Deeds: Types & Requirements
~12 min read · Rank general warranty, special warranty and quitclaim deeds, and what makes a deed valid.
Deeds move title, and the exam moves on two axes: the validity checklist (what makes any deed work) and the warranty spectrum (general warranty's five covenants down to quitclaim's naked release). Know which deed promises what — and that recording is for protection, not validity.
What makes a deed valid
Requirements: a competent grantor (age + capacity) who signs; an identifiable grantee; words of conveyance (granting clause); an adequate legal description; consideration recited (nominal suffices); and — the step students forget — delivery and acceptance during the grantor's lifetime, with donative intent. NOT required for validity: recording, the grantee's signature, witnesses in most states (acknowledgment is needed to RECORD, not to convey).
- Competent grantor signs; grantee identifiable; description adequate
- Delivery + acceptance while the grantor lives
- Recording and acknowledgment protect — they don't validate
- The grantee never needs to sign
The warranty spectrum
General warranty deed: the grantor warrants title against ALL defects, whenever arising — through the five covenants: seisin (I own it), right to convey, against encumbrances, quiet enjoyment, and warranty (defense against lawful claims), the last two running to future defense. Special (limited) warranty deed: warrants only against defects arising during the grantor's ownership — the REO/fiduciary standard. Bargain and sale deed: implies ownership, no warranties. Quitclaim deed: conveys whatever interest the grantor has — possibly nothing — with zero warranties; the tool for clearing clouds, divorces, and boundary fixes.
- General: five covenants, all history covered
- Special: only the grantor's own tenure
- Bargain and sale: implies title, promises nothing
- Quitclaim: releases whatever exists, warrants nothing
Special deeds and the grantor/grantee grammar
Fiduciary deeds — executor's, administrator's, guardian's, sheriff's, trustee's, tax deeds — convey per legal authority, usually with special-warranty-or-less protection. Grammar rule the exam loves: the grantor gives, the grantee receives; and habendum ('to have and to hold') defines the estate granted. A deed to a nonexistent grantee (a dead person, an unformed entity) fails.
Worked example
Aunt Rose signs a deed giving her farm to her nephew, tells him about it at dinner, then locks the deed in her safe 'until I'm gone.' She dies; the executor finds the deed and also discovers a neighbor claims a 1985 easement. The estate offers the nephew a quitclaim 'to settle things.' What does the nephew actually have?
Nothing from the safe: a deed requires delivery during the grantor's life — retaining control ('until I'm gone') negates delivery intent; announcing it at dinner is not delivery. The farm passed through Rose's estate instead (will or intestacy). The estate's quitclaim: it would convey exactly the estate's interest, warranting nothing — if the nephew takes it, he gets title subject to whatever the 1985 easement proves to be, with no covenant against encumbrances to sue on. Had Rose handed him a GENERAL warranty deed while alive, the easement would breach the covenant against encumbrances, giving him a claim. Delivery decides existence; deed type decides remedies.
Common exam pitfalls
Treating recording as what makes a deed effective.
Delivery and acceptance transfer title; recording protects against later claimants — an unrecorded delivered deed is valid between the parties.
Reading a quitclaim as a defective deed.
It's a fully effective conveyance of whatever exists — it just promises nothing about what that is.
Assuming the grantee must sign or pay real money.
Only the grantor signs; nominal recited consideration ('ten dollars and love and affection') suffices.
Signed, described, delivered, accepted — that's a deed; how loudly it promises is the warranty spectrum.
Recap
- Validity: competent grantor, signature, grantee, description, words of conveyance, delivery + acceptance
- Recording protects; it does not validate
- General warranty: five covenants covering all history
- Special warranty: grantor's tenure only (REO standard)
- Quitclaim: whatever interest exists, zero warranties — cloud remover
- Delivery must occur during the grantor's lifetime
Prove it: 10 questions on this topic
Every lesson ends with a ten-question check in the free course — your progress syncs between the web and the EstatePass app.