You can get a quitclaim deed from the county recorder or clerk’s office in the county where the property is located, from an office supply store, or through an online legal document service. The county office is usually the best starting point: many provide a blank form free at the counter or on their website, and that form already meets local recording requirements. Before you download anything, know what this document actually does. A quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest you currently hold to someone else, with no guarantee that the interest is clean, complete, or even exists.
People sometimes search for “quick claim deed.” The correct term is quitclaim, and using the right word makes finding the form much easier.
Three Places to Get the Form
The county recorder or clerk’s office where the property sits is the most reliable source. Free blank forms are commonly available at the counter or online, and they’re already formatted to the county’s margin, font, and page-layout rules. That matters, because the single most common reason a deed gets bounced back is a document that doesn’t match local recording standards.
Office supply retailers sell general-purpose quitclaim deed forms if your county doesn’t publish one. Several online legal document services generate state-specific versions as well. The online route is quick, but you need a form built for the state where the property is located, not where you live. A deed that satisfies one state’s requirements may be missing mandatory language or formatting for another. When in doubt, call the recorder’s office and ask what they need before you print anything.
What the Form Actually Transfers
A quitclaim deed moves whatever interest the grantor (the person signing the property over) currently holds to the grantee (the person receiving it). That’s the whole promise. The grantor doesn’t guarantee that the title is clean, that there are no liens, or even that they own the property at all. If a tax lien, undisclosed mortgage, or boundary dispute turns up later, the grantee has no claim against the grantor.
That’s the key difference from a warranty deed, where the grantor guarantees clear title and can be held liable for defects. Because quitclaim deeds offer no protection, they’re almost never used in arm’s-length sales between strangers. They show up in transfers between family members, between spouses in a divorce, when adding or removing a name from a title, or when moving property into a living trust. A stranger offering to sell you property with a quitclaim deed is a red flag.
What Goes on the Form
Every quitclaim deed asks for the same core information. Getting any of it wrong can delay recording or create title problems that require a corrective deed later.
- Grantor and grantee names, exactly as they appear on the current deed and on government identification. A misspelling or missing middle name can cloud the title.
- The legal description of the property. This is the formal description from the existing deed, not the street address. It typically uses a metes-and-bounds description or a lot-and-block designation from a recorded subdivision plat. Copy it character for character from the most recent recorded deed.
- The Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN), which links the deed to the parcel in the county’s tax and mapping system. It’s on a recent property tax bill or on the county assessor’s website.
- A consideration statement. Many jurisdictions require you to state the monetary value exchanged, even for gift transfers. “Ten dollars and other good and valuable consideration” is a standard placeholder when there’s no real purchase price.
The legal description is where most people trip. A street address isn’t enough: multiple parcels can share one, or a parcel may have none. If you can’t find the previous deed, the county recorder can usually pull a copy for a small fee, and the legal description will be on it.
Signing, Notarization, and Witnesses
Every state requires the grantor’s signature to be notarized. The notary verifies identity with a government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID) and completes an acknowledgment confirming the signature was voluntary. Without proper notarization, the recorder will reject the deed.
A few states also require disinterested witnesses. Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina all require witnesses on deed recordings, and most of these states require two. Rules vary on whether the notary can also serve as a witness. In Georgia and Louisiana the notary cannot, so three people are needed at the signing: the notary and two separate witnesses. Confirm the requirement before the appointment, because arriving short-handed means starting over.
Recording the Deed
A signed and notarized quitclaim deed isn’t fully effective until it’s recorded with the county recorder in the county where the property sits. Recording creates a public record that puts the world on notice of the ownership change. Without it, a later buyer or creditor can claim they had no knowledge of the transfer.
You can file in person, by mail with the appropriate fees, or through electronic recording where it’s available. Recording fees typically run from $10 to $70 for the first page, with additional per-page charges after that. Many counties also require supplemental forms, such as a change-of-ownership report the assessor uses to update tax records. Some transactions trigger a documentary transfer tax based on the property’s value or the consideration paid; rates and exemptions vary widely, and about a third of states impose no state-level transfer tax at all.
After submission, the clerk reviews the document for compliance and confirms any required taxes have been paid. The deed is indexed into the public database with a date, time, and recording number, and the original is typically mailed back to the grantee or the filer within a few weeks.
The Mortgage Does Not Transfer With the Deed
This is the most dangerous misunderstanding about quitclaim deeds. Transferring ownership does not remove anyone from the mortgage. If your name is on the loan, you remain personally liable for payments even after you’ve signed over every bit of your ownership interest. The deed and the mortgage are two separate instruments: one covers who owns the property, the other covers who owes the bank.
Divorcing couples run into this constantly. One spouse signs a quitclaim giving the house to the other, assumes it’s finished, and then discovers years later that the mortgage is still in their name and missed payments have been damaging their credit. The only ways to remove someone from the loan are to refinance in the remaining owner’s name alone or to pay the mortgage off entirely.
Due-on-Sale Clauses and Federal Exceptions
Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause, which lets the lender demand full repayment if the property changes hands without consent. A quitclaim deed is exactly the kind of transfer that can trigger it.
Federal law carves out exceptions for residential properties with fewer than five units. Under the Garn-St. Germain Act, a lender cannot accelerate the loan when the transfer is:
- To a spouse or child of the borrower
- The result of a divorce decree, legal separation, or property settlement
- Into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary and keeps occupancy rights
- To a relative after the borrower’s death
- By operation of law when a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety dies
These cover most common family quitclaim scenarios.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions A transfer outside the list can, in theory, allow the lender to call the entire balance due immediately. In practice, many lenders don’t aggressively enforce due-on-sale as long as payments keep coming, but relying on that is a gamble.
Tax and Medicaid Consequences Before You Sign
Quitclaim deeds are simple documents, but the tax picture around them is not. If you transfer property to someone other than your spouse for less than fair market value, the IRS treats the transaction as a gift, and three issues come into play.
First, gift tax reporting. If the value of the interest you transfer exceeds $19,000 in 2026, you’re required to file Form 709 by April 15 of the following year. Filing doesn’t necessarily mean you owe tax; actual gift tax doesn’t apply until cumulative lifetime gifts exceed the lifetime exclusion of $15,000,000 in 2026.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax Skipping the return causes problems later, especially when the grantee eventually sells and needs to establish their cost basis.3Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
Second, carryover basis. When you give property away during your lifetime, the grantee inherits your original cost basis rather than the current market value.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust If you bought a house for $80,000 and quitclaim it to your child when it’s worth $350,000, your child’s basis for capital gains stays at $80,000. The same property passing through a will or trust at death would come with a stepped-up basis equal to the fair market value on that date, wiping out the accumulated gain.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 551 – Basis of Assets For families with highly appreciated property, a lifetime quitclaim rather than an inheritance can cost the recipient tens of thousands of dollars in additional capital gains tax.
Third, property tax reassessment. In many jurisdictions, a change in ownership triggers reassessment and can sharply increase the annual tax bill, especially for properties that haven’t been reassessed in years. Some states exempt parent-child or spouse-to-spouse transfers, but rules vary. Check with the county assessor before filing.
Medicaid is a separate concern. Federal law imposes a 60-month look-back: if you transfer property for less than fair market value within five years of applying for Medicaid nursing home or long-term care benefits, the transfer can trigger a penalty period of ineligibility.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1396p – Liens, Adjustments and Recoveries, and Transfers of Assets Length depends on the asset’s value divided by the average monthly cost of nursing care in your state. People sometimes quitclaim a home to a child hoping to shield it from nursing home costs and discover the transfer made things worse. Limited exceptions exist (transfers to a spouse, to a disabled child, or to a child who lived in the home and provided care that delayed institutional placement), but the rules are strict. Talk to an elder law attorney before signing anything intended to protect assets from long-term care costs.
Title Insurance Ends With the Transfer
An existing owner’s title insurance policy generally terminates when the property is transferred by quitclaim. The policy covers only the named insured, and coverage ends once that person is no longer the owner. Some newer policy forms have expanded the definition of successor insured to include certain family and trust transfers, but the safe assumption is that a quitclaim voids the existing policy.
The grantee should seriously consider buying a new owner’s title insurance policy. This matters especially with quitclaim deeds, because the grantor makes no guarantees about the state of the title. If there are hidden liens, unpaid taxes, or boundary disputes, the grantee has no recourse against the grantor and no insurance coverage without a new policy. The cost of coverage is a small fraction of what it would take to litigate a title defect.