At a real estate closing, the deed is signed by the current owner — the grantor — and by every other person or party who holds title to the property. The buyer does not sign the deed. A deed is a one-way document: it transfers ownership from the person giving up the property to the person receiving it, and only the grantor’s signature is needed to make that transfer effective. Depending on the situation, a non-owner spouse, a trustee, a company officer, or an agent acting under a power of attorney may also need to sign.
The Grantor Signs, the Buyer Doesn’t
The grantor is whoever currently holds title and is conveying the property to someone else. A deed works through delivery and acceptance: the grantor signs and delivers the document, and the grantee accepts it. No signature from the grantee is required for the conveyance to take effect. The buyer’s name appears on the deed to identify who receives the property, but there is no signature line for them.
That doesn’t mean the buyer walks away without signing anything. Buyers who finance the purchase sign a separate stack of loan documents at closing, including the promissory note and the mortgage or deed of trust. Those documents sit alongside the deed in the closing file, but they are not the deed itself.
Every Co-Owner Has to Sign
If a single person holds title, that person signs. If two or more people share ownership, every co-owner must sign to convey the full interest. A deed signed by only one of two joint owners transfers only that person’s share and leaves the other owner’s interest intact. Title companies catch this during the closing process, but if it slips through, the buyer ends up with an incomplete title.
When a Non-Owner Spouse Must Sign
Even if only one spouse appears on the title, the other spouse may still need to sign. This catches a lot of sellers off guard. In community property states, both spouses generally have an ownership interest in property acquired during the marriage regardless of whose name is on the title. Many other states have homestead protections that give a non-owner spouse rights in the family’s primary residence. In either situation, the non-owner spouse signs the deed to release those rights so the buyer gets clear title.
Skipping this step creates a cloud on the title that can surface years later if the spouse later claims an interest in the property. Title companies and closing attorneys are trained to flag this. If you are selling and your spouse is not on the title, expect them to be asked to sign anyway.
Property Owned by a Business or Trust
When a business entity or trust owns the property, a human being still has to put pen to paper. Who that person is depends on the type of entity.
For an LLC, any member generally has default authority to sign on behalf of the company, though the operating agreement may designate specific managers or officers as the authorized signers. Title companies typically ask for a copy of the operating agreement or a signed certificate of authority to confirm who can bind the entity.
For a corporation, an authorized officer signs — often the president or CEO. The buyer’s title company will usually require a corporate resolution from the board of directors that specifically authorizes the sale and names the person permitted to sign the closing documents.
For a trust, the trustee signs. If the property is already titled in the trust’s name, the trustee signs solely in that capacity. The title company will want to review the trust agreement to confirm the trustee has the authority to sell real property.
In all three situations, the signer must identify their capacity on the deed itself. The signature line reads something like “Jane Smith, as Managing Member of XYZ Properties LLC” rather than just the personal name. Signing without indicating the representative capacity can create ambiguity about whether the person intended a personal conveyance.
Signing Through a Power of Attorney
A grantor who cannot attend closing in person can appoint someone to sign the deed on their behalf through a power of attorney. The agent, called an attorney-in-fact, steps into the grantor’s shoes for the transaction. What matters is that the power of attorney specifically authorizes real estate transactions. A durable POA, which continues in effect if the principal becomes incapacitated, is a useful added feature but a separate one. Many title companies prefer a POA that is both specific to the transaction and durable, but the critical requirement is that it expressly covers the sale of real property.
Title companies and closing attorneys tend to scrutinize powers of attorney carefully because they represent a higher fraud risk than an in-person signing. The POA document is typically recorded alongside the deed in the county land records. If you plan to use one, give your title company or closing attorney a copy well before the closing date so they can review it and flag any issues.
Notarization and Witnesses
Every state requires the grantor’s signature on a deed to be notarized before the deed can be recorded in the county land records. The notary public verifies the signer’s identity using government-issued photo identification, confirms the person is signing voluntarily, and then adds their own signature and official seal. Recording is what puts the world on notice that ownership has changed, so a deed that cannot be recorded because it lacks proper notarization leaves the buyer exposed to competing claims.
A handful of states also require witnesses to sign the deed in addition to the notary. Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina all require two witnesses for a deed to be valid or recordable. In some of these states the notary can serve as one of the two witnesses; in others, like Georgia and Louisiana, the notary and witnesses must be entirely separate people. If you are closing on property in one of these states, your closing agent will arrange for witnesses to be present.
What Happens If a Signature Is Missing or Defective
Signature problems on a deed range from minor clerical errors to deal-breaking defects, and the fix depends on the severity.
A corrective deed handles the small stuff: a misspelled name, a missing middle initial, a transposed digit in the legal description. The original grantor signs a new deed that identifies the error in the prior deed and corrects it. Corrective deeds do not create a new transfer of ownership; they align the public record with what the parties originally intended. They cannot be used to add or remove owners, change the type of deed, or alter how title is held.
More serious problems, like a missing co-owner’s signature or a signature from someone who lacked authority to sign, create a genuine title defect. A deed missing a required grantor’s signature is generally void, meaning it never transferred anything in the first place. The remedy is usually a quiet title action, a lawsuit asking a court to determine who actually owns the property and issue a judgment that clears the record. Quiet title actions are expensive and time-consuming, which is exactly why title companies and closing attorneys are so meticulous about verifying signatures before recording.
Title insurance exists partly to protect against these risks. If a signature defect surfaces after closing, the title policy typically covers the cost of resolving it, whether through a corrective deed, a quiet title action, or defending against a third party’s claim. Buyers who skip title insurance take on that risk themselves.