Sell Inherited Property in West Virginia

Whether an inherited West Virginia property can be sold quickly depends on how title was held, whether there is a will, the value of the estate, whether creditor or Medicaid claims attach, the marital situation, and whether co-heirs agree on a sale.

• West Virginia has no inheritance tax and no state estate tax currently collected. Selling an inherited property creates no state death tax. The cost that actually applies to real estate is the deed transfer excise, generally owed when you sell, not when you inherit.
• Survivorship is never assumed. If a deed does not clearly create a right of survivorship, West Virginia presumes the owners held title as tenants in common (W. Va. Code §§ 36-1-19, 36-1-20), so a co-owner’s share passes to that owner’s heirs and usually needs probate.
• A surviving spouse’s protection is the elective share, not a homestead allowance. West Virginia uses a sliding scale tied to the length of the marriage, from a supplemental amount only up to 50% of the augmented estate at 15 years or more. Unlike Virginia, West Virginia has no probate homestead or exempt-property allowance.
• Out-of-state heirs may not need a full second probate. When a nonresident owner’s estate is already handled in the home state, West Virginia offers lower-cost paths to clear title to West Virginia real estate (W. Va. Code §§ 41-5-13, 44-1-4(b)).
• Medicaid estate recovery is one of the largest hidden claims. If the decedent received Medicaid-funded long-term care after age 55, the state can assert a claim that affects the inherited home, subject to specific protections (W. Va. Code § 9-5-11c).

Whether inherited property in West Virginia needs probate depends on how title was held. Property that passes by survivorship, by a transfer-on-death deed, or through a trust generally transfers outside probate. Property held in one person’s name alone, or a deceased co-owner’s share of a tenancy in common, generally needs estate administration or one of the statutory transfer paths described below.

• Sole ownership: Usually requires estate administration or another statutory transfer path. The property passes by will or, with no will, by intestacy, and the chain of title has to be cleared before a sale.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship: Bypasses probate only if the deed clearly created survivorship and a co-owner is still living. West Virginia does not assume survivorship.
• Tenancy in common: The deceased owner’s share passes to that owner’s heirs or devisees and usually requires administration. There is no survivorship.
• Transfer-on-death (beneficiary) deed: Bypasses probate for the transfer of title. The beneficiary still takes the property subject to existing mortgages and liens, and without a warranty of title.
• Trust: Bypasses probate only if the property was actually deeded into the trust before death.
• Life estate: The remainder interest can vest outside probate when the life tenant dies, but the deed language controls, so unclear or partial interests can change the answer.

West Virginia does not use a separate statewide probate court. Estate administration runs through the county commission, the county clerk, the fiduciary supervisor, and sometimes a fiduciary commissioner for larger or contested estates.

West Virginia is a common-law, separate-property state with no inheritance tax and no state estate tax currently collected. Estates are administered at the county level through the county commission and county clerk, not a statewide probate court. The state’s signature feature for a surviving spouse is the elective share, a claim against the estate that scales with the length of the marriage rather than a fixed fraction. Unlike Virginia, West Virginia does not use probate homestead or exempt-property allowances as the surviving spouse’s main protection.

What Makes West Virginia Different for Inherited Property?

Three West Virginia rules matter most for inherited real estate: the marriage-length elective share, the abolished dower system that left a residual notice rule behind, and the tenancy-in-common default that quietly governs co-owned property.

West Virginia’s Elective Share Rises with the Length of the Marriage

West Virginia does not give a surviving spouse a flat one-third or one-half. The elective share is a sliding scale tied to how long the couple was married, applied to the augmented estate, and it runs from a supplemental amount only for very short marriages up to 50% of the augmented estate at 15 years or more (W. Va. Code § 42-3-1). It is a value-based claim against the estate, not an automatic deed to the inherited house. The full schedule appears in “Surviving Spouse Protections” below.

West Virginia Abolished Dower, but a Notice Rule Survives

West Virginia abolished dower and curtesy, so a surviving spouse does not receive an automatic dower life estate in the home. What remains is a notice rule: when a married person conveys certain real estate, the non-owner spouse is entitled to notice (W. Va. Code §§ 43-1-1, 43-1-2). Because the person conveying carries the burden of showing that notice was handled correctly, title companies may ask both spouses to sign or to provide documentation even when only one spouse holds record title. This is a real-estate practicality, not a statutory requirement that both spouses own the home.

West Virginia Presumes Tenancy in Common, Not Survivorship

When a deed does not clearly create a right of survivorship, West Virginia presumes the owners held title as tenants in common (W. Va. Code §§ 36-1-19, 36-1-20). That means a co-owner’s share passes to that owner’s own heirs or devisees, not automatically to the surviving co-owners, and it is the setup behind most multi-heir partition disputes (see “Heirs’ Property and Partition”).

West Virginia recognizes several forms of ownership, and the form decides whether inherited property passes through probate. The state’s signature rule is that survivorship is never assumed: it exists only when a deed clearly creates it.

• Sole ownership. No probate bypass. Passes by will or intestacy and needs administration or a statutory transfer path to clear title.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Bypasses probate only if the deed clearly created survivorship and an owner survives. West Virginia does not assume it.
• Tenancy in common. No survivorship. The deceased owner’s share passes to that owner’s heirs or devisees. This is the default whenever survivorship is unclear.
• Transfer-on-death (beneficiary) deed. Bypasses probate, but the beneficiary takes subject to all liens and without warranty of title (W. Va. Code § 36-12-13).
• Life estate. The remainder interest usually vests outside probate when the life tenant dies, but the deed language controls.
• Trust. Distributed by the trustee under the trust terms, but only if the property was actually deeded into the trust before death.

West Virginia transfer-on-death deeds are useful, but limited. The transfer-on-death (beneficiary) deed is governed by the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act at Chapter 36, Article 12 of the West Virginia Code. The deed must be signed, notarized, and recorded with the county clerk before the owner’s death (W. Va. Code §§ 36-12-5, 36-12-9). At death, the property passes to the named beneficiary without probate.

Two points matter for an heir who received a house this way. First, the beneficiary takes the property subject to every mortgage, lien, and encumbrance in place at the owner’s death, and without any warranty of title (W. Va. Code § 36-12-13). A transfer-on-death deed avoids probate; it does not clean up the title. Second, a transfer-on-death deed is exempt from the real estate transfer excise tax because no interest passes until death and the deed stays revocable while the owner lives (W. Va. Code § 36-12-9).

Mineral, oil, gas, and coal rights are a recurring West Virginia title issue, because these interests are often severed from the surface in old deeds. An inherited surface parcel may not include the minerals beneath it, and an inherited mineral interest may have fractionated across many heirs over the generations. That history is part of why a West Virginia title search on inherited rural property can take longer than expected, and it is covered further under “How to Get Marketable Title.”

When someone dies without a will in West Virginia, the surviving spouse’s share depends on whether the decedent and the spouse share all the same children, and whether the spouse has children from another relationship. The key point most generic pages get wrong: West Virginia has no flat dollar amount off the top. There is no “first $50,000 plus a share.” The spouse’s intestate portion is a pure fraction, set by the family situation below (W. Va. Code § 42-1-3).

Note what this means in practice: the three-fifths figure is not the default. If every surviving descendant is a child of both spouses and the surviving spouse has no other children, the spouse takes the entire intestate estate, and the children take nothing through intestacy. The fraction only drops when there are children from another relationship in the picture.

When property passes beyond the spouse, West Virginia distributes it in this order (W. Va. Code § 42-1-3a): to the decedent’s descendants by representation; if none, to the parents; if none, to the parents’ descendants (siblings, then nieces and nephews); and if none, divided between the paternal and maternal grandparents’ lines (aunts, uncles, and cousins).

A few mechanical rules round out the picture:

• 120-hour survival. An heir who does not outlive the decedent by at least 120 hours is treated as having died first (W. Va. Code § 42-1-3b).
• Half-blood relatives inherit the same share as if they were of the whole blood (W. Va. Code § 42-1-3e).
• Children born out of wedlock can inherit from both parents. For inheritance from the father, paternity can be established during his life by acknowledgment, court adjudication, or a qualifying out-of-state order, and it can also be established after his death by a clear-and-convincing-evidence court finding, generally filed within six months of the estate’s opening (W. Va. Code § 42-1-5).
• Adopted children inherit as natural children and generally lose the right to inherit from their biological parents, except in a stepparent adoption (W. Va. Code § 48-22-703). Stepchildren who were never adopted do not inherit through intestacy.

For how intestate succession and the probate process work as general concepts, see our guide to probate and inherited real estate.

A West Virginia estate generally cannot close until the required steps are complete: qualification of the personal representative, the appraisement, publication of notice to creditors, the claims period, and settlement. Even a simple estate has to account for the published notice and the claims period, which runs 60 days from the date of first publication (W. Va. Code § 44-1-14a). Simple estates can often close through a short-form settlement once that period passes, while contested estates, or those large enough to require a fiduciary commissioner, take longer.

West Virginia handles estate administration at the county level. The county clerk and the fiduciary supervisor manage most of the process, the county commission enters the orders, and a fiduciary commissioner is brought in for larger or contested estates. There is no separate statewide probate court. Administration happens where the property is located, so an inherited home in Kanawha County (Charleston), Cabell County (Huntington), Monongalia County (Morgantown), Harrison County (Clarksburg), or Berkeley County (Martinsburg) is administered in that county.

The main steps an estate moves through are:

1. Qualification. The personal representative is appointed and receives Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without one). A personal representative has no authority to act, including no authority to sell real estate, before qualifying. When there is no will, a short post-death window lets those with priority seek appointment before others may apply (W. Va. Code § 44-1-4).
2. Appraisement. The personal representative files an inventory and appraisement of the estate’s assets.
3. Notice to creditors. The county clerk publishes notice once a week for two successive weeks, opening the window for creditors to present claims (W. Va. Code § 44-1-14a).
4. Claims period. Claims must generally be filed within 60 days of first publication, and creditors who miss the deadline are usually barred, with narrow exceptions (W. Va. Code §§ 44-1-14a, 44-2-26).
5. Settlement. Many estates close through a short-form settlement: the personal representative files an affidavit that the claims period has passed and no known claims are unpaid, with waivers signed by the distributees, and the estate is then settled and the representative discharged (W. Va. Code § 44-3A-4a). For an estate of $200,000 or less, exclusive of specifically devised real estate and nonprobate assets, the published notice can let settlement proceed without a fiduciary commissioner unless a party requests a reference within 60 days of first publication (W. Va. Code § 44-1-14a).

West Virginia offers several paths to transfer inherited real property, from pre-death transfer-on-death deeds and trusts to post-death estate administration, small-estate procedures, and nonresident title-clearing filings. Which one applies depends on whether there is a will, the value of the estate, and whether the asset is the home. Fastest if already planned is a transfer-on-death deed or trust; fastest after death for some nonresident estates is a foreign will recording or a nonresident affidavit of heirs; and most common for solely owned West Virginia real estate is county-level administration.

How the Small Estate Act Actually Treats a House

West Virginia’s “small estate” definition uses two caps: the estate’s probate personal property must be $50,000 or less, and its West Virginia real property must be $100,000 or less, with the home’s value presumed to be 167% of its assessed value on the county land books (W. Va. Code § 44-1A-1). That presumption matters, because it prevents using a low assessed value to slip a home under the $100,000 line.

But meeting the caps does not turn the affidavit into a clean deed. By statute, a “small asset” the affidavit lets a successor collect does not include real estate (W. Va. Code § 44-1A-1). When real estate is reported on the recorded affidavit, separate provisions apply, any attached will is treated as admitted to probate, and a successor or creditor has six months to bring a circuit-court proceeding to subject the real estate to the estate’s debts if the other assets are not enough (W. Va. Code § 44-1A-4). One more limit catches testate estates: if the will directs that the real estate be sold, rather than merely granting a power to sell, the estate is not a small estate at all (W. Va. Code § 44-1A-1). Qualifying for the affidavit does not by itself give clear authority to sell the house, and a title company may require more documentation where there are unpaid debts, disputed heirs, Medicaid recovery questions, or gaps in the title.

When Selling May Make Sense, and When It May Not

Heirs choose to sell for reasons that are practical as much as financial. A sale is often worth considering when:

• The property is vacant, rural, or deteriorating, and carrying costs are mounting.
• The heirs live out of state and cannot manage the property remotely.
• Several heirs co-own the property and do not agree on keeping it.
• The estate needs cash to pay debts, taxes, or a Medicaid claim.
• The home needs repairs that buyers using financing would require before closing.

It may be better to wait before listing when:

• Title is not yet clear enough to close.
• The heirs disagree and no one has authority to sign yet.
• Medicaid or creditor claims are unresolved.
• A surviving spouse’s elective-share question is still open.
• The will makes a specific gift of the property that has not been sorted out.

A broker who works inherited sales in West Virginia can help you weigh a market listing against an as-is sale, and can tell you when the title or estate questions need to be resolved first.

In West Virginia, a surviving spouse’s protection against disinheritance runs almost entirely through the elective share, and one thing is worth saying plainly: West Virginia has no probate homestead allowance, no exempt-property allowance, and no statutory family allowance. Those are Virginia rules. A 2024 West Virginia bill that would have created a $15,000 exempt-property allowance did not pass, which confirms that no such allowance currently exists.

The elective share is a value-based claim against the augmented estate, scaled to the length of the marriage. It is not an automatic right to the inherited house. The statute increases the share year by year; the table below shows the key milestones.

A few rules shape how the elective share actually pays out:

• The supplemental amount. If the spouse’s qualifying entitlements add up to less than $25,000, the spouse receives a supplemental amount that brings them up to $25,000 (W. Va. Code § 42-3-1). This is part of the elective share, not a separate homestead allowance.
• The augmented estate reaches beyond the probate estate to include certain non-probate transfers, which keeps a spouse from being disinherited through beneficiary designations. Life insurance, pensions, and retirement benefits payable to someone other than the spouse are generally excluded (W. Va. Code § 42-3-2).
• What the spouse already received counts first. The share is satisfied first from what already passes to the spouse, and a spouse who has already received more than the elective-share percentage receives nothing additional (W. Va. Code § 42-3-6).
• The election window is generally nine months from the date of death.
• For a nonresident decedent, the law of the decedent’s home state governs the elective-share claim against West Virginia property (W. Va. Code § 42-3-1). A New York resident’s West Virginia cabin does not trigger the West Virginia scale.

The word “homestead” also appears in three unrelated West Virginia statutes that have nothing to do with a probate allowance: a $5,000 creditor homestead exemption that protects equity from certain judgment creditors (W. Va. Code §§ 38-9-1, 38-9-3), a $20,000 assessed-value property-tax exemption for owners who are 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled (W. Va. Code § 11-6B-3), and the dower-notice rule described earlier. How an elective share interacts with a will and a trust depends heavily on the specific assets in the estate, which is the kind of question a licensed attorney is best placed to answer.

Does West Virginia Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

West Virginia has no inheritance tax and no state estate tax currently collected on any death in 2026. West Virginia’s estate tax was a “pickup” tax tied to a federal credit that no longer exists, so it generates no liability today, and no estate-tax return is required when an estate is not subject to the tax (W. Va. Code §§ 11-11-8, 11-11-39). For context only, the federal estate tax reaches very few estates; the current federal exemption is set by federal law and indexed over time.

What Is the Capital Gains Tax on Inherited Property in West Virginia?

West Virginia taxes capital gains as ordinary income at the state income-tax rate, and the taxable gain is generally measured from the property’s stepped-up basis as of the date of death rather than what the decedent originally paid. For most inherited homes sold within a reasonable time of the date of death, the taxable gain at the state level is modest, because the basis resets to date-of-death value. For how the federal stepped-up basis works and how to calculate gain on a sale, see our guide to capital gains tax on inherited property.

What Is the Real Estate Transfer Tax in West Virginia?

The cost that actually applies to inherited West Virginia real estate is the deed transfer excise tax, generally owed when the property is sold, not when it is inherited. The base transfer excise is $1.10 for each $500 of value (or fraction of $500), and under current law that base amount is retained by the county where the property sits (W. Va. Code § 11-22-2). A separate additional county excise starts at $0.55 for each $500 and may be increased by county action up to a statutory ceiling, and there is also a $20 fee on transfers for consideration that funds the state Affordable Housing Fund.

One correction worth flagging, because it appears on widely read pages: the West Virginia rate is $1.10 per $500, not “$1.10 per $1,000,” and it is the transfer excise (or privilege) tax, not “documentary stamps.” A genuine inheritance or devise, made without consideration, generally falls outside this consideration-based excise, and a transfer-on-death deed is specifically exempt (W. Va. Code § 36-12-9). County-specific closing costs can differ because counties may adjust the additional county excise within the statutory range.

Does Inheriting Property Change West Virginia Property Taxes?

Inheriting a home in West Virginia does not trigger a special inheritance-based reassessment the way some states do; West Virginia has no equivalent of California’s Proposition 19 parent-to-child reassessment rule. County property taxes simply continue to be assessed and billed by the county assessor and sheriff’s tax office, and a new owner should expect the ordinary assessment process to apply going forward. The real tax risk to watch on an inherited property is unpaid back taxes: a vacant or out-of-state-owned home can fall behind, and delinquent county taxes can become a lien and, eventually, a tax-sale problem.

What Costs Should Heirs Expect?

Beyond the sale price, an inherited West Virginia sale can carry several costs. Not all apply to every estate, but it helps to plan for the following:

• County recording and publication fees during administration.
• The deed transfer excise when the property is sold.
• Fiduciary supervisor or fiduciary commissioner fees, if the estate requires them.
• Administrator’s bond premiums, where an administrator must bond around real estate.
• Title search, title insurance, and ordinary closing costs.
• Back taxes, liens, Medicaid estate recovery, or creditor claims paid from the estate or proceeds.

To get marketable title for inherited property in West Virginia, the title company must be able to identify who has authority to sign and whether creditor, tax, Medicaid, or co-heir issues affect the sale. In broad terms, the signer is the personal representative for estate property, the heirs for property cleared without a personal representative, the trustee for trust property, and the surviving owner for survivorship property.

• Estate with a personal representative. The representative signs, using Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration plus a deed from the representative.
• Property cleared without a representative. The identified heirs sign, supported by heirship documentation.
• Property held in trust. The trustee signs, supported by trust documentation showing the trustee’s authority.
• Survivorship property. The surviving owner signs, supported by the recorded survivorship deed and a death certificate.

Being named executor is not the same as having authority to sell. A personal representative has no power to act before qualifying and receiving Letters. Whether the representative can then sell the property alone depends on whether the will grants a power of sale; without one, the heirs may all need to sign. This is one of the most common misunderstandings heirs bring to a closing.

Exactly what a title company requires varies by situation and by underwriter, but for an inherited West Virginia sale the common list includes the death certificate, the prior recorded deed showing how title was held, the will and probate order (if any), Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration (if an estate was opened), an affidavit of heirs (where there is no will and no administration), trust documentation (if the property was held in a trust), transfer-on-death deed paperwork with the death certificate (for a TOD transfer), property-tax receipts, and a Medicaid estate recovery release or payoff confirmation (where recovery is in play).

A few West Virginia realities can affect the net proceeds of a sale:

• The administrator’s bond can be sized to the house. When an administrator is authorized to sell real estate, the required bond must cover the personal property plus the value of that realty (W. Va. Code § 44-1-7). For an out-of-state heir, that can mean posting a bond sized to the home before the sale can proceed.
• Debts are paid in a set order. West Virginia law ranks claims against an estate, from administration costs and funeral expenses through taxes and final-illness medical expenses, with general claims last (W. Va. Code § 44-2-21). That order governs which debts come out of sale proceeds.
• Old deeds and severed mineral rights. Inherited rural West Virginia property often carries a complicated title history, including severed mineral, oil, gas, or coal rights, so a thorough title search is part of getting to a clean closing.
• Delinquent property taxes. Unpaid county taxes can put a property at risk of a tax sale, so the county sheriff’s tax office is the place to confirm the status early.
• Manufactured or mobile homes. When the inherited asset includes a manufactured home, the home may be titled separately from the land, which can add a step to clearing title for a sale.

Can you sell before the estate is fully settled? Sometimes. It depends on whether Letters have been issued (or the chain of title is otherwise cleared) and whether the title company is willing to insure the sale. Without both, a buyer’s lender and title company will not move forward. For how Medicaid estate recovery works in general, see our guide to whether Medicaid can take an inherited house.

If you live in another state and inherited West Virginia real estate, you may not need to open a full second probate in West Virginia. The path depends on whether the decedent left a will and whether the estate is already being handled in their home state.

• Full ancillary administration (W. Va. Code § 44-5-3). When a formal West Virginia administration is needed, a personal representative already serving in the home state can submit authenticated copies of the home-state letters to the clerk of the county where the property sits and be appointed to administer the West Virginia assets. Depending on the county and the circumstances, a nonresident representative may be asked to involve a local agent or co-representative.
• Record-only admission of a foreign will (W. Va. Code § 41-5-13). When a will covering only West Virginia real estate has already been probated in the home state and no full administration is needed, an interested person can record an authenticated copy of the will and its probate certificate in the West Virginia county where the property sits. No West Virginia fiduciary is appointed and no bond, security, or oath is required; an interested person may object within one year.
• Nonresident intestate affidavit of heirs (W. Va. Code § 44-1-4(b)). When a nonresident dies without a will owning West Virginia real estate and no full administration is needed, an interested person can file an affidavit of heirs instead of opening ancillary probate. Again, no bond or oath is required, and the clerk publishes a notice of the filing.

These last two are title-clearing paths, not a guarantee that a title company will insure every sale without more documentation. If there are debts, disputes, missing heirs, Medicaid recovery questions, or unclear deed language, a full administration or court involvement may still be needed. Even so, this pair of options, one for a will and one for no will, is the part most national pages get wrong when they tell every out-of-state heir to open a full ancillary probate.

Practical coordination matters as much as the legal path. Out-of-state heirs routinely need someone on the ground to handle access to the property, a cleanout, a broker’s price opinion, the as-is versus repair decision, coordination with the title company, and remote or mobile-notary signing. This comes up often in the Eastern Panhandle, where heirs in the Washington, D.C. region inherit property in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties. For the general mechanics of handling an estate across state lines, see our guide to ancillary probate, and for the title questions unique to a long-distance sale, see selling inherited property out of state.

West Virginia has not adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, the law a number of other states use to give co-heirs a buyout right and to favor an open-market sale over a forced auction. As the law stands, partition of co-owned inherited property generally proceeds under West Virginia’s general partition statute, which applies to tenants in common, joint tenants, and coparceners, and which reaches certain mineral interests, with partition heard in circuit court (W. Va. Code § 37-4-1).

This connects directly to the tenancy-in-common default discussed earlier. Because West Virginia presumes tenancy in common when survivorship is not clearly created, inherited property is frequently co-owned by several heirs as tenants in common, and any one of them can generally seek a partition. On rural West Virginia land, that can also pull in fractured, inherited mineral interests that have divided among many heirs over the years. Without the Heirs Property Act’s protections, a partition can lead to a court-ordered sale. For how a forced sale works and how co-owners navigate one, see our guide to whether a sibling can force the sale of inherited property.

Several widely read sources contain outdated or incorrect information about inherited West Virginia property. Each correction below is stated against current West Virginia statute.

• Wrong: The transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000. Correct: The base transfer excise is $1.10 per $500 of value, plus a separate county excise (W. Va. Code § 11-22-2). It is the transfer excise, not “documentary stamps.”
• Wrong: A West Virginia surviving spouse gets a $25,000 homestead or exempt-property allowance. Correct: West Virginia has no probate homestead, exempt-property, or family allowance; those are Virginia figures, and a 2024 bill to create one did not pass. A surviving spouse’s protection runs through the elective share (W. Va. Code § 42-3-1).
• Wrong: Transfer-on-death deeds are found at “§ 40-1-13.” Correct: West Virginia’s transfer-on-death deed is in Chapter 36, Article 12 of the West Virginia Code. Chapter 40 is fraudulent-conveyance law.
• Wrong: Joint ownership automatically passes to the surviving owner. Correct: West Virginia presumes tenancy in common unless the deed clearly creates a right of survivorship (W. Va. Code §§ 36-1-19, 36-1-20).

• Transfer-on-death deed bills (2026 session, pending). Two Senate bills propose changes to West Virginia’s transfer-on-death deed statute and were in the Senate Judiciary Committee as of this writing. Senate Bill 193 (“relating generally to transfer on death deed”) proposes amendments to W. Va. Code § 36-12-9, and Senate Bill 664 would allow an agent under a power of attorney or a conservator to sign a transfer-on-death deed. Both were pending, not enacted, when this page was last reviewed.
• Transfer excise retained by counties. West Virginia has amended its transfer excise statute across several recent sessions and, under current law, the base excise is retained by the county where the property sits (W. Va. Code § 11-22-2). County-specific closing costs can differ because counties may adjust the additional county excise within the statutory range.
• No enacted 2026 change to core succession law identified. As of the latest review, no enacted 2026 change appears to have altered West Virginia’s intestate succession, elective share, or small-estate thresholds.