Ketchikan Gateway Borough Special Warranty Deed (Joint Grantors) Form

Two record owners of Alaska real property can convey together in a single special warranty deed, each warranting the title only against claims that arose by, through, or under them. This Alaska Special Warranty Deed (Joint Grantors) prepares that conveyance for exactly two grantors, with a signature line and a separate acknowledgment certificate for each.

A warranty limited to the grantors' own time on title

A special warranty deed, also searched as a limited warranty deed, sits between Alaska's two statutory forms. The statutory warranty deed of AS 34.15.030 conveys with full covenants reaching the entire history of the title, and the statutory quitclaim deed of AS 34.15.040 conveys whatever interest exists with no covenant at all. Alaska has no statutory special warranty form, and AS 34.15.080 states that no covenant is implied in a conveyance of real estate, so the limited warranty exists only where the deed spells it out. This form states the covenant expressly: the grantors warrant and defend the title against the lawful claims of all persons claiming by, through, or under the grantors, but not otherwise. A defect that predates the grantors' ownership sits outside the covenant.

The drafting detail matters in Alaska. A deed substantially in the statutory form, using the words conveys and warrants, carries the statute's full covenants of seisin, freedom from encumbrances, and general warranty. This deed therefore uses its own granting words, grants, sells, and conveys, and carries a single express covenant in their place, so the limited warranty stays limited.

Two grantors, one deed, two acknowledgment certificates

The form recites exactly two grantors, each conveying all of that grantor's right, title, and interest, so the two conveyances together pass the whole of the grantors' title. Two heirs conveying a parcel distributed from an estate, siblings selling co-owned family land, co-investors closing out a shared holding, and married couples who hold as tenants by the entirety present the two-grantor pattern this deed recites. A sole owner's conveyance, and a conveyance by three or more co-owners, follow different signature patterns than this form carries.

Each grantor has a signature line with a printed-name line for the recorder's index, and the form carries a separate acknowledgment certificate for each grantor, so the two may acknowledge on different dates, before different notaries, in different states. The certificates track the short form of AS 09.63.100, with venue lines for an Alaska judicial district or an out-of-state county; the completed example shows one acknowledgment taken in Anchorage and the other before a Washington notary.

Recording in Alaska's district system

Alaska records deeds through a statewide system of 34 recording districts administered by the Department of Natural Resources, not through boroughs or county offices, and AS 40.17.030 requires the deed to identify the recording district where the property is located; this form carries the district blank on its first page. The same statute requires the complete mailing address of every person granting or acquiring an interest and a return name and address for the recorded original, and the form provides for each. The first page reserves the top two inches for the recorder, matching 11 AAC 06.040, and the whole document uses 10 point and larger type on letter size pages. Alaska charges $20 for the first recorded page and $5 for each additional page, and it imposes no statewide transfer tax and no transfer declaration with an ordinary deed.

Recording protects the grantee's priority. Under AS 40.17.080, an unrecorded conveyance is void against a later innocent purchaser for value who records first, while the recorded deed gives constructive notice from the moment it enters the district's records.

The download delivers the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example filled in for a realistic Anchorage Recording District fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through each section of the form, the signing formalities for both grantors, and recording with the Alaska DNR Recorder's Office. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.