Ketchikan Gateway Borough Special Warranty Deed Form

This Alaska special warranty deed is set up for one grantor: a single individual conveying Alaska real property over one signature line and one notary certificate. The warranty it carries is deliberately narrow, reaching only claims that arise by, through, or under the grantor, so the grantor stands behind the grantor's own time in title and nothing earlier.

A warranty measured by the grantor's own tenure

Alaska's conveyancing statutes supply two deed forms and leave the middle ground to drafting. The statutory warranty deed of AS 34.15.030 uses the words conveys and warrants and carries full covenants: seisin, freedom from encumbrances, and a duty to defend the title against all persons claiming the premises. The statutory quitclaim deed of AS 34.15.040 passes whatever interest the grantor has, with no warranty at all. Between them sits the special warranty deed, also searched as a limited warranty deed, and in Alaska it exists only through express language, because AS 34.15.080 states that no covenant is implied in a conveyance of real estate. This form therefore writes the limited covenant out in full: the grantor warrants and defends the title against the lawful claims and demands of all persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor, but not otherwise. The deed also states that it is not made in the statutory warranty form, so the full covenants of AS 34.15.030 do not attach to it.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form recites exactly one individual grantor, with a marital status recital in the customary Alaska style, and carries a single signature line and one acknowledgment certificate on the short form of AS 09.63.100, venued by judicial district in the manner of Alaska certificates. A sole owner conveying a rental parcel, a seller passing title acquired at foreclosure or through an estate where the earlier chain is unknown, and a transfer that consolidates ownership after a family buyout present the single-grantor, limited-warranty pattern this deed recites. The form is not set up as a two-owner, married-couple, entity, trustee, or attorney-in-fact conveyance; each of those configurations carries signature and capacity blocks this form does not include. The grantee side stays open: the grantee section takes one or more grantees with complete mailing addresses, and the guide describes the ownership forms Alaska recognizes for co-grantees, from tenancy in common to tenancy by the entirety and the opt-in community property forms of AS 34.77.

Built for Alaska's recording districts

Alaska records deeds through the Department of Natural Resources Recorder's Office in 34 recording districts rather than through county or borough offices, and the first numbered entry on this form names the recording district, information AS 40.17.030 requires of a recordable document. The layout reserves the top two inches of the first page for the recorder's use, holds one-inch margins, and uses 10 point and larger type, matching the format standards of 11 AAC 06.040. The form carries the complete mailing address of each party who grants or acquires an interest and a return address block, both Alaska recording requirements, and its source-of-title entry identifies the prior recorded deed by serial number and district so the new conveyance sits plainly in the chain of title. Alaska imposes no statewide transfer tax and asks for no transfer declaration with an ordinary deed, so the deed and the recording fee, $20 for the first page and $5 for each page after it, ordinarily make up the whole package presented for recording.

What the record shows afterward

Once recorded in the district where the land lies, the deed gives constructive notice of the conveyance under AS 40.17.080 and takes its place in the grantee's chain of title; an unrecorded Alaska conveyance is void against a later innocent purchaser for value who records first. The exceptions section keeps the record honest about what passed: recorded easements, covenants, plat notes, patent reservations, current-year taxes, and any surviving lien appear there as matters the conveyance is subject to, outside the special warranty.

The download includes the special warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the form filled in for a fictional Anchorage conveyance, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the notarization, and recording with the Alaska recorder. The materials describe Alaska law in general terms and are not legal advice.