A beneficiary deed is a document a property owner signs and records during their lifetime that names one or more grantee-beneficiaries to receive the property automatically at the owner's death. It is authorized by §§ 15-15-401 et seq. of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Colorado uses the terms "beneficiary deed" and "grantee-beneficiary" for what other states call a transfer on death deed and a transfer on death beneficiary. The property stays entirely under the owner's control while they are alive - the owner can sell it, mortgage it, or change or cancel the deed - and nothing passes to the beneficiary until death. Because the transfer happens through the recorded deed rather than a will, the property covered by it generally passes outside probate. The deed takes effect only if it is recorded in the county where the property is located before the owner dies; one that is never recorded, or recorded only after death, has no effect.