Ketchikan Gateway Borough Special Warranty Deed (Trustee Grantor) Form

On this Alaska special warranty deed, the signature line belongs to a trustee. The form recites a grantor conveying solely in a stated trustee capacity, names the trust and the date of its trust instrument, and warrants title only against claims arising by, through, or under the grantor. It is built for one configuration: Alaska real property held in trust, conveyed by the trustee with a limited warranty.

A warranty measured by the grantor's own chain

Alaska writes no special warranty deed form into its statutes. AS 34.15.030 supplies a statutory warranty deed on the words conveys and warrants, carrying full covenants against all persons; AS 34.15.040 supplies a quitclaim that passes whatever interest exists, with no covenant at all. Between them, AS 34.15.080 states that no covenant is implied in a conveyance of real estate, so the middle ground exists only through express language in the deed itself. This form carries that express language: the grantor warrants and defends the title against the lawful claims of persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor, but not otherwise. Title examiners often call this instrument a limited warranty deed; the label describes the same covenant.

The limitation matters most where the grantor's tenure is one chapter of the title rather than the whole book. A covenant limited to the grantor's own chain covers matters that arose while the property sat in the trust, and it leaves older matters where the record placed them. The deed's encumbrance section lists matters of record the conveyance is subject to, so the listed items sit outside the covenant from the start.

The trustee capacity this deed recites

The form carries one grantor block with two entries: the trustee's name and mailing address, and the trust the grantor signs for, identified by name and trust instrument date. The operative section states that the grantor acts solely in that trustee capacity and not individually, and the single acknowledgment certificate carries the signer's name and capacity in the style Alaska's short form acknowledgment statute describes for a trustee. A successor trustee selling trust real estate after a settlor's death, and a trustee deeding property out of a trust to a beneficiary, present the pattern this deed recites.

The form recites exactly one signing trustee. A trust whose instrument requires co-trustees to act jointly presents a two-signature configuration this form is not set up to carry, and a grantor conveying individually rather than for a trust follows a different pattern, as does a conveyance meant to carry the full statutory covenants. In Alaska practice, the trustee's authority is documented by the trust instrument or by a certification of trust under AS 13.36.079, a separate document prepared outside this package and not included with it.

Recording in Alaska's district system

Alaska records deeds through a statewide Recorder's Office administered by the Department of Natural Resources, organized into 34 recording districts rather than county offices. The deed identifies its recording district on the first page, as AS 40.17.030 requires, and it carries the other items the recorder screens for: a title reflecting the document's intent, mailing addresses for the parties, a return address with zip code, a formal legal description, and a notarized signature. The form reserves a two inch band at the top of the first page for recording information and keeps margins of at least one inch elsewhere, matching 11 AAC 06.040. Recording fees run $20 for the first page and $5 for each additional page, and Alaska collects no statewide transfer tax on an ordinary deed.

The package contains the special warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the form filled in for an Anchorage Recording District fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every section of the form, the signing formalities, and recording. The materials describe Alaska law in general terms and are not legal advice.