Montana Quitclaim Deed
A Montana quitclaim deed (or quit claim deed) transfers your interest with no warranty. Record it with the county clerk and recorder; no 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 trust each other, such as adding or removing a spouse after a divorce. In Montana the person giving up the interest is the grantor and the person receiving it is the grantee. Montana does not prescribe a fill-in quitclaim form; it codifies only a statutory grant deed at Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-20-103, so a Montana quitclaim is drafted with customary remise, release, and quitclaim words. To record the deed you must sign it so its execution is acknowledged before a notary under Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-203, then record it with the county clerk and recorder in the county where the property sits. Montana charges no real estate transfer tax, but a Realty Transfer Certificate must accompany the deed at recording under Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305. 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 quit claim deed) is used mainly between people who trust each other.
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Record it with the county clerk and recorder. A Montana deed is recorded with the county clerk and recorder of the county where the property is located. Recording gives public notice and protects the grantee against a later good-faith buyer whose deed is recorded first under Montana's notice recording rule (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-304).
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You must sign before a notary. Before the county clerk and recorder will record a Montana deed, its execution must be acknowledged before a notary (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-203). Acknowledgment (the notary confirming your identity and that you signed) is the operative recording prerequisite.
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No witnesses are required. Montana does not require subscribing witnesses to execute a deed. A subscribing witness appears only as an alternative way to prove a deed that was not acknowledged; standard practice is notarial acknowledgment, which needs no witnesses.
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There is no Montana transfer tax, but you file a Realty Transfer Certificate. Montana imposes no general real estate transfer tax. Instead, a Realty Transfer Certificate (Form RTC) must accompany the deed at recording under Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305. The RTC is a confidential informational form the Department of Revenue uses for property appraisal, not a tax, and the deed itself need not state the sale price.
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There is no Montana quitclaim form to fill in. The Montana Code codifies a statutory grant deed form at Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-20-103 but no quitclaim-specific form (Section 70-20-105 is the joint-tenancy statute, not a quitclaim form). A Montana quitclaim is drafted from the general conveyancing rules using remise-and-release language rather than a codified template.
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A recorded homestead brings in your spouse. Montana is a common-law (separate-property) state, not a community-property state. Where a declared homestead has been recorded under Title 70, chapter 32, it cannot be conveyed unless both spouses sign and acknowledge the deed (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-32-301). Common quitclaim uses include divorce transfers, adding or removing a spouse, and moving a home into a living trust.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Quitclaim Deed in Montana, 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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Montana Requirements for Quitclaim Deed
Before the county clerk and recorder will record a Montana quitclaim deed, its execution must be acknowledged before a notary under Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-203. Acknowledgment means the notary confirms the grantor's identity and that the grantor signed, and the acknowledgment must be notarized. Without it the deed cannot be recorded.
Montana does not require subscribing witnesses to execute a deed. Under Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-203 a subscribing witness appears only as an alternative way to prove a deed that the grantor did not acknowledge. Standard Montana practice is notarial acknowledgment, which needs no witnesses.
Record the signed, notarized deed with the county clerk and recorder of the county where the property is located. Recording gives public notice and protects the grantee against a later good-faith buyer whose deed is recorded first under Montana's notice recording rule (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-304).
A Realty Transfer Certificate (Form RTC) must accompany the deed at recording. Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305 provides that a deed transferring real estate may not be accepted for recordation until the certificate has been received by the county clerk and recorder. The RTC is a confidential informational form the Department of Revenue uses for property appraisal.
Montana imposes no general real estate transfer tax on a quitclaim deed. Sale-price and consideration information is collected only on the confidential Realty Transfer Certificate filed with the deed under Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305; the deed itself need not state the consideration to be valid.
Montana codifies a statutory grant deed form at Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-20-103 but no quitclaim-specific form (Section 70-20-105 is the joint-tenancy creation statute, not a quitclaim form). A Montana quitclaim deed is drafted from the general conveyancing rules using customary remise, release, and quitclaim words, and carries no warranty of title.
Montana is a separate-property state, so a spouse who holds sole title can generally quitclaim it alone. But where a declared homestead has been recorded under Title 70, chapter 32, Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-32-301 provides that it cannot be conveyed or encumbered unless both spouses execute and acknowledge the deed. Whether a homestead declaration exists is fact-specific.
Montana follows a notice recording rule: under Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-304 an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later good-faith purchaser for value whose conveyance is first duly recorded. Recording the quitclaim deed promptly with the county clerk and recorder protects the grantee's interest against a competing later buyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
A quitclaim deed is a deed that transfers whatever interest you have in Montana real estate to someone else, without any warranty that the title is good. It is often typed as a quit claim deed. 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, using customary remise, release, and quitclaim language.
The difference is the promise about title. A 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 Montana quitclaim deed makes no such promise; it conveys only whatever interest the grantor actually holds. Montana codifies a statutory grant deed at Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-20-103, but a quitclaim uses release language instead, so it carries no warranty of title.
Yes. Before the county clerk and recorder will record a Montana quitclaim deed, its execution must be acknowledged before a notary under Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-203. Acknowledgment means the notary confirms your identity and that you signed the deed. Without a notarial acknowledgment (or an accepted proof of execution) the deed cannot be recorded.
You record it with the county clerk and recorder in the county where the property is located. Recording gives public notice and protects the grantee against a later good-faith buyer whose deed is recorded first under Montana's notice recording rule (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-304). A Realty Transfer Certificate must accompany the deed when you record it (Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305).
No. Montana imposes no general real estate transfer tax. Instead, a Realty Transfer Certificate (Form RTC) must accompany the deed at recording under Mont. Code Ann. Section 15-7-305. The RTC is a confidential form the Department of Revenue uses for property appraisal, and the county clerk and recorder cannot accept the deed for recording until the certificate has been received.
No. Recording the deed with the county clerk and recorder passes your interest to the grantee, but that filing does not reach the lender's lien or the promissory note. If your name is on the loan you stay personally liable even after the quitclaim is recorded. Montana has no separate quitclaim statute, so the deed only moves title; only a refinance or a written release from the lender takes you off the mortgage or deed of trust.
Not always. Montana is a separate-property state, so a spouse who holds sole title can generally quitclaim it alone. But where a declared homestead has been recorded under Title 70, chapter 32, it cannot be conveyed unless both spouses sign and acknowledge the deed (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-32-301). Whether a homestead declaration exists is fact-specific, so confirm it before you sign.
No. Montana codifies only a statutory grant form at Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-20-103 and no quitclaim form, so a quitclaim carries no warranty and hands over only whatever interest the grantor holds, if any. It clears no liens and guarantees no title. Because Montana follows a notice recording rule (Mont. Code Ann. Section 70-21-304), a later good-faith buyer who records first can prevail, so a title search or title insurance, not a quitclaim, is what protects you.