Maine property deeds
Deed rules are state law, and Maine's differ from its neighbors in ways that decide whether your document records or comes back. Here is the whole picture: which deeds exist here, how they have to be signed, what the recorder wants on the page, and what it costs.
- Recording office
- Registry of Deeds
- Witnesses
- Notary only
- Transfer tax
- $2.20 per $500 of value up to $1,000,000 and $6.00 per $500 above that
- First-page margin
- 3″ top
- Recording fee
- ~$40 per document
- E-recording
- Approved submitters
Deeds Maine recognizes
| Deed | What it does | Available? |
|---|---|---|
| Quitclaim deed | Transfers whatever interest you have in a property, with no promises about the title. | Yes |
| General warranty deed | Transfers ownership with the strongest title guarantees the law allows. | Yes |
| Special warranty deed | Transfers ownership, but only guarantees the title for the period you owned it. | Yes |
| Transfer-on-death deed | Names who inherits your property, skips probate, and changes nothing while you're alive. | Yes |
| Lady Bird Deed | An enhanced life estate deed: you keep total control for life, and the property passes automatically at death. | No |
| Life estate deed | You keep the right to live in the property for life; named remaindermen own it after you. | Yes, less common |
| Gift deed | Transfers property to someone as an outright gift, for no payment. | Yes, less common |
Maine does not recognize lady bird deeds, so recording one here may not do what you want.
How a deed has to be signed in Maine
Maine requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public. No witnesses are required.
| Requirement | Rule |
|---|---|
| Notarization | Required. Each signer must appear before the notary and acknowledge the signature. |
| Witnesses | None |
| Preparer statement | Customary, not required |
| Grantee address on the deed | Required |
| Prior deed reference | Optional |
| Spousal joinder | A married owner who sells for full value signs alone, and the buyer takes free of the spouse's claims (33 M.R.S. § 480). For a gift, a sale for less than full value, a life estate deed or a transfer-on-death deed, the owner's spouse should sign too, releasing all rights (on a transfer-on-death deed, consenting in writing). Otherwise the surviving spouse's elective share can count the property after the owner's death: always for a life estate or transfer-on-death deed, and for a gift or a below-value sale if the owner dies within two years of it (18-C M.R.S. §§ 2-205, 2-208). |
Maine document formatting rules
A safe layout for Maine is 8.5 × 11 inch paper with a 3-inch clear space at the top of the first page for the registry of deeds' stamp, 1-inch margins elsewhere, and no type smaller than 10 point. That is the profile Deedly formats every Maine document to. Writing into the recorder's stamp area is the most common formatting rejection there is.
- Maine's registries of deeds require clean margins on every document: 1 3/4 inches at the top of page one, 1 inch at the top of every other page, 3/4 inch at each side, and 1 1/2 inches across the bottom of the last page, with no writing, stickers or punched holes in them. Type must be at least 10 point, on paper from 8.5 × 11 to 8.5 × 14 inches. A document without the margins is returned unrecorded (Maine Registers of Deeds Association, Document Recording Requirements, 2025). Deedly leaves 1.5 inches clear at the bottom of every page.
Maine transfer tax and recording fees
Maine charges Real estate transfer tax at $2.20 per $500 of value up to $1,000,000 and $6.00 per $500 above that (any part of $500 counts as $500), half owed by the grantor and half by the grantee (36 M.R.S. § 4641-A). The registry collects the whole tax when the deed is recorded (36 M.R.S. § 4641-B), so agree between you who hands it over. A gift, or a deed stating only a nominal price (less than 20% of the property's adjusted assessed value, such as "$10"), is taxed on the property's market value unless an exemption applies (36 M.R.S. § 4641(3)).
Common exemptions: deeds between spouses, parent and child (stepchildren included), or grandparent and grandchild, when nothing is paid for the deed (36 M.R.S. § 4641-C(4)), deeds between spouses in a divorce (§ 4641-C(4)), deeds into your own revocable living trust, and back out of it to you (§ 4641-C(15)), deeds that only confirm or correct an earlier recorded deed, with nothing more paid (§ 4641-C(3)), and deeds that only change an entity's name or type, with no change in who owns it beneficially (§ 4641-C(19)).
A form has to travel with the deed
Maine requires Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration (Form RETTD) with most recorded deeds, including gifts and other exempt transfers. Recorders reject packages that are missing it.
Recording fees run about $40 per document. State law sets a flat $35 per document (33 M.R.S. § 751). A register of deeds may add a $5 records preservation surcharge (§ 752), and the registries Deedly checked all charge it, so the fee is $40 whatever the page count. A registry may charge $2 for each page it has to add if there is no room for its recording stamp (33 M.R.S. § 653).
See how Maine's transfer tax and recording fee compare with other states.
How to hold title in Maine
- Sole ownership. One person owns everything.
- Tenancy in common. Separate, divisible shares with no survivorship. A deceased owner's share goes to their heirs.
- Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Equal shares; the survivor takes the whole property automatically.
Where to record a deed in Maine
Deeds are recorded with the Registry of Deeds in the county where the property is located. Maine has 16 counties and 17 registries of deeds: Aroostook County has two. Many offices accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders.
Cumberland · York · Penobscot · Kennebec · Androscoggin · Aroostook · Oxford. all Maine recording offices
Why deeds get rejected in Maine, and rules that catch people out
- A Maine registry returns a deed unrecorded if its margins are not clean (1 3/4 inches at the top of page one, 3/4 inch at the sides, 1 1/2 inches across the bottom of the last page, with nothing written in them), and will not accept one unless each signer's name, and the notary's, is typed or printed under the signature (33 M.R.S. § 651-A). It also needs the Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration and the tax, unless the deed is a transfer-on-death or corrective deed (36 M.R.S. §§ 4641-B, 4641-D), and the recording fee (about $40).
- Almost every Maine deed must be accompanied by a Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration (Form RETTD), even when no tax is due: an exempt transfer enters its exemption code on the form. Title companies and lawyers file it online; you can fill in the form Maine Revenue Services publishes and hand it in with the deed. Transfer-on-death deeds and corrective deeds need none (36 M.R.S. § 4641-D).
- A deed between spouses, parent and child, or grandparent and grandchild is exempt from Maine's transfer tax only if nothing is paid for it (36 M.R.S. § 4641-C(4)). A family sale is taxed like any other, and siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins get no exemption.
- Maine's transfer tax is imposed half on the grantor and half on the grantee: $1.10 each per $500 of value up to $1,000,000, and $3.00 each per $500 above that (36 M.R.S. § 4641-A).
- Maine recognizes transfer-on-death deeds under its Probate Code (18-C M.R.S. § 6-401).
From $29. Every Maine rule above is applied automatically, and you read the finished document before you pay.
Common questions
You sign a deed, have it notarized, and record it with the Registry of Deeds in the county where the property sits. Which deed depends on what you're doing: a quitclaim for family transfers and adding or removing a name, a warranty deed for a sale, and a transfer-on-death deed for probate avoidance.
No. Maine does not require an attorney to prepare or record a deed. But if the owner is 60 or older and depends on others for care or support, a gift, a below-value sale or a transfer-on-death deed to someone close to the owner is presumed to be the result of undue influence unless the owner had a lawyer representing only the owner (33 M.R.S. §§ 1021 to 1025; 18-C M.R.S. § 6-408). In that case have an independent lawyer review the deed before it is signed. Deedly asks about this and does not prepare the deed for an owner in that situation who has no lawyer of their own. Use one too when ownership is disputed, when the owner has died and the estate has not been probated, when the estate is large enough to owe tax, or when Medicaid planning is involved.
About $40 per document. Maine also charges real estate transfer tax at $2.20 per $500 of value up to $1,000,000 and $6.00 per $500 above that (any part of $500 counts as $500), half owed by the grantor and half by the grantee (36 M.R.S. § 4641-A).
Yes. The statute is 18-C M.R.S. § 6-401 et seq. It must be recorded before the owner's death to be effective.
Keep reading
- Maine quitclaim deedTransfers whatever interest you have in a property, with no promises about the title.
- Maine general warranty deedTransfers ownership with the strongest title guarantees the law allows.
- Maine special warranty deedTransfers ownership, but only guarantees the title for the period you owned it.
- Maine transfer-on-death deedNames who inherits your property, skips probate, and changes nothing while you're alive.
- Maine recording officesWhere to file in each county, with fees and contact details.
- Compare all 51 jurisdictionsWitness rules, transfer taxes, and recording fees side by side.
Deedly is not a law firm
Its software and documents are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. We provide self-help software and state-specific deed forms; you make your own decisions about your property. Using Deedly does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing here is legal advice. If your situation is complex or contested, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.