North Carolina quitclaim deed

What a quitclaim deed does in North Carolina

A quitclaim deed moves your interest in a property to someone else immediately, without guaranteeing that the title is clean. That makes it the wrong tool for a sale to a stranger and the right tool for transfers between people who already trust each other. Spouses, family members, a trust you control, or an LLC you own.

The North Carolina law behind this deed

North Carolina has no section written specifically for quitclaim deeds. The instrument runs on the general conveyancing and recording statutes below, which is why the requirements here look like those for any other deed in the state.

When North Carolina homeowners use a quitclaim deed

• Add a spouse to the deed after marriage
• Remove an ex-spouse after a divorce
• Transfer property into a living trust
• Move property into an LLC you own
• Transfer between family members
• Correct a misspelled name or a scrivener's error on a prior deed
• Clear a possible cloud on title

What North Carolina requires on the deed

These are the execution and formatting rules registers of deeds enforce. Getting any of them wrong is the usual reason a deed comes back in the mail.

How to complete and record it in North Carolina

1. 1Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the Register of Deeds can provide one, usually for a few dollars.
2. 2Identify everyone by full legal nameNames must match the current deed and government ID exactly, middle names included. A mismatch creates a gap in the chain of title that shows up years later at closing.
3. 3Complete the deedIt needs the wording, notary certificate, and 3-inch first-page margin used for North Carolina deeds. You can prepare your own deed, or a North Carolina attorney can prepare it for you.
4. 4Sign in front of a notaryBring photo ID. Wait to sign until you are in front of the notary: you have to appear before the notary anyway, and signing there leaves no question about who signed.
5. 5Record it with the Register of DeedsFile in the county where the property is located and pay the recording fee. Many offices in this state also accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies. Keep the stamped receipt. It fixes your priority date.
6. 6Update insurance and tax recordsA change of ownership can affect your homeowner's policy, your homestead or senior exemption, and in some states the assessed value. Do this within a few weeks.

What it costs in North Carolina

North Carolina charges an excise tax on conveyances of $1 for each $500 (or part of $500) of the consideration or value ($2 per $1,000), paid by the grantor. Cities and counties may add their own on top, so check the municipality rather than just the county.

Exemptions that commonly apply to a transfer like this: transfers by gift (§ 105-228.29(5)), deeds into your own revocable trust and other transfers for which no consideration in money or property is due or paid (§ 105-228.29(6)), and transfers by will or intestacy (§ 105-228.29(3)-(4)). You have to claim the exemption. The recorder won't apply it for you.

Where to record it in North Carolina

North Carolina deeds are recorded with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 100 counties in North Carolina.

Many North Carolina recording offices accept e-recording through vendors such as Simplifile, CSC, or ePN. E-recording is generally open only to approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders, so if you prepared the deed yourself, plan to record in person or by mail. Some offices accept filings from the public through those vendors; your county's website will say.

Recording offices we cover in North Carolina: Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford, Forsyth, Cumberland, Durham, Buncombe, Union, New Hanover, Gaston. See all North Carolina recording offices.

What a quitclaim deed does NOT do

Being honest about the limits is more useful than a sales pitch. Every one of these catches somebody out.

• It gives the new owner no warranty that the title is good. If a lien or a competing claim surfaces later, the grantee has no claim against the grantor under the deed.
• It does not remove anyone from the mortgage. The lender's loan is a separate contract; only a refinance or a release from the lender does that.
• It does not by itself avoid probate. The transfer happens now, not at death.
• A title insurer may decline to insure, or ask for more, when the chain of title rests on a quitclaim, especially one from an unknown party.

Quirks of North Carolina law that catch people out

• North Carolina requires a 3-inch blank margin at the top of page one. A deed that misses the margin, font or paper rules is still recorded, but costs a $25 nonstandard-document fee (N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 161-14(b), 161-10(a)(18a)).
• A married grantor's spouse must join in a deed of any North Carolina real estate the grantor owns, even when only one spouse is on the title; otherwise the property stays subject to the spouse's elective life estate.
• A deed given as a gift, with nothing paid for the property, is void unless it is notarized and recorded within two years after it is signed (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47-26). Record a gift deed right away.
• North Carolina does not recognize transfer-on-death deeds.
• A conveyance to a married couple creates a tenancy by the entirety, which protects the property from creditors of only one spouse (not from joint debts) while both spouses are alive and married (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 41-60).

How to hold title in North Carolina

When two or more people take title in North Carolina and the deed says nothing more, the law presumes a tenancy in common, which means no automatic survivorship. If you want the survivor to take the whole property, the words have to be on the deed. Forms of co-ownership available in North Carolina: tenancy by the entirety (married couples only), joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and tenancy in common.