The short version
- A quitclaim conveys whatever interest the grantor happens to hold at that moment — which may be full ownership, a half share, or nothing. It contains no promise that the grantor owns anything.
- A general warranty deed warrants the title against all claims, whenever they arose. A special or limited warranty covers only claims arising from the grantor's own period of ownership, and nothing before it.
- The deed's covenants are a personal promise from the grantor. Title insurance is money and a duty to defend from a solvent company, which is why buyers rely on the policy rather than the wording.
- Signing a deed transfers ownership. It does not transfer the loan: the person named on the promissory note stays liable until the debt is refinanced, assumed with a written release, or paid off.
The only difference between the three is the promise
All three do the same mechanical job. They name a grantor and a grantee, describe the land by its recorded legal description, use words of conveyance, and get signed and acknowledged. Ownership moves either way. What changes is what happens afterwards, if the title turns out not to be what everyone assumed.
The quitclaim is the honest one: whatever interest I have in this land, if any, is now yours. Owned the whole parcel, and the grantee gets the whole parcel. Owned a one-sixth share inherited from a grandparent, and the grantee gets a one-sixth share. Owned nothing — the land was sold years ago, or the signer was never on title — and the grantee gets nothing, with no claim against the person who signed.
What the grantor is standing behind
Quitclaim
Special / limited warranty
General warranty
What a warranty deed actually covenants
New York sets the covenants out in statute, and the list is the standard one: that the grantor is seised in fee simple and has good right to convey; that the grantee shall quietly enjoy the premises; that the premises are free from encumbrances; that the grantor will execute any further assurance needed, will forever warrant the title, and has not themselves encumbered the property.
Three of those are present covenants — seisin, right to convey, freedom from encumbrances. They are true or false the moment the deed is delivered, and the limitation clock starts then. The other three are future covenants, breached only when someone turns up and asserts a superior claim, which may be twenty years later. That is why an old warranty deed is not worthless — and why its practical value depends on whether the grantor is still solvent and findable when the claim arrives.
The special warranty narrows the promise to the grantor's own tenure. Virginia's statute puts it plainly: the grantor defends against claims of the grantor "and all persons claiming or to claim by, through, or under him" — no further. A defect created by an owner three transfers ago is not covered. Estates, trustees, banks selling foreclosed stock and corporate sellers insist on it, because they genuinely do not know what happened before they arrived.
When a quitclaim is the right instrument
A quitclaim is not a cheap warranty deed. It is a different tool, and in several common situations a warranty would be meaningless.
- Between spouses. Adding a spouse to title, or removing one under a divorce settlement. Nobody is buying anything, so no covenant is bargained for.
- Into a revocable living trust. The owner conveys to themselves as trustee. A warranty from you to you serves no purpose.
- Clearing a cloud on title. Somebody holds a possible, probably worthless claim — an heir who may have inherited a fraction, a lender whose paid-off lien was never released. A quitclaim from them extinguishes it without asking them to guarantee anything.
- Correcting an error. A misspelled name, a legal description that dropped a call. A corrective deed fixes the record.
- Between entities under common control. From an individual to their own LLC, or between two companies with the same owner.
The third surprises people. Buying a quitclaim from someone with a doubtful claim is a standard way of curing title, and cheaper than litigating. What you purchase is not their ownership but their inability to assert it afterwards. Where the claim rests on facts rather than records, pair the deed with a sworn affidavit setting out what the signer knows.
When it is the wrong instrument, and why people accept one anyway
In an arm's-length purchase — a stranger, money changing hands, no prior relationship — a quitclaim is close to indefensible. You are paying market value for an instrument whose entire content is "I make no claim about what I am selling you." If the seller did not own it, or owned it subject to a lien nobody mentioned, the deed gives you nothing to sue on.
People sign them anyway for three reasons. A seller says the property is sold "as-is" and the buyer hears that as covering title — it does not; as-is language deals with physical condition. A seller offers a discount for a fast close. Or the parties trust each other and the paperwork follows the relationship rather than the risk. The last fails quietly, years later, when the buyer tries to sell.
Property deed transfer checklist
The clauses a deed has to carry: grantor and grantee named exactly as they appear on title, the legal description copied from the recorded deed rather than the listing, the words of conveyance, the warranty or its absence, and the acknowledgement block.
Title insurance is the protection. The deed language is not.
A covenant of title is a promise from a private individual. Collecting on it means finding the grantor, establishing the breach, suing, winning, and then discovering whether they have any money. An owner's title policy replaces all of that with an insurer's obligation to defend the title and pay the loss, up to the policy amount, for as long as you own the property.
The two are independent, and people get that wrong in both directions. A warranty deed with no policy leaves you suing a stranger. A quitclaim plus an owner's policy is a safe way to take a family property.
Two independent decisions, four outcomes
Deed type
Owner's title policy
No policy
Owner's policy
Quitclaim
Exposed
No covenant, no insurer. Every pre-existing defect is yours to find and pay for.
Covered
Normal for family transfers and trust funding. The insurer defends; the deed never meant to.
Warranty deed
A claim, not a remedy
You can sue the grantor. Worth something only if they are solvent a decade later.
Belt and braces
The standard residential purchase. The insurer pays, then may pursue the grantor.
What a policy does not cover matters before you rely on it. Standard exceptions typically carve out the rights of parties in possession the records do not show, unrecorded easements, and anything an accurate survey would have revealed — boundary encroachments above all. Those can often be removed by producing a current survey or a seller's affidavit, which is why a survey is worth the money on rural or irregular parcels. An unrecorded right of way used for decades sits in that gap: see easement agreements.
Signing is not the transfer. Recording is.
A deed is effective between grantor and grantee on delivery. Against the rest of the world it works only once it reaches the county register. California's recording statute is the common pattern: an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later purchaser or mortgagee who takes in good faith, for value, and records first. A deed in a drawer binds the person who signed it and nobody else.
Before the deed leaves your hands
- Acknowledged before a notary. Recorders reject unacknowledged deeds, and the wording is prescribed by state — see when a document needs notarising.
- The legal description copied from the last recorded deed or the title commitment, never from a listing or a tax bill.
- The transfer-tax declaration completed and the exemption claimed if one applies — family and trust transfers are often exempt, but only if the form says so.
- The assessor's change-of-ownership form, where the state requires one. Missing it can trigger a reassessment an exemption would have avoided.
- Recorded promptly, with the returned stamped copy kept alongside the title policy.
A deed does not move the mortgage
This is the most expensive misunderstanding on the subject. Title and debt are separate. Signing a quitclaim to your ex-spouse removes you from ownership; it leaves your name on the promissory note and the loan on your credit file. A divorce decree allocating the house to one spouse binds the spouses — it does not amend the loan, because the lender was not a party to it.
Liability changes three ways only: the loan is paid off, refinanced into the remaining owner's name, or assumed with the lender's written release of the departing borrower. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has documented servicers pushing people towards a refinance where an assumption was available; successors in interest through divorce or death have rights to information and to be treated as borrowers once their interest is confirmed. Ask for the assumption in writing before accepting that a refinance is the only route.
The question to ask before signing either one
Not "which deed is better" — that depends entirely on the transaction. Ask instead: if a claim against this title surfaces in eight years, who pays for it? In a purchase the answer should be an insurer, backed by a warranty deed from a searched seller. In a family transfer it is usually "we do, and that is fine, because we know the history." Where nobody can answer, that is the transaction to slow down.
And keep the two documents apart. The deed decides who owns the property. The promissory note and its security instrument decide who owes the money. A great many family arrangements go wrong because one was changed and the other was not.
Sources
- New York Real Property Law § 253 — the statutory covenants of title
- Virginia Code § 55.1-354 — general warranty
- Virginia Code § 55.1-355 — special warranty
- California Civil Code § 1113 — covenants implied by the word "grant"
- California Civil Code § 1214 — unrecorded conveyances void against a later purchaser
- 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d) — transfers exempt from due-on-sale acceleration
- CFPB — homeowners, successors in interest and mortgage servicers
- CFPB — what owner's title insurance covers
General information, not legal advice. This guide explains how these documents and rules generally work. Law varies by jurisdiction and changes, and none of it is applied to your circumstances here. For anything consequential, consult a licensed attorney where you are.
Frequently asked
Is a quitclaim deed legally valid?
Yes. It is a fully effective conveyance and passes whatever interest the grantor holds. The limitation is not validity but scope: it carries no covenant that the grantor holds anything. Executed, acknowledged and recorded correctly, a quitclaim moves ownership as completely as a warranty deed does — it simply leaves the grantee with no claim if the interest turns out to be smaller than expected.
Can a quitclaim deed be used to remove someone from a mortgage?
No. It removes them from the title only. The mortgage follows the promissory note, and the person who signed the note stays liable regardless of who owns the property. Liability ends only on payoff, on a refinance in the remaining owner's name, or on an assumption where the lender issues a written release. A divorce decree does not change this on its own.
What is the difference between a general and a special warranty deed?
A general warranty deed warrants the title against all claims, including defects created long before the grantor owned the property. A special or limited warranty warrants only against claims arising by, through or under the grantor — that is, during their ownership. Banks, estates, trustees and corporate sellers usually give special warranties, because they cannot verify what happened before they took title.
Do I still need title insurance if I get a warranty deed?
In a purchase, yes. The covenants are a personal promise: enforcing them means locating the grantor years later, proving the breach, suing and hoping they are solvent. An owner's policy replaces that with an insurer's duty to defend the title and pay the loss, and it costs a single premium at closing. The lender's policy that comes with a loan protects the lender, not your equity.
Does a deed have to be recorded to be valid?
It is valid between the grantor and grantee on delivery without recording. Recording is what makes it good against everyone else. Under a typical recording statute an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later purchaser who takes in good faith, for value, and records first — so an unrecorded deed can be defeated by a second sale of the same property.