Arkansas special warranty deed

What a special warranty deed does in Arkansas

A special warranty deed, also called a limited warranty deed or a covenant deed in some states and a grant deed in California, sits between a quitclaim and a general warranty deed. The grantor promises they did nothing during their own ownership to damage the title, and nothing more. Anything that happened before they bought the property is the buyer's risk. Estates, trustees, banks, and builders commonly use it.

The Arkansas law behind this deed

Arkansas has no section written specifically for special warranty 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 Arkansas property owners use a special warranty deed

• Sell a property you inherited or hold as trustee
• Convey a property you have owned only briefly
• Transfer commercial or investment property
• Give a buyer more protection than a quitclaim without accepting unlimited exposure

What Arkansas requires on the deed

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

How to complete and record it in Arkansas

1. 1Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties) 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-inch first-page margin used for Arkansas 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. 5Sign the transfer tax certification and the Affidavit of ComplianceThe grantee, or the grantee's agent, signs the Real Property Transfer Tax Certification printed at the end of the deed, and the DFA Real Property Transfer Tax Affidavit of Compliance. Neither needs a notary (Ark. Code Ann. §§ 26-60-107, 26-60-110). If tax is due, buy the documentary stamps from the Department of Finance and Administration before you record. Your filing packet says which applies to you.
6. 6Record it with the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties)File in the county where the property is located and pay the recording fee. The grantor must present the deed with a valid photo ID card or driver's license, or mail it with a photocopy of that ID, unless an attorney, real estate agent, title agent or lender presents it (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-403(f)). 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.
7. 7Update 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 Arkansas

Arkansas charges a real property transfer tax of $3.30 per $1,000 of consideration, or fraction of $1,000, when the consideration is more than $100. The Department of Finance and Administration says the seller and buyer pay the tax half each unless they agree otherwise. The buyer has to show proof of payment, or of an exemption, when the deed is recorded (Ark. Code Ann. § 26-60-110(a)). A transfer to your spouse or to your own trust owes no tax only if nothing is paid for it: Arkansas has no separate exemption for either.

Exemptions that commonly apply to a transfer like this: gifts and other transfers for $100 or less, on which no tax is levied (Ark. Code Ann. § 26-60-105(a)), beneficiary deeds (§ 26-60-102(12)), transfers between divorcing spouses as a division of marital property (§ 26-60-102(7)), deeds correcting an earlier deed on which the tax was paid (§ 26-60-102(3)), and transfers between a business entity and its owners on formation, reorganization or liquidation (§ 26-60-102(11)). You have to claim the exemption. The recorder won't apply it for you.

Where to record it in Arkansas

Arkansas deeds are recorded with the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties) in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 75 counties in Arkansas.

Many Arkansas 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 Arkansas: Pulaski, Benton, Washington, Saline, Sebastian, Faulkner, Craighead. See all Arkansas recording offices.

What a special warranty deed does NOT do

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

• Defects that predate your ownership are not covered. The buyer bears that risk.
• It does not substitute for a title search or an owner's title insurance policy.
• It transfers ownership immediately and cannot be revoked.
• Some purchase contracts specifically require a general warranty deed; check yours before using this one.

Quirks of Arkansas law that catch people out

• Arkansas still recognizes dower and curtesy. A married owner's spouse must sign, even when the spouse is not on the title. Without that signature a deed of the family home is void, and a deed of other land passes subject to the spouse's dower or curtesy.
• Arkansas calls a transfer-on-death deed a beneficiary deed (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608).
• An Arkansas deed must show on its face, signed by the grantee, that the correct transfer tax stamps are attached or that no tax is due, with the grantee's address. The recorder will not record it otherwise (Ark. Code Ann. § 26-60-110).
• Since August 5, 2025, the grantor has to present an Arkansas deed at the recorder's office with photo ID, or mail it with a photocopy of the grantor's ID. The recorder rejects a deed that arrives without it (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-403(f)).

How to hold title in Arkansas

When two or more people take title in Arkansas 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 Arkansas: tenancy by the entirety (married couples only), joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and tenancy in common.

In Arkansas a tenancy by the entirety gives only limited protection from one spouse's creditors. A creditor of one spouse can have that spouse's right of survivorship and half of the rents sold, but the buyer cannot put the other spouse out of the home, and the other spouse's right of survivorship is unaffected (Morris v. Solesbee, 48 Ark. App. 123 (1995)).