The cost of a quitclaim deed usually falls between $150 and $600 when you prepare it yourself, covering notarization, county recording, and any required supplemental forms. Hire an attorney and the bill climbs past $1,000. Add transfer taxes on a valuable property and it climbs further. And the fees paid at the recorder’s window are often the smallest number in the transaction: a quitclaim can trigger gift tax reporting, a property tax reassessment, and capital gains consequences that dwarf everything you spent to file it.
Notary Fees
A notary must witness the grantor’s signature before any county will record the deed. State law sets the ceiling. Maximum notary fees range from as low as $2 per signature to $25 or more, and about ten states set no statutory cap at all. For an in-person notarization on a single-signature quitclaim deed, expect $5 to $15 in most places.
Remote online notarization is authorized in most states and typically costs more than an in-person session. Most states that allow it cap the fee at $25 per notarial act, and the platform you use may add its own service charge on top. Confirm your county recorder accepts remotely notarized deeds before paying for the service.
Recording Fees
Recording the deed with the county makes the transfer part of the public record. Fees vary widely but generally include a base charge for the first page and a smaller per-page fee for additional pages. Base fees commonly run $10 to $50, with additional pages at $3 to $10 each. A standard quitclaim deed is one or two pages, so the recording line item itself is modest.
The surprise comes from supplemental fees stacked on the base charge: a technology or modernization surcharge, a real estate fraud prevention fee, or a housing fund assessment. Some jurisdictions add $20 or more if you fail to include a preliminary change of ownership report with the deed. Totaled up, the recording bill often reaches $75 to $125 for a simple one-page document.
Attorney and Document Preparation Fees
You are not legally required to hire an attorney to prepare a quitclaim deed in most states. Many people use county-provided forms and handle it themselves. If you do hire a real estate attorney, expect $150 to $500 for a straightforward transaction. An attorney is worth the fee when the transfer involves a divorce decree, an existing mortgage, or coordination with estate planning documents.
Document preparation services sit between DIY and full attorney representation and typically charge $75 to $200 to fill out and review the deed. They can catch formatting errors that lead to rejection at the recorder’s office, but they generally cannot give legal advice about whether a quitclaim deed is the right tool for your situation.
Transfer Taxes
Transfer taxes are the biggest variable in what a quitclaim deed actually costs, and the one that catches people off guard. States, counties, and cities impose them when real estate changes hands, with rates from zero to over 4% of property value depending on location. Roughly a third of states impose no state-level transfer tax, though counties or cities within those states may still levy their own.
Where transfer taxes apply, they are usually calculated on the sale price or fair market value. A common baseline rate is $1.10 per $1,000 of value, and some cities impose significantly higher rates on expensive properties. On a $300,000 home, even the baseline rate adds $330 to the transaction.
Many jurisdictions exempt certain quitclaim transfers entirely. Transfers between spouses, transfers into a revocable living trust where the grantor is the trustee, and transfers where no money changes hands are commonly exempt. Claiming the exemption typically requires noting it on the deed or filing a supplemental form. Skip that step and you may be charged the full tax even when you qualify.
Property Tax Reassessment
Recording a quitclaim deed can trigger reassessment of the property for tax purposes. If the home has been owned for decades and its assessed value is well below current market value, reassessment can dramatically raise the annual property tax bill. Rules vary by state. Some states reassess on every change of ownership; others exclude transfers between parents and children or between spouses.
This is why many county recorders require a preliminary change of ownership report or similar form with the deed. The assessor uses it to decide whether the transfer qualifies for an exclusion. Failing to submit the form risks a penalty fee at recording and may cause the assessor to default to a full reassessment when an exemption would have applied.
Capital Gains and the Carryover Basis Trap
This is where a quitclaim deed gets expensive in ways people never see coming. When you receive property as a gift during the grantor’s lifetime, your tax basis is the same basis the grantor had, not the property’s current market value.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust Tax professionals call this carryover basis, and it can create a large capital gains bill when you eventually sell.
Say your parents bought their house for $80,000, it is now worth $400,000, and they quitclaim it to you. Your basis is $80,000. Sell later for $400,000 and you owe capital gains tax on $320,000 of gain. Had you inherited the same property after your parents’ death, your basis would step up to fair market value at the date of death, and you would owe little or no capital gains tax on an immediate sale.2Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances The difference between a lifetime quitclaim transfer and an inheritance can run tens of thousands of dollars. For older family members thinking about transferring property to the next generation, this is the single most important tax consequence to weigh before signing anything.
Gift Tax Reporting
When you transfer property by quitclaim deed for less than fair market value, the IRS treats the difference as a gift. If the gift to any single person exceeds $19,000 in 2026, the grantor must file IRS Form 709, the gift tax return.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 That $19,000 is the annual exclusion per recipient; anything above it gets reported.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
Filing Form 709 does not mean you owe gift tax. The federal lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is over $13.9 million per person for 2026, and Form 709 simply tracks how much of that lifetime exemption you have used.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Most people never owe actual gift tax, but failing to file when required can trigger penalties. Transfers between spouses who are both U.S. citizens are generally unlimited and do not require Form 709.
Costs That Are Not Fees
A quitclaim deed does not transfer a mortgage. If the property has an outstanding loan, the original borrower stays personally liable for payments even after signing away ownership. Nearly all residential mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause that lets the lender demand full repayment when the property is transferred without consent. Federal law protects certain transfers, including transfers to a spouse, to a child upon the borrower’s death, and into a revocable trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary, but transfers outside those categories give the lender the right to call the loan due. Even if the lender does nothing, the original borrower’s credit stays tied to the loan.
Transferring property below fair market value can also cost future Medicaid eligibility for long-term care. Federal law imposes a 60-month look-back on asset transfers before a benefits application.5Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Transfer of Assets in the Medicaid Program – Important Facts for State Policymakers Transfers within that window trigger a penalty period during which the applicant is ineligible for Medicaid-funded nursing home care. The penalty is calculated by dividing the uncompensated value of the transferred asset by the average monthly cost of nursing home care in the applicant’s state. On a $300,000 home given away, the penalty can easily exceed two years of ineligibility.
Finally, a quitclaim deed makes no warranties about title. The grantor is saying only “whatever interest I have, if any, is now yours.” The grantor’s existing owner’s title insurance policy may terminate on transfer, because those policies typically continue coverage only as long as the insured has liability through warranties. Most title insurers will not issue a new owner’s policy to someone acquiring property through a quitclaim without a fresh title search. If you plan to hold the property long-term, a title search costs $150 to $400 and is far cheaper than discovering a lien or competing claim years later when you try to sell or refinance.