfer tax, and the exemption question
This is the part with money attached, so here is the landscape rather than an answer — whether an exemption applies is a question about tax, the recorder decides it at the counter, and getting it wrong is expensive.
- Transfer tax rate
- $2.55 for every $500 of taxable value, or part of $500. The first $100 is free.
- Exemptions in NRS 375.090
- Fourteen. None of them is written for a transfer by probate order.
- The one that may reach you
- Exemption 5 — a transfer between people related within the first degree, meaning parent and child or spouse to spouse.
- What the recorder accepts as proof of that
- Their own published list for exemption 5 includes a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a court order.
- If a claim is disallowed
- 10% of the tax, plus 1% a month.
- Who answers the question for free
- The Recorder's audit division, (702) 455-5587.
If there is a deed upon death, stop
A deed upon death under NRS 111.655 to 111.699 is signed and recorded by the owner while they are alive and takes effect when they die. It skips probate entirely and has its own exemption from transfer tax. Check whether one was recorded before you file anything — if it was, none of this applies to that parcel.
It cannot be made after the death. If there is not one, the set-aside is the route.
Questions people ask
How do you transfer a house after someone dies in Nevada?
For a small estate, the set-aside under NRS 146.070 does it. The court's signed order says in terms that it is the document transferring title — there is no separate deed to draft. You then record that order with the county recorder, and until you do, the title has not moved. The affidavit route cannot do this: FORM 303 excludes real property and any lien on it.
Do you need a new deed after probate in Nevada?
Not for a set-aside. The order itself is the transfer document, which is why paragraph 3 of the order says so explicitly. What you need is a certified copy of it, the legal description attached as Exhibit A, and a Declaration of Value to hand to the recorder with it.
What is the Declaration of Value and why does the recorder want one?
It is a Nevada Department of Taxation form, LGS-F049, required by NRS 375.060 for anything that transfers real property. It states the parcel number, what kind of property it is, what it is worth, and whether an exemption from transfer tax is claimed. The recorder will not record the order without it, and there is no fee for the form itself.
What value goes on the Declaration of Value when there was no sale?
Not your estimate. The recorder's instructions say to use the Assessor's taxable value, or the last sale price within the previous five years, whichever is greater. Look the parcel up on the Clark County Assessor's site and use that figure — the form is signed under penalty of perjury, the same as the petition was.
Is there transfer tax on a house inherited in Nevada?
Usually yes, unless an exemption applies. The rate is $2.55 for every $500 of taxable value, so a $180,000 house comes to roughly $918. None of the fourteen exemptions in NRS 375.090 is written for a probate transfer, but exemption 5 covers transfers between people related within the first degree — parent and child, or spouse to spouse — and the recorder's own list of acceptable proof for it includes a court order. Ask the Recorder's audit division on (702) 455-5587 before claiming it. A disallowed claim costs 10% of the tax plus 1% a month.
Is a deed upon death the same thing?
No, and the difference catches people out. A deed upon death under NRS 111.655 to 111.699 is signed and recorded by the owner while they are alive, and takes effect when they die. It has its own exemption from transfer tax — exemption 10 — and it avoids probate entirely. If one was recorded before the death, you are not doing any of this. If it was not, it is too late to make one, and the set-aside is the route.
Where is the Clark County Recorder?
500 S. Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas. The audit division answers questions about value and exemptions on (702) 455-5587; the Assessor answers questions about the property tax abatement box on the same form on (702) 455-3882. They are different offices and they answer different questions.
What if the property is in another state?
Land is settled where it sits. A Nevada order does not move a parcel in Arizona or California, and that property needs its own proceeding in that state — usually called an ancillary probate. We flag it during intake and refer it out; it is not something to improvise.