Wisconsin general warranty deed
Here is what Wisconsin actually requires on a general warranty deed. The witness rules, the notary block, the margins, the forms that have to travel with it, and where to record it, plus what the deed does and does not do.
- Recording office
- Register of Deeds
- Witnesses
- Notary only
- Transfer tax
- $0.30 per $100 of value or fraction of $100
- First-page margin
- 3.5″ top
- Recording fee
- $30 per document
- E-recording
- Approved submitters
What a general warranty deed does in Wisconsin
A general warranty deed transfers ownership and adds the full set of title covenants: the grantor promises they own the property, have the right to sell it, that it is free of undisclosed encumbrances, and that they will defend the title against any claim, including claims that arose long before they owned it. It is the standard instrument for an arm's-length sale between private parties.
The Wisconsin law behind this deed
Start with Wis. Stat. § 706.10(5), (6) if you want to read the statute's own language. The table below lists the main statutes behind the rules on this page.
| What it governs | Citation |
|---|---|
| General warranty deeds specifically | Wis. Stat. § 706.10(5), (6) |
| Conveyances generally | Wis. Stat. § 706.02 |
| Recording with the Register of Deeds | Wis. Stat. § 706.05 |
| Homestead and spousal consent | Wis. Stat. §§ 706.02(1)(f), 706.01(7) |
| Transfer tax | Wis. Stat. § 77.22 |
When Wisconsin homeowners use a general warranty deed
- Sell a property directly to a buyer without an agent
- Transfer a property where the buyer expects full title protection
- Satisfy a purchase contract that calls for a warranty deed
- Convey property where a title company requires warranty covenants
What Wisconsin 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.
| Requirement | What Wisconsin says |
|---|---|
| Recording office | Register of Deeds |
| Notarization | Required. Each signer must appear before the notary and acknowledge the signature. Signing in front of the notary is the safest practice. |
| Witnesses | None required. A notarial acknowledgment is enough. |
| Legal description | Required, copied exactly from the prior recorded deed. A street address is not sufficient. |
| Grantee's address | Recommended. |
| Return address | Include a 'when recorded, return to' block so the original comes back to you. Deedly always prints one. |
| Preparer statement | Required. The deed must name who drafted it. |
| Prior deed reference | Not required, though it keeps the chain of title clean. |
| Page setup | 8.5 × 11 in, 3.5-inch clear space at the top of page one, 0.5-inch margins elsewhere, nothing under 10pt. This is the profile Deedly applies. |
| Accompanying form | Wisconsin Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR) |
A spouse may have to sign even if they are not an owner
If the property is the homestead of a married grantor, both spouses must sign, even a spouse who is not on title, unless the deed is between the spouses (Wis. Stat. § 706.02(1)(f)). Wisconsin's standard deed forms also state whether the property is homestead property. No statute requires it, but title examiners look for it, so Deedly prints it.
How to complete and record it in Wisconsin
- Find 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.
- Identify 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.
- Complete the deedDeedly builds it with the wording, notary certificate, and 3.5-inch first-page margin used for Wisconsin deeds.
- Sign 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.
- Complete Wisconsin Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR)Wisconsin requires this alongside the deed, including for exempt transfers. Your filing packet explains which boxes apply to your situation.
- Record 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.
- Update 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 Wisconsin
| Cost | Typical amount |
|---|---|
| Recording fee | $30 per document |
| Transfer tax | Real estate transfer fee: $0.30 per $100 of value or fraction of $100 ($3.00 per $1,000), imposed on the grantor (§ 77.22(1)) |
| Notary | Wisconsin caps a notary's fee for acknowledging a deed at $5 per document (Wis. Stat. § 140.02(9)(e)), unless the Department of Financial Institutions sets a different fee by rule. |
| Deedly | $49, one time (launch price, regular $69) |
| Attorney (for comparison) | $150–$700 for the same statutory document |
Wisconsin charges a real estate transfer fee of $0.30 per $100 of value or fraction of $100 ($3.00 per $1,000), imposed on the grantor (§ 77.22(1)).
Exemptions that commonly apply to a transfer like this: transfers between spouses (§ 77.25(8m)), transfers for nominal or no consideration between parent and child, stepparent and stepchild, parent and son- or daughter-in-law, or grandparent and grandchild (§ 77.25(8)), transfers into a trust, if a direct transfer from you to the trust's beneficiaries would itself be exempt (§ 77.25(16)), and transfers from a trustee to a beneficiary without actual consideration (§ 77.25(9)). You have to claim the exemption. The recorder won't apply it for you.
Where to record it in Wisconsin
Wisconsin deeds are recorded with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 72 counties in Wisconsin.
Many Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha, Brown, Racine, Outagamie, Winnebago, Kenosha, Washington. See all Wisconsin recording offices.
What a general warranty deed does NOT do
Being honest about the limits is more useful than a sales pitch. Every one of these catches somebody out.
- The covenants only bind the grantor personally. If they have no assets, a covenant claim may be worth little.
- It does not replace title insurance or a title search. It gives you a claim after the fact, not clean title today.
- It does not avoid probate and cannot be revoked once delivered and recorded.
- Signing one when you don't actually know the property's history exposes you to real liability. Where that is a concern, a special warranty deed is the safer instrument.
Quirks of Wisconsin law that catch people out
- Before recording, complete Wisconsin's online Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR) at revenue.wi.gov. It must be filed electronically unless the Department of Revenue grants a hardship waiver (Wis. Stat. § 77.22(2)). Bring or mail the printed receipt with the deed and the fee. Every grantor, grantee and parcel on the deed must appear on the receipt, and the Register of Deeds writes the fee or exemption on the deed. A transfer on death designation needs no return (Wis. Stat. § 77.255).
- Leave a blank space of at least 3 by 3 inches in the upper right corner of page one, below a 0.5-inch top margin, and keep the top 0.5 inch of every page blank (Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2m)(a)3, 14). Deedly lays out every Wisconsin document this way.
- The document must show the name of whoever drafted it (Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2m)(a)16). Deedly prints it at the top of page one.
- The parcel identification number (tax key) is required in Milwaukee County and in counties that require it by ordinance (Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2m)(a)5, (7)). Copy it from your tax bill. Deedly prints a line for it under the return address.
How to hold title in Wisconsin
When two or more people take title in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin: joint tenancy with right of survivorship, tenancy in common, marital property, and survivorship marital property.
Married couples
Wisconsin is a marital property state (the IRS treats it as a community property state), the only Midwestern state where that is the default for married couples. All property of spouses is presumed to be marital property (Wis. Stat. § 766.31(2)). Property spouses take together is marital property, and a home they take together, with no one else on title, is survivorship marital property unless the deed says otherwise (Wis. Stat. §§ 700.18, 766.605).
Wisconsin's terms for spouses' ownership are "marital property" (Wis. Stat. § 766.60(1), (2)) and "survivorship marital property" (§ 766.60(5)(a)). With survivorship marital property, a spouse's interest vests solely in the surviving spouse at death and cannot be left to anyone else by will. Deedly prints these terms, not "community property", on Wisconsin deeds.
$49, one time. Your finished deed appears in full before you pay, with Wisconsin's witness rules, margins, and recording instructions already applied.
Common questions
No. Wisconsin has no requirement that an attorney prepare a deed. What matters is the correct statutory language, an accurate legal description, proper notarization, and recording with the Register of Deeds. Deedly produces all of that for $49, versus roughly $150–$700 for an attorney to draft the same document. If ownership is disputed, the current owner has died without probate, or the transfer is tax-sensitive, use an attorney.
Expect $30 per document. Wisconsin also charges real estate transfer fee of $0.30 per $100 of value or fraction of $100 ($3.00 per $1,000), imposed on the grantor (§ 77.22(1)), though transfers between spouses and certain close relatives are exempt, and a gift to anyone else pays the fee on the property's market value (Wis. Stat. §§ 77.21(3)(b), 77.25(8), (8m)). Set by state law, whatever the number of pages (Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2)(ag)).
No. Wisconsin requires only that the grantor's signature be acknowledged before a notary public. Instead of a notary's acknowledgment, a member in good standing of the State Bar of Wisconsin may authenticate the signatures (Wis. Stat. §§ 706.05(2)(b), 706.06(2)).
With the Register of Deeds in the county where the property is located, not where you live, and not where the buyer lives. Wisconsin has 72 counties. Many offices in this state also accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies.
No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding about deeds. A deed changes who owns the property. The mortgage is a separate contract with the lender, and only a refinance or a written release from the lender removes a borrower. Someone can be off the deed and still fully liable on the loan.
Often, yes. If the property is the homestead of a married grantor, both spouses must sign, even a spouse who is not on title, unless the deed is between the spouses (Wis. Stat. § 706.02(1)(f)). Wisconsin's standard deed forms also state whether the property is homestead property. No statute requires it, but title examiners look for it, so Deedly prints it. That surprises people, because the spouse is not becoming an owner. They are releasing rights the law gives them automatically. Deedly adds a joinder block for the signature when it applies.
Keep reading
- Wisconsin quitclaim deedTransfers whatever interest you have in a property, with no promises about the title.
- Wisconsin special warranty deedTransfers ownership, but only guarantees the title for the period you owned it.
- Wisconsin transfer on death designationNames who inherits your property, skips probate, and changes nothing while you're alive.
- Wisconsin life estate deedYou keep the right to live in the property for life; named remaindermen own it after you.
- All deed rules for WisconsinRecording offices, transfer tax, witness rules, and fees.
- Wisconsin recording officesWhere to file in each county.
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.