Oregon quitclaim deed

What a quitclaim deed does in Oregon

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 Oregon law behind this deed

Start with ORS § 93.865 if you want to read the statute's own language. The table below lists the main statutes behind the rules on this page.

When Oregon 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 Oregon requires on the deed

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

How to complete and record it in Oregon

1. 1Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the County Clerk (Recording Division) 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 deedDeedly builds it with the wording, notary certificate, and 3.5-inch first-page margin used for Oregon deeds.
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 County Clerk (Recording Division)File 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 Oregon

Oregon imposes no state real estate transfer tax and bars new local ones. Washington County's grandfathered tax of $1 per $1,000 of the selling price applies to deeds there: pay it or file the county's exemption application within 15 days after recording. Elsewhere the recording fee is normally your only cost beyond notarization.

Where to record it in Oregon

Oregon deeds are recorded with the County Clerk (Recording Division) in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 36 counties in Oregon.

Many Oregon 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 Oregon: Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Lane, Marion, Jackson, Deschutes, Linn. See all Oregon 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 Oregon law that catch people out

• Oregon sets no statutory margin. Each county asks for a blank area on page one for its recording label: 4 × 2 inches in Multnomah and Clackamas, 3 × 3 inches in the top right corner in Washington, and 1.5 × 4 inches in Lane. In Multnomah and Washington counties, a deed without that space costs $5 more for an added page. Deedly leaves the top 3.5 inches of page one clear, which fits each of these labels.
• Oregon deeds must include a statutory warning about land use laws (ORS § 93.040) for most transfers. Deedly includes it automatically.
• Oregon has no statewide transfer tax and bars new local ones. Washington County has its own grandfathered tax of $1 per $1,000 of the selling price.
• Oregon recognizes transfer-on-death deeds under ORS 93.948.
• A conveyance to a married couple creates a tenancy by the entirety by default.

How to hold title in Oregon

When two or more people take title in Oregon 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 Oregon: tenancy by the entirety (married couples and Oregon registered domestic partners), tenancy in common, and co-ownership with an express right of survivorship. Oregon abolished joint tenancy (ORS 93.180(3)). Co-owners who want the survivor to take the whole property must say so expressly: the deed then creates a tenancy in common for life with cross-contingent remainders (ORS 93.180(2)), which is not the same estate as a joint tenancy. Ask an attorney before relying on being able to end it later.