Mississippi Quitclaim Deed
A Mississippi quitclaim deed (or quit claim deed) transfers your interest with no warranty. Record it with the Chancery Clerk; no state transfer tax applies.
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 Mississippi the person giving up the interest is the grantor and the person receiving it is the grantee. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 a conveyance of quitclaim and release passes all the estate or interest the grantor has in the land, and it also estops the grantor from later asserting an after-acquired adverse title, but it carries no warranty. To be recorded, the deed must be acknowledged before a notary (Miss. Code Section 89-3-1); Mississippi does not require witnesses. You then record it with the Chancery Clerk of the county where the land is located (Miss. Code Section 89-5-1), and the state charges no 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 ownership 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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Record it with the Chancery Clerk. Under Miss. Code Section 89-5-1 a Mississippi conveyance is recorded with the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the land is situated. Filing is what protects the grantee against a later purchaser for value without notice, and priority between competing deeds is set by the time of filing.
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You must sign before a notary. To be recorded, a Mississippi deed must be acknowledged or proved according to law (Miss. Code Section 89-3-1). Acknowledgment before a notary or other authorized officer is the standard method, and the Chancery Clerk will not record a deed that is not acknowledged.
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No witnesses are required. Mississippi does not require attesting or subscribing witnesses on a deed. Recording turns on the deed being acknowledged or proved under Miss. Code Section 89-3-1, so a notary acknowledgment is the operative formality.
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Mississippi charges no transfer tax. The state imposes no general real-estate transfer, deed, or documentary-stamp tax on an ordinary quitclaim deed. You pay only the county Chancery Clerk's recording fee when the deed is filed.
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There is no Mississippi quitclaim form to fill in. The state does not codify a fill-in-the-blank statutory deed. Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 fixes the legal effect of a conveyance of quitclaim and release: it passes all the estate the grantor has and estops the grantor from later claiming an after-acquired adverse title.
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Homestead property needs a spouse's signature. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-29 a conveyance of a homestead by a married owner living with a spouse is not valid or binding unless the spouse also signs, except when one spouse conveys the homestead to the other. 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 Mississippi, 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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Mississippi Requirements for Quitclaim Deed
To record a Mississippi quitclaim deed you must have it acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized officer. Miss. Code Section 89-3-1 lets a deed be recorded only if it is acknowledged or proved according to law, so acknowledgment is what makes the deed recordable.
Mississippi does not require attesting or subscribing witnesses on a deed. Under Miss. Code Section 89-3-1 recording turns on the deed being acknowledged or proved according to law, so a notary acknowledgment, not witnesses, is the operative formality.
Record the signed, acknowledged deed with the Chancery Clerk (clerk of the chancery court) of the county where the property is located (Miss. Code Section 89-5-1). Filing protects the grantee against a later purchaser for value without notice, and priority between competing conveyances of the same land is set by the time of filing.
Mississippi imposes no general real-estate transfer, deed, or documentary-stamp tax on an ordinary quitclaim deed. When you record the deed you pay the county Chancery Clerk's recording fee, but there is no percentage-of-value transfer tax to compute or show on the face of the deed.
Mississippi does not codify a fill-in-the-blank statutory deed form. Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 instead fixes the legal effect of a conveyance of quitclaim and release, so you draft the deed to meet the general conveyance and recording rules rather than filling in a prescribed state template.
Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-29 a conveyance of a homestead by a married owner who lives with a spouse is not valid or binding unless the spouse also signs the deed. The one exception is when a spouse conveys the homestead interest to the other spouse. For non-homestead property this joinder rule does not apply.
A quitclaim deed passes no warranty. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 a conveyance of quitclaim and release passes all the estate or interest the grantor has in the land and estops the grantor and the grantor's heirs from asserting a later-acquired adverse title, but it gives the grantee only whatever interest the grantor actually held.
Under Miss. Code Section 89-5-24 the first page of the deed must reserve a top margin of at least three inches for the recorder, all other margins must be at least three-fourths of an inch, and the text must be a font no smaller than ten-point. The first page below the margin must also identify the preparer and each grantor and grantee with their mailing addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
A quitclaim deed is a deed that transfers whatever interest you have in Mississippi real estate to someone else, without any warranty that the title is good. It is often typed as a quit claim deed. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 it passes all the estate or interest the grantor has and estops the grantor from later asserting an after-acquired title, but it makes no promise that you own the property or that the title is clear.
The difference is the promise about title. A Mississippi warranty deed guarantees that the grantor owns the property and that the title is clear, and the grantee can sue on those covenants if that turns out to be false. A quitclaim deed makes no such promise. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 a quitclaim passes only whatever estate the grantor actually has, with no warranty, so the grantee takes the property subject to any existing claims.
Yes. To record a quitclaim deed in Mississippi you must have it acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized officer. Miss. Code Section 89-3-1 lets a deed be recorded only if it is acknowledged or proved according to law. Without a notary acknowledgment the county Chancery Clerk will not record it, and an unrecorded deed does not protect you against later purchasers.
You record it with the Chancery Clerk (the clerk of the chancery court) of the county where the property is located, as Miss. Code Section 89-5-1 requires. Filing gives public notice and protects the grantee against a later purchaser for value without notice. Priority between competing conveyances of the same land is set by the time each one is filed.
No. Mississippi imposes no general real-estate transfer, deed, or documentary-stamp tax on an ordinary quitclaim deed. When you record the deed you pay the county Chancery Clerk's recording fee, but there is no percentage-of-value transfer tax to calculate or show on the face of the deed.
If the property is your homestead and you are married and living with your spouse, yes. Miss. Code Section 89-1-29 says a conveyance of a homestead is not valid or binding unless the spouse of the owner also signs it. The one exception is when a spouse conveys the homestead interest to the other spouse. For non-homestead property this joinder rule does not apply.
No. Recording your quitclaim deed with the county Chancery Clerk under Miss. Code Section 89-5-1 transfers your interest in the land, but it does not reach the lender's lien or the loan you signed. Whoever is on the note or deed of trust stays personally liable after the transfer. To come off the debt you need the lender to refinance the loan or sign a release; a quitclaim alone cannot do that.
No. Under Miss. Code Section 89-1-39 a conveyance of quitclaim and release passes only the estate the grantor actually holds, with no warranty, so it cannot wipe out liens, deeds of trust, or other recorded claims. Mississippi sets priority among competing deeds by the time each is filed with the Chancery Clerk (Section 89-5-1), and a quitclaim gives no title guarantee. A title search and title insurance, not a quitclaim, are what protect a buyer.