Michigan Quitclaim Deed
A Michigan quit claim deed transfers your interest with no warranty of title. Record it with the register of deeds and pay state and county transfer tax.
Introduction
A quitclaim deed is a document that transfers whatever ownership interest you have in a piece of 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 grantee sue if the title turns out to be flawed. A quitclaim simply passes along whatever interest you hold, so people use it for lower-risk transfers between people who already trust each other: adding or removing a spouse after a marriage or divorce, moving a home into a living trust, or clearing up a possible claim on a title. In Michigan the person giving up the interest is the grantor and the person receiving it is the grantee. To be recorded, a Michigan deed must be signed by the grantor and acknowledged before a notary public under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8; Michigan removed its old witness requirement in 2002, so no witnesses are needed. You then record the deed with the register of deeds in the county where the property is located, and Michigan charges a real estate transfer tax at both the state and county levels. 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 ownership you hold in the property to the grantee (the person receiving it) 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 quit claim deed is used mainly between people who trust each other.
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Record it with the register of deeds. A Michigan deed is recorded with the register of deeds in the county where the property is located. Recording protects the grantee against a later buyer under Michigan's race-notice priority rule (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.29): an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later good-faith purchaser who records first.
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You must sign before a notary. To be recorded, a Michigan quitclaim deed must be signed by the grantor and acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized officer under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8. Acknowledgment (the notary's certificate that you appeared and signed) is the operative recording formality.
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No witnesses are required. Michigan removed the witness requirement for deeds executed within the state in 2002 (2002 PA 23, amending Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8). A current Michigan quitclaim deed needs only the grantor's signature and a notary acknowledgment, not subscribing witnesses.
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Michigan charges a two-layer transfer tax. A taxable transfer owes a state real estate transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 of value (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.525) plus a county transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 in most counties (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.504). The deed must state the property's total value on its face unless a value affidavit is attached.
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There is a statutory quit claim form. Michigan codifies a short-form quitclaim deed at Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.152 using the operative words quit claims. A deed in that common form passes all the estate the grantor could lawfully convey (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.3) and carries no warranty of title.
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Spousal joinder is generally not required. Michigan abolished dower effective April 6, 2017 (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 558.30), so a non-owner spouse usually does not have to sign. The practical exception is property the couple owns together as tenants by the entireties: because both spouses own it, both must sign as grantors to convey it. Common quitclaim uses include divorce transfers and moving a home into a living trust.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Quitclaim Deed in Michigan, 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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Michigan Requirements for Quitclaim Deed
To record a Michigan quitclaim deed the grantor must sign it and acknowledge it before a notary public or other authorized officer. Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8 requires the deed to be acknowledged and the officer to endorse an acknowledgment certificate on the deed, which is what makes the deed recordable.
Michigan removed the witness requirement for deeds executed within the state in 2002 (2002 PA 23, amending Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8). A current Michigan quitclaim deed needs only the grantor's signature and a notary acknowledgment, not subscribing witnesses.
Record the signed, notarized deed with the register of deeds in the county where the property is located. Under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.29 an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later good-faith purchaser who records first, so recording protects the grantee (the person receiving the interest).
Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.525 requires the deed to state the total value of the real property on its face, unless an affidavit declaring that value is attached to the deed. The register of deeds uses this value to compute the real estate transfer tax.
Michigan charges a two-layer real estate transfer tax on a taxable transfer: a state tax of $3.75 per $500 of value under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.525, plus a county tax of $0.55 per $500 in most counties under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.504 (up to $0.75 per $500 in counties of 2,000,000 or more).
Some transfers are exempt from the state transfer tax under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.526, including a conveyance for consideration of less than $100, a conveyance to your child, stepchild, or adopted child, and a conveyance between spouses creating or ending a tenancy by the entireties. Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.505 lists parallel county-tax exemptions.
Michigan codifies a statutory short-form quitclaim deed at Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.152 using the operative words quit claims. A deed in this common form passes all the estate the grantor could lawfully convey under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.3 and carries no warranty of title.
Michigan abolished dower effective April 6, 2017 (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 558.30), so a non-owner spouse usually does not have to sign. The practical exception is property the couple holds together as tenants by the entireties: because both spouses own it, both must sign as grantors to convey it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A quitclaim deed is a deed that transfers whatever interest you have in Michigan real estate to someone else, without any warranty that the title is good. It is often typed as a quit claim deed, and Michigan's statutory form (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.152) uses the words quit claims. Unlike a warranty deed, it makes no promise that you own the property or that the title is free of other claims. It simply passes along the interest you hold, if any.
The difference is the promise about title. A Michigan warranty deed guarantees that the grantor owns the property and that the title is clear, and the grantee can sue if that turns out to be false. A quitclaim deed makes no such promise. Under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.3 a common-form quitclaim passes only whatever estate the grantor could lawfully convey, with no covenants of title, so the grantee takes the risk of any defect.
Yes. To record a quitclaim deed in Michigan you must sign it and have it acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized officer under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8. The officer endorses an acknowledgment certificate on the deed. Without that notarization the register of deeds will not accept the deed for recording.
No. Michigan removed the witness requirement for deeds executed within the state in 2002 (2002 PA 23, amending Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.8). A current Michigan quitclaim deed needs only the grantor's signature and a notary acknowledgment. The old statute heading still mentions witnesses because it also validates much older recorded deeds that lacked them, but no witnesses are required today.
You record it with the register of deeds in the county where the property is located. Recording gives public notice and protects the grantee under Michigan's race-notice priority rule (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.29): an unrecorded deed is void against a later good-faith buyer who records first. The deed must also meet the recording format rules in Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.201, such as a top margin of at least 2-1/2 inches on the first page.
You pay the register of deeds recording fee plus the real estate transfer tax on a taxable transfer. Michigan charges a state transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 of value (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.525) and, in most counties, a county transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 207.504). Some transfers, such as a conveyance to your child or one for less than $100, are exempt.
No. Filing your quit claim deed with the county register of deeds transfers whatever interest you hold to the grantee, but recording reaches the land title, not the lender's mortgage lien on it. If your name is on the note, you stay personally liable for the loan even after the deed is recorded. The lender releases you only by refinancing or signing a formal release, which a quitclaim cannot force.
No. Under Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.3 a quit claim deed passes only the estate the grantor could lawfully convey, with no covenant that the title is clear or that liens are gone. Michigan follows a race-notice recording rule (Mich. Comp. Laws Section 565.29), so recording with the register of deeds protects priority but never the quality of title. Only a title search and title insurance give the assurance a quitclaim withholds.