Deed

California: Civil Code 1091 requires the specified written, subscribed transfer or operation of law, including an agent authorized in writing; 1092 supplies a short grant form.

An estate in real property other than an estate at will or for a term not exceeding one year can be transferred only by operation of law or by an instrument in writing subscribed by the party disposing of it.

The word GRANT in a California deed implies covenants that the grantor has not conveyed the same estate to another and that the estate is free from encumbrances done or suffered by the grantor.

A power of sale under a mortgage may be exercised only by a person holding a RECORDED assignment. Relevant to title diligence on a distressed purchase.

California's short statutory GRANT DEED form. No witnesses are required; an acknowledgment is what makes it recordable.

California's NONJUDICIAL FORECLOSURE procedure under a deed of trust, which is how nearly all California foreclosures proceed. Relevant to any purchase or deed with a trust deed in the chain.

How an instrument executed and acknowledged in another state, with a county clerk's certificate attesting the officer's authority, is recorded here. Relevant for an out-of-state closing.

The phrase 'with warranty covenants' imports the full covenant set into any conveyance. Three words that create substantial personal liability; do not add them casually.

What 'with quitclaim covenants' imports, which is narrower than warranty covenants. Match the phrase to what the client is willing to promise.

What 'upon statutory condition' imports into a mortgage deed, including the conditions on which the mortgage becomes void or foreclosable. Know what the phrase imports before including it.

CONNECTICUT PUBLISHES STATUTORY DEED FORMS and they are SUFFICIENT for their purposes: warranty deed, quitclaim deed, mortgage deed and the fiduciary deeds. Each is short, and each is signed, WITNESSED and acknowledged.

Connecticut: 47-5 requires a written conveyance subscribed through the applicable natural-person, authorized-agent or entity route, acknowledged as a free act and deed or as chapters 6 or 8 permit, and ATTESTED BY TWO…

WHO MAY TAKE AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT IN CONNECTICUT, and the list is wider than a notary: a judge of a court of record or a family support magistrate, a clerk or deputy clerk of a court having a seal, a town clerk, a NOTARY…

Connecticut: section 1-350d requires a dated power signed by the principal or a directed signer in the principal's conscious physical presence, and WITNESSED BY TWO WITNESSES.

Protects a person who IN GOOD FAITH ACCEPTS AN ACKNOWLEDGED POWER OF ATTORNEY absent actual knowledge that it is forged, void, terminated or exceeded, and lets that person request and rely on an agent's certification, a…

An unrecorded conveyance binds only the grantor and the grantor's heirs; it is not effective against anyone else until recorded in the town where the land lies. Connecticut records by TOWN, not county.

An owner may convey REAL ESTATE TO THEMSELVES AND ANOTHER, as joint tenants with right of survivorship or as tenants in common, without the old detour through a straw party.

Land is transferred by DEED, without livery of seisin, and the legal estate passes with the use. The foundational Delaware conveyancing section; the formalities that make the deed recordable are in title 9 chapter 96.

A defeasance or contract for reconveyance must be recorded and acknowledged as the section requires, or it does not bind. Relevant where a deed is intended as security rather than an outright transfer.

A deed or letter of attorney concerning land, ONCE ACKNOWLEDGED OR PROVED AND THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT CERTIFIED, is recorded with its certificate in the recorder's office for the county where the land lies.

Spouses may convey real estate to one another directly, without a straw party. Relevant in estate planning and in divorce transfers.

Delaware: section 122 permits deed acknowledgment before the listed courts and officers, including a notary, and preserves its separate court acknowledgment by an attorney under a proved power and court proof by one or…

The acknowledgment or proof must be certified under the hand and seal of the officer who took it, in a CERTIFICATE INDORSED UPON OR ANNEXED TO THE DEED.

How an estate tail is barred by deed. Relevant only when archaic language survives in a chain of title.

A recorded instrument or a certified copy is evidence. Why recording matters beyond priority.

The validity of notarial certificates on Delaware instruments. Read with the recording requirements before relying on an irregular acknowledgment.

Where a deed recites no consideration or a nominal one, the tax is computed on fair market value and the return must show it. A District deed of gift therefore still needs a value figure on the transfer tax return.

District of Columbia: 42-407(1) bars recording an instrument unless lawfully executed and acknowledged by the person granting or contracting the interest.

The parallel provision for "with special warranty", limiting the defence to claims by, through or under the grantor. This is the covenant in most District commercial and fiduciary conveyances.

A notarial act relating to a statement made in or a signature executed on a record requires THE INDIVIDUAL MAKING THE STATEMENT OR EXECUTING THE SIGNATURE TO APPEAR PERSONALLY BEFORE THE NOTARIAL OFFICER, including an…

Imposes the District recordation tax on a deed at a rate applied to the consideration or fair market value, and requires a return to be filed with the deed.

Supplies the District's statutory short forms, including a fee simple deed, a deed by a spouse or domestic partner, a deed of life estate, a deed of trust and a trustee's deed under a decree, and provides that any other…

The District magic words: a covenant that the grantor "will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed", or granting words followed by "with general warranty", binds the grantor and its heirs, devisees and personal…

Gives the statutory content of the quiet-enjoyment covenant a District deed may import. The permitted-exceptions paragraph must be drafted as a qualification on it.

Imposes the District's real property transfer tax on the transferor, in addition to the recordation tax on the transferee, at a rate applied to the consideration.

The recordation tax exemptions, including deeds between spouses or domestic partners, deeds of gift where there is no consideration, confirmatory and correction deeds, and transfers to a revocable trust of the grantor.

Florida: 689.01 generally requires a written instrument signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses for its covered conveyances, preserving testamentary/operation-of-law provisions, leases and instruments…

The statutory form of WARRANTY DEED, with the words of conveyance and the covenants it carries. A deed in this form is sufficient;

How a partnership conveys or takes title. Check the authority of the signer before closing.

The Florida land trust, a common holding structure here in which the trustee holds legal and equitable title and the beneficiary's interest is personal property.

A spouse may convey real property directly to the other, or to both jointly, without a straw party, and the section addresses the HOMESTEAD in such a conveyance.

Florida presumes a TENANCY IN COMMON: a joint tenancy with right of survivorship must be expressly stated, though a tenancy by the entirety between spouses is treated differently.

Recording may use acknowledgment, subscribing-witness proof or specified legalization/authentication, with different authorized officers and certificates by location.

WHAT THE CLERK WILL REFUSE TO RECORD. Every signer's name must be printed beneath their signature with a post-office address, the name and address of the natural person who PREPARED the instrument must appear, each…

Florida online-notary identity, location, recording, provider and certificate procedures. Subsection (9) addresses the effect of noncompliance;

Supervised electronic witnessing, including identity and location, questions and notices, vulnerable-adult restrictions and statutory exceptions.

A covenant that the grantor "will warrant specially the property hereby conveyed" limits the warranty to claims by, through or under the grantor. This is the covenant in most Maryland residential and fiduciary deeds.

A covenant that the grantor "will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed" is a warranty against the claims of all persons.

A freehold, inheritance estate, use declaration or limitation, or estate over seven years passes only if its deed is EXECUTED AND RECORDED, a freehold title condition, not mere priority.

Addresses a deed containing a covenant by the grantee or a reservation of an incorporeal interest, and whether the grantee must sign. Relevant where the deed reserves an easement or imposes an obligation on the grantee.

Every form in the subtitle, or a form to like effect, is sufficient for the purpose intended. It authorises reliance on the statutory deed and acknowledgment forms that follow.

Maryland: 4-101 addresses deed content, execution, acknowledgment and recording where required; absence of attestation or a seal does not defeat a deed signed as that section specifies.

Sets the state transfer tax rate on an instrument of writing conveying title, with a reduced rate for a first-time Maryland home buyer of a principal residence.

Splits the state transfer tax equally between grantor and grantee unless they agree otherwise, requires the seller to pay all of the state transfer tax where the buyer is a first-time Maryland home buyer of a principal…

Where the words "the said ... covenants" are used, they are presumed to bind the covenantor and its successors to the covenantee and its successors.

Gives the statutory content of a covenant that the grantor "is seized of the land hereby conveyed". Include it only if the client intends the broader warranty package.

EVERY DEED PRESENTED FOR RECORD must contain the grantee's full name, residence and post office address, and a recital of the full consideration in dollars or the nature of other consideration.

What a quitclaim deed conveys in Massachusetts. Note the local usage: a Massachusetts QUITCLAIM DEED carries quitclaim covenants against the grantor's own acts and is the ordinary deed in an arm's-length sale here,…

What the phrase 'warranty covenants' imports into a Massachusetts deed. A few words that create real personal liability; do not add them casually.

Massachusetts: 183-1 treats an authorized owner's or attorney's executed and delivered deed as sufficient without another ceremony, subject to 183-4.

MASSACHUSETTS PUBLISHES STATUTORY DEED FORMS in the appendix to chapter 183, and they are SUFFICIENT for their purposes. They may be altered as circumstances require, and other forms remain permissible.

An authorized owner's or attorney's executed and delivered deed is sufficient without another ceremony, subject to section 4.

What the statutory WARRANTY DEED conveys and the covenants it imports. The strongest deed; use it only when the client can make those promises.

What the statutory QUITCLAIM DEED conveys, with quitclaim covenants limited to the grantor's own acts.

The STATUTORY POWER OF SALE imported into a Massachusetts mortgage, which is what permits non-judicial foreclosure here. Include it deliberately in a mortgage and understand what it gives the lender.

Applies to the specified estates, leases for more than seven years from their making, and rent/profit assignments.

Confirms that a deed or covenant which does not follow the statutory short forms is still valid and takes its meaning from its own words.

A county recording officer may not record a deed unless the fee is paid and, where an exemption or partial exemption is claimed, the statutory affidavit of consideration is annexed.

States the statutory special-warranty covenant, limiting the warranty to claims arising by, through or under the grantor.

A tenancy by the entirety is created only when a husband and wife (spouses) take under a deed or will that expressly says they take as tenants by the entirety, or when spouses take as tenants in a deed to themselves.

States the statutory general-warranty covenant, under which the grantor warrants title against all persons whomsoever.

The magic words: "with general warranty" in the granting part is deemed a covenant that the grantor will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed, and "with special warranty" that it will warrant specially.

A licensed real estate broker, broker-salesperson or salesperson is not subject to recovery under the Consumer Fraud Act for communicating false, misleading or deceptive information about New Jersey real estate if the…

THE FEE DOES NOT APPLY to the deeds listed in (a)-(r), including consideration under $100. Subsection (b) covers the United States, this State, and any instrumentality, agency or subdivision;

Defines "consideration", "deed" and "grantor" for the Realty Transfer Fee, including the rule that consideration includes the amount of any mortgage or lien the grantee takes subject to.

Imposes the Realty Transfer Fee on the grantor at recording as a basic fee per $500 of consideration plus additional and general-purpose fees on higher brackets.

A disposition to two or more persons creates a tenancy in common unless expressly declared to be a joint tenancy, but a disposition to a husband and wife creates a tenancy by the entirety unless expressly declared…

The counterpart form where the acknowledgment is taken outside New York, including the requirement that the certificate name the jurisdiction.

The joint grantor and grantee return Tax Law § 1409 requires to be filed with the recording officer for every conveyance outside New York City, carrying the transfer tax computation, any exemption claimed, the mansion…

Line-by-line instructions for the return that must accompany every deed recorded outside New York City, including who signs, the exemption codes in Schedule B, the credit line mortgage certificate and the certification…

This section supplies the exact form of certificate of acknowledgment for an individual within New York, the form that the power of attorney's acknowledgment must follow because GOL 5-1501B requires the principal's…

The Department's bulletin on the Tax Law § 1402-a additional tax, the mansion tax, including the definition of residential real property and how the $1 million threshold is applied when several condominium or…

Supplies New York's statutory short forms in Schedules A through N, including the bargain and sale deed, the bargain and sale deed with covenant against grantor's acts, the quitclaim deed, the executor's deed and the…

Imposes the New York State real estate transfer tax on each conveyance at a rate per $500 of consideration, with the additional tax on residential conveyances of $1,000,000 or more (the mansion tax) imposed on the…

The Tax Department's own statement of the base transfer tax, the additional tax on residential conveyances of $1 million or more, who is liable, when Form TP-584 is due and which conveyances are exempt.

Gives the statutory meaning of the covenant against grantor's acts, that the grantor "has not done or suffered anything whereby the said premises have been encumbered in any way whatever".

An unrecorded deed or land contract is fraudulent as against a subsequent bona fide purchaser. Record in the county where the land lies, promptly.

The statutory LIMITED WARRANTY DEED, warranting only against the grantor's own acts. The right instrument where a seller will not warrant the whole chain; the common deed in many Ohio commercial transactions.

Requires the administrator of the Medicaid estate recovery program to prescribe a form on which a surviving beneficiary of a transfer on death designation affidavit, or the beneficiary's representative, states whether…

Ohio: 5301.01(A) requires the grantor's signature and acknowledgment before a listed officer, who certifies the acknowledgment and signs the certificate. The current paragraph does not require two attesting witnesses.

OHIO PUBLISHES STATUTORY DEED FORMS, and this is the GENERAL WARRANTY DEED: a deed substantially in this form conveys fee simple with the full covenants the section enumerates, including that the grantor was lawfully…

The statutory SURVIVORSHIP DEED, which creates a survivorship tenancy between the grantees.

OHIO'S TRANSFER ON DEATH DESIGNATION AFFIDAVIT lets real property pass outside probate to named beneficiaries.

What the beneficiary records after the owner's death to confirm the transfer. The step families miss, leaving title unmarketable.

The statutory QUIT-CLAIM DEED, passing whatever interest the grantor has with no covenants.

Names Pennsylvania's Uniform Condominium Act, which governs condominiums created after its effective date.

Names the Uniform Planned Community Act, which governs planned communities, the common form for townhouse and single-family homeowner association developments.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court majority, April 26, 2019. Section 351 does not impose a mandatory duty to record all mortgages and mortgage assignments.

Provides sufficient short forms for individual and representative acknowledgments, an attorney's acknowledgment, verification on oath or affirmation, signature witnessing and copy certifications, if completed with the…

HOW TO DESCRIBE A CONDOMINIUM UNIT in a deed: the name of the condominium, the recording reference for the declaration, and the unit identifier as the section requires. Follow it exactly;

How withdrawable real estate is removed from a flexible condominium. A buyer should know whether adjacent land can still be pulled out of the project.

Sections 1-6 specify the effects of conveyancing and warranty language, subject to the stated limitations. Sections 7-8 offer optional deed and acknowledgment forms;

Pennsylvania: to protect priority, have the deed acknowledged or lawfully proved and record it in the property's county.

Identifies who may perform a notarial act in Pennsylvania, including notaries public, judges and specified court and recording officers.

A notarial act must have a contemporaneous certificate signed and dated by the officer, identifying the county, state and office. A notary's certificate also states commission expiration;

Texas: 5.021 requires a writing subscribed and delivered by the conveyor or an agent authorized in writing for its covered estates.

Current in-person real-property recording identification requirements and accepted identification forms.

An unrecorded conveyance is VOID as to a creditor or subsequent purchaser for value without notice, but binding between the parties and on those with notice. The reason to record promptly.

The short statutory form of conveyance and the estate it passes. Texas does not impose a mandatory deed form; the section supplies a sufficient one.

The covenants implied by the word GRANT or CONVEY in a Texas deed, which are narrower than a general warranty. If the client is giving or withholding warranty, say so expressly rather than relying on the verb.

What may be recorded and the acknowledgment or sworn proof required. Recording is what protects the grantee; build it into the closing.

The operative Virginia magic words. "With general warranty" in the granting part is deemed a covenant to warrant generally; "with special warranty" a covenant to warrant specially;

Supplies Virginia's statutory short-form certificates of acknowledgment for an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an attorney in fact and a public officer or fiduciary.

Gives the content of the covenant that the grantor "will warrant specially the property hereby conveyed", limiting the warranty to claims by, through or under the grantor.

Spells out the meaning of a covenant that the grantor "will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed": a warranty against the claims of all persons.

Virginia abolished common-law survivorship between joint tenants, so a conveyance to two or more people creates a tenancy in common by default.

Confirms that spouses may hold real or personal property as tenants by the entirety, that the tenancy may be created by a direct conveyance from one spouse, and that entireties property conveyed to a qualifying joint…

Provides that the word "covenants" in a deed binds the covenantor and its heirs, devisees and personal representatives to the covenantee and its successors.

Defines the short-form quiet-possession and free-from-encumbrances covenants that English covenants of title import.

Except where otherwise provided, the circuit court of any county or city, its clerk, or the clerk's duly qualified deputy in his office records a writing as to any person whose original signature is on it once that…

Virginia: sections 55.1-600 and 55.1-612 preserve acknowledgment AND proof routes.