North Carolina Quitclaim Deed
A North Carolina quitclaim deed (or quit claim deed) transfers your interest with no warranty. Sign before a notary and record with the Register of Deeds.
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. 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: 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 North Carolina the person giving up the interest is the grantor and the person receiving it is the grantee. To record a North Carolina quitclaim deed the grantor must sign it and have the signature acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer, because N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17 and Section 47-14 require acknowledgment (or proof by a witness) before the Register of Deeds will register it. You then record the deed with the Register of Deeds in the county where the land lies, and the transferor must pay the state excise tax on the conveyance before recording. Attorney review is available as an option before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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A quitclaim deed (often typed as a quit claim 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 is used mainly between people who trust each other.
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Record it with the Register of Deeds. A North Carolina conveyance is recorded by the Register of Deeds of the county where the land lies. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-18, the Connor Act, a deed is not valid against later purchasers for value until it is registered, and priority runs from the time of registration.
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Sign before a notary. To be registered, a North Carolina deed must be acknowledged by the grantor before a notary or other authorized officer, or its execution proven on oath by a witness (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17). The Register of Deeds will not accept an instrument for registration without that proof or acknowledgment (Section 47-14).
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No witnesses are required. When the deed is acknowledged before a notary, North Carolina does not require subscribing witnesses. Witness proof is only an alternative to notarial acknowledgment under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17, not an extra step you must add.
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Pay the excise tax before recording. North Carolina levies an excise tax on conveyances of one dollar for each $500 (or fraction) of the consideration or value of the interest conveyed (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 105-228.30). The transferor pays it to the Register of Deeds before the instrument is recorded.
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There is no North Carolina quitclaim form to fill in. The statutes prescribe no mandatory short-form quitclaim (or warranty) deed. A conveyance is valid if it meets the general execution, acknowledgment, and registration rules (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17), and a quitclaim uses remise-and-release words that carry no warranty of title.
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A married grantor's spouse may need to join. North Carolina keeps a spousal elective life estate (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 29-30), and under Section 39-7 an instrument affecting a married person's land generally must be executed by the spouse to convey free of that marital interest. 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 North Carolina, 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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North Carolina Requirements for Quitclaim Deed
To register a North Carolina deed, the grantor must sign it and have the signature acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer, or the execution proven on oath by a witness (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17). The Register of Deeds cannot accept an instrument for registration without that proof or acknowledgment (Section 47-14), so a notarized deed is the normal route.
When the deed is acknowledged before a notary, North Carolina does not require subscribing witnesses. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17, proof by a witness is only an alternative to notarial acknowledgment, not an extra formality you must add to a notarized quitclaim deed.
Record the signed, acknowledged deed with the Register of Deeds of the county where the land lies. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-18, the Connor Act, a deed is not valid to pass an interest against later purchasers for value until it is registered in that county.
North Carolina follows a pure-race priority rule (the Connor Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-18). Priority runs from the time of registration, and a later purchaser for value who records first can prevail even with notice of an earlier unrecorded deed. Record promptly after signing.
North Carolina levies an excise tax on conveyances of one dollar for each $500, or fraction of $500, of the consideration or value of the interest conveyed (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 105-228.30). The transferor must pay the tax to the Register of Deeds before the instrument of conveyance is recorded.
North Carolina statutes prescribe no mandatory short-form quitclaim (or warranty) deed. A conveyance is valid if it meets the general execution, acknowledgment, and registration rules (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17). A quitclaim uses remise-and-release language that passes only the grantor's interest and carries no warranty of title.
North Carolina keeps a spousal elective life estate (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 29-30). Under Section 39-7, an instrument affecting a married person's land generally must be executed by the spouse to convey free of that marital interest. Some statutory exceptions apply, so confirm your situation before recording a deed signed by one spouse alone.
A recordable North Carolina deed must be on 8.5 by 11 or 8.5 by 14 inch white paper, printed in black in a legible font of at least 9 points, with a 3-inch blank margin at the top of the first page, and must state the type of instrument at the top (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 161-14(b)). A nonconforming instrument carries a $25 nonstandard-document fee (Section 161-10(a)(18a)).
Frequently Asked Questions
A quitclaim deed is a deed that transfers whatever interest you have in North Carolina real estate to someone else, without any warranty that the title is good. It is often typed as a quit claim deed or a non-warranty 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.
The difference is the promise about title. A North Carolina warranty deed promises 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. It conveys only whatever interest the grantor actually holds, with no covenants of title, so the grantee takes on the risk of any title problem.
Yes, in practice. To register a North Carolina deed the grantor's signature must be acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer, or its execution proven on oath by a witness (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17). The Register of Deeds cannot accept an instrument for registration without that proof or acknowledgment (Section 47-14), so a notarized deed is the normal route.
You record it with the Register of Deeds in the county where the land lies. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-18, the Connor Act, a deed does not pass an interest against later purchasers for value until it is registered, and North Carolina follows a pure-race rule, so the first deed recorded takes priority. Record promptly after signing.
You pay the Register of Deeds a recording fee plus the state excise tax on the conveyance. The excise tax is one dollar for each $500, or fraction of $500, of the consideration or value of the interest conveyed (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 105-228.30), and the transferor pays it before recording. A deed that does not meet the format standards can carry an extra nonstandard-document fee.
No. Recording your quitclaim with the county Register of Deeds moves your interest to the grantee, but it does not reach the lender's lien or the promissory note. Under North Carolina's pure-race Connor Act (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-18), registration fixes who owns the interest, not who owes the debt. If your name is on the loan you stay liable until the lender agrees to refinance or release you.
Often yes, if you are married. North Carolina keeps a spousal elective life estate (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 29-30), and Section 39-7 generally requires the spouse to join in an instrument affecting a married person's land to convey free of that marital interest. Some statutory exceptions apply, so confirm your situation before recording a deed signed by one spouse alone.
No. A North Carolina quitclaim carries no covenants of title, because it uses common-law remise-and-release words and the state has no statutory quitclaim form (N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 47-17). It cannot clear liens or guarantee the grantor owned anything. Under the pure-race Connor Act (Section 47-18), recording first sets priority but proves nothing about title, so rely on a title search and title insurance for the protection a quitclaim does not give.