Free Vermont Quitclaim Deed Form

Things You Should Know Before You Sign a Quitclaim Deed in Vermont

Understand the property deed they’re asking you put down your signature.

It might not seem like it, but the real estate industry is pretty confusing, especially when in doubt of how to best handle your affairs. But even more confusing are the property deeds. How many times have you heard sorrowful stories told of how someone lost the home they’d lived in most of their lives, and they can’t do much about it because the property transfer deed had an issue or that the previous property owner wasn’t the actual owner of that property? How many times have you heard someone say “I wish I knew better to confirm the details?” Well, you don’t want this to be you, and we wish to reduce the number of heartaches around. While this article doesn’t have solutions to people who’ve had issues with their property deeds, it aims to prevent such his cases. Education is power, after all.

The state recognizes property deeds as the legally binding instrument which assign individuals and entities the ownership of real estate while transferring titles to real property. These instruments will facilitate interests in property for the person relinquishing or selling the property to the person or entity acquiring or buying that property. The party that relinquishes their rights is legally called a grantor while the recipient or party acquiring the property rights is the grantee.

In such arrangements, the most common real estate deeds used are warranty and non-warranty deeds. The warranty deeds are popular around the sale of residential property, often between individuals who know little (or a lot) about each other. When using a warranty deed, the grantor certifies that the property under conveyance isn’t burdened by any encumbrances and that they’re the actual owners of the property. This deed requires three guarantees.

Warranty deeds offer partial or total legal protection to the grantee. The partial protection comes from the special warranty deed which only gives warranties against the defects that could only have been caused by the grantor during the period of their ownership. For the highest level of protection, you have the general warranty deed which provides a warranty against all defects, including the ones that weren’t the doing of the grantor – a general warranty deed covers the entire history of the property.

On the other hand, we have the non-warranty deeds, famously the quitclaim deeds (quitclaim or quitclaim deed form), and mistakenly quick claim deeds.

What is a quitclaim deed?

The quitclaim deed in Vermont is another legally-binding property deed that conveys interests in real property from a grantor who might be the owner of the property, or not, and the conveyed property might have a clear title or not. So, while this deed facilitates the conveyance of property between parties, it doesn’t give any guarantees on the title’s clarity or the ownership of the property. This deed offers little or no legal recourse to the grantee against the grantor because when accepting the deed and the property, the grantor conveys the property as-is.

• In Vermont, different situations call for the use of the quitclaim, despite the absence of warranties on title. When in use, this deed provides a quick transfer of property, which often involves little or even no money transfer. These transfers are common between members of a family because of the low risk involved. These circumstances include:

• • Parents transferring their property rights to their children. Other real property transfers in families involve siblings or other close relatives

  • Spouses adding or removing the name of the other from a property title. This happens during marriages and divorce. In divorces, for example, you might have to give up your rights to the family home, and a quitclaim makes this possible.

  • You could use the quitclaim to effectuate a change in name on property title

  • Entities and individuals use the quitclaim to transfer real property to entities like corporations

  • Your insurer might ask you to prepare a quitclaim to clear clouds/ defects from your title. These clouds often affect and even break the chain of title, hence the need for clarification.

  • In estate planning, a quitclaim could be used to expedite property transfers to trusts.

Before you prepare your quitclaim, download a free Vermont quitclaim deed form online to get started. The free deed form is state-specific and being a printable PDF document; it’s easy to use.

• The state requires you to meet specific requirements when preparing your quitclaim. These deed requirements include:

• • A grantor’s signature, acknowledged by the grantor and the notary public, then recorded in the county the property is located.

  • If a valuable consideration is paid for the property’s conveyance, it must be indicated in the deed.

  • Also, the deed should have a succinct description of the property under conveyance.

  • The information of the grantee (legal name, mailing address, and marital status) including their vesting interests should be outlined in the deed.

  • The state uses the town recording system, unlike other states which use the county recording system.

  • Also on recording is the fact that unless your quitclaim gets acknowledged then recorded in the appropriate town, the deed will not hold any lands against anyone else, besides the grantor.

  • The state also requires that you give notice of the contents of the deed.

  • For property purchases where grantees pay the full fair value of the property after an initial but unrecorded quitclaim, and where the buyer is unaware of prior conflicts of interests, the new quitclaim, when recorded, takes precedence over the unrecorded quitclaim.

Where in Vermont are you transferring rental property? Montpelier, Burlington, Stowe, Rutland City, Brattleboro, Killington, or another city not on this list? Don’t worry. You can access our free quitclaim deed forms online from any city in Vermont.