Louisiana Quitclaim Deed
A Louisiana quit claim deed transfers your rights with no warranty. Sign it before a notary and two witnesses, then record with the parish Clerk of Court.
Introduction
A quitclaim deed is a document that transfers whatever ownership interest you have in real estate to someone else, with no promise that your title is good or even that you own anything at all. That is the key difference from a warranty deed, which does promise clear title and lets the buyer sue if the title turns out to be flawed. Louisiana is a civil-law state, so it has no common-law statutory quitclaim form. Instead, La. Civ. Code Section 2502 lets a person transfer to another whatever rights to a thing he then has, without warranting that any such rights exist. The person giving up the interest is the grantor (the transferor in the Civil Code) and the person receiving it is the grantee. One Louisiana point to know: if the grantor later acquires ownership after signing, that after-acquired title does not pass to the grantee. A Louisiana transfer of immovable (real) property is usually made as an authentic act, signed before a notary public and two witnesses under La. Civ. Code Section 1833. You then file it in the conveyance records of the parish where the property sits, with the Clerk of Court acting as ex officio parish recorder (La. Civ. Code Section 3346). Louisiana levies no statewide real estate transfer tax. Attorney review is available as an option before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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A quitclaim deed transfers only the interest you actually have. It passes whatever rights you hold in the property to the grantee and makes no promise that the title is clear, or even that you own anything. A warranty deed, by contrast, guarantees the title, which is why a quitclaim (often typed as a quit claim deed) is used mainly between people who trust each other.
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You record it with the parish Clerk of Court, not a county recorder. Louisiana records land by parish. La. Const. art. V Section 28(A) makes the clerk of the district court the ex officio parish recorder of conveyances, and La. Civ. Code Section 3346 files the deed in the conveyance records of the parish where the property is located. In Orleans Parish it is filed with the Land Records Division of the Clerk of Civil District Court at 1340 Poydras Street.
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Execute it as an authentic act before a notary. Under La. Civ. Code Section 1833 an authentic act is a writing executed before a notary public in the presence of two witnesses and signed by each party, each witness, and the notary. This is the standard Louisiana form for transferring immovable property and is what title practice expects.
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Two witnesses are required for the authentic act. Louisiana is a witness state for the standard deed form: the authentic act needs two witnesses in addition to the notary (La. Civ. Code Section 1833). A gift-style transfer for no price is a donation and must be an authentic act, or it is absolutely null (La. Civ. Code Section 1541).
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There is no statewide transfer tax. La. Const. art. VII Section 2.3 bars any new tax or fee on the sale or transfer of immovable property in Louisiana. Recording, filing, and maintenance fees are not treated as transfer taxes. New Orleans has a grandfathered documentary transaction tax, but it expressly exempts quitclaims (New Orleans Code of Ordinances Section 150-369(18)).
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There is no Louisiana statutory quitclaim form. As a civil-law state, Louisiana codifies the without-warranty transfer concept (La. Civ. Code Section 2502) and the form of the act (authentic act or act under private signature) but publishes no model deed. The instrument must be drafted to fit these rules.
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Both spouses must concur to convey community property. Louisiana is a community-property state. La. Civ. Code Section 2347 requires the concurrence of both spouses to alienate or encumber a community immovable, so the non-titled spouse also signs. Common quitclaim uses include divorce transfers, adding or removing a spouse, and moving property into a trust.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Quitclaim Deed in Louisiana, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Quitclaim Deed guide walks through them.
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Louisiana Requirements for Quitclaim Deed
Louisiana is a civil-law state, and the standard way to transfer immovable property is by authentic act. Under La. Civ. Code Section 1833 an authentic act is a writing executed before a notary public in the presence of two witnesses and signed by each party, each witness, and the notary. A transfer of immovable property must be by authentic act or by act under private signature (La. Civ. Code Section 1839).
Louisiana requires two witnesses for the authentic act form, in addition to the notary (La. Civ. Code Section 1833). This is different from most states, where a notary alone is enough. The two witnesses and the notary all sign the act.
If the quitclaim transfers the property for no price, it is a gratuitous transfer, which Louisiana treats as a donation inter vivos. A donation of immovable property must be made by authentic act under penalty of absolute nullity (La. Civ. Code Section 1541), so a no-consideration quitclaim cannot be a mere act under private signature.
The recorder must refuse to record an instrument that does not bear the original signature of a party (La. Civ. Code Section 3344). A recorded act should also carry the information listed in La. Civ. Code Section 3352, such as party names and mailing addresses, marital status, and the notary identification or bar roll number, though omitting that information does not by itself invalidate the deed.
Louisiana records land by parish, not county. File the signed act in the conveyance records of the parish where the property is located, with the Clerk of Court, who serves as ex officio parish recorder of conveyances (La. Const. art. V Section 28(A); La. Civ. Code Section 3346). In Orleans Parish, filings go to the Land Records Division of the Clerk of Civil District Court at 1340 Poydras Street.
Under Louisiana's public records doctrine, an instrument that transfers an immovable is without effect as to a third person unless it is recorded (La. Civ. Code Section 3338), and an instrument has effect against third persons only from the time it is filed for registry (La. Civ. Code Section 1839). Recording promptly protects the grantee against later dealings by the grantor.
Louisiana levies no statewide transfer tax. La. Const. art. VII Section 2.3 bars any new tax or fee on the sale or transfer of immovable property, though recording and filing fees still apply. New Orleans keeps a grandfathered documentary transaction tax, but its ordinance expressly exempts quitclaims (New Orleans Code of Ordinances Section 150-369(18)).
Louisiana is a community-property state. La. Civ. Code Section 2347 requires the concurrence of both spouses to alienate, encumber, or lease a community immovable, even when only one spouse is named on the title, so the non-titled spouse also signs. A quitclaim of community property without that concurrence may be attacked as an unauthorized act.
Frequently Asked Questions
A quitclaim deed is an instrument that transfers whatever rights you have in Louisiana real estate to someone else, without any warranty that those rights exist. It is often typed as a quit claim deed. Louisiana is a civil-law state, and La. Civ. Code Section 2502 lets a person transfer whatever rights to a thing he then has, with no warranty. Unlike a warranty deed, it makes no promise that you own the property or that the title is clear.
The difference is the promise about title. A warranty deed guarantees that the transferor owns the property and protects the buyer against eviction, and the buyer can seek redress if that turns out to be false. A Louisiana without-warranty transfer under La. Civ. Code Section 2502 makes no such promise: it passes only the rights the transferor has, owes no restitution of the price on eviction, and the transferor's after-acquired title does not pass to the transferee. In a sale, the implied warranty against eviction can be excluded by agreement under La. Civ. Code Section 2503.
For the standard title-practice form, yes. A transfer of immovable property is usually made as an authentic act, which under La. Civ. Code Section 1833 is signed before a notary public and two witnesses. Louisiana also recognizes an act under private signature (La. Civ. Code Section 1839), but the recorder will refuse any instrument that does not bear the original signature of a party (La. Civ. Code Section 3344). A gift for no price is a donation and must be an authentic act (La. Civ. Code Section 1541).
You record it in the conveyance records of the parish where the property is located, with the Clerk of Court, who is the ex officio parish recorder of conveyances (La. Const. art. V Section 28(A); La. Civ. Code Section 3346). In Orleans Parish, filings go to the Land Records Division of the Clerk of Civil District Court at 1340 Poydras Street. Recording is what gives the transfer effect against third persons under La. Civ. Code Section 3338.
No statewide transfer tax applies. La. Const. art. VII Section 2.3 prohibits any new tax or fee on the sale or transfer of immovable property in Louisiana; only recording and filing fees apply. New Orleans keeps a grandfathered documentary transaction tax, but its ordinance expressly exempts quitclaims (New Orleans Code of Ordinances Section 150-369(18)), so a quit claim deed is not subject to it.
No. Filing a quitclaim in the parish conveyance records, through the Clerk of Court acting as ex officio recorder of conveyances, transfers whatever ownership interest you hold, but it does not reach the lender's mortgage. If your name is on the note, you stay personally liable after the deed is recorded. Only the lender can release you, usually by refinancing the loan or signing a release, not the quitclaim itself.
If the property is community property, yes. Louisiana is a community-property state, and La. Civ. Code Section 2347 requires the concurrence of both spouses to alienate or encumber a community immovable, even if only one spouse is named on the title. This is why a quitclaim of a community home is signed by both spouses, and it is common in divorce settlements when one spouse transfers their interest to the other.
No. Under La. Civ. Code art. 2502 a quitclaim transfers only whatever rights the grantor then holds, without warranting they exist, and any title the grantor later acquires does not inure to you. It clears no liens or mortgages. Because Louisiana follows the public records doctrine, an interest is effective against third persons only once recorded in the parish, so a title search and title insurance, not a quitclaim, are what protect a buyer in an arm's length purchase.