Effingham County Quitclaim Deed (Divorce) Form

A Georgia final judgment and decree of divorce can settle which former spouse keeps the house, and the land records notice nothing until a deed says so. This quitclaim deed is that instrument. It names one former spouse as Grantor and the other as Grantee, and Section 3 puts the judgment on the face of the deed: the court that entered it, the civil action file number, and the date entered.

Why a decree and a deed are two different documents

Georgia hands the divorce court genuine conveyancing power, which is why the two documents are not interchangeable. Under O.C.G.A. Section 9-11-70 a decree for specific performance operates as a deed without any conveyance executed by the vendor, and once certified by the clerk it is recorded and stands in the place of a deed. The same section lets a court divest one party's title and vest it in another by judgment, with the effect of a conveyance executed in due form of law. A judgment doing neither leaves the parties to convey by deed, and under O.C.G.A. Section 19-5-13 the court carries a property disposition into effect by whatever step is usual to its equitable powers. Usually that step is a signed deed.

What the release records, and what it leaves alone

The operative words remise, release, and forever quitclaim the Grantor's right, title, interest, claim, and demand. O.C.G.A. Section 44-5-61 reads no warranty into a Georgia deed and O.C.G.A. Section 44-5-33 prescribes no template to fill, so the instrument states its own terms: capital letters disclaiming warranty, and a sentence delivering the deed in connection with the Section 3 judgment while modifying, satisfying, and discharging none of it. A security deed the Grantor signed stays exactly where it was. Buyers reach it searching for a divorce quitclaim deed or a non-warranty deed.

One signature, after the marriage has already ended

The form recites one Grantor and one Grantee, natural persons in individual capacities, with a single Grantor signature block, one unofficial witness block, and one officer certificate captioned as an attestation. A recordable deed under O.C.G.A. Section 44-5-30 carries two attesting signatures beside the Grantor's: an officer drawn from the list at O.C.G.A. Section 44-2-15, most commonly a notary, and a second person Georgia practice calls the unofficial witness. No line invites a spouse to join, and once a decree is final there is no spouse to invite; dower and curtesy went out with O.C.G.A. Section 53-1-3, and Georgia keeps neither a community regime nor an entireties estate. Three post-decree situations bring it to the counter: a judgment directing one party to release the marital residence within a stated number of days, a refinance held up because the lender needs one name in the chain, and a sale years later where an examiner finds the decree in the civil file and no conveyance in the deed book.

Survivorship, and the affidavit this deed cannot replace

Divorce does not quietly undo an express survivorship estate. O.C.G.A. Section 44-6-190(4) converts a joint tenancy with right of survivorship into a tenancy in common once a divorced party records an affidavit averring the divorce and an intent to terminate the survivorship, identifying the deed book and page and attaching the final order and legal description, unless it already disposed of them. That affidavit is its own recorded instrument, prepared apart from this deed.

Filing it with the clerk

Filing happens in the county holding the land at a flat twenty five dollars (O.C.G.A. Section 15-6-77), with a PT-61 transfer tax filing prepared in the state clerks' authority system before the clerk certifies the tax (O.C.G.A. Section 48-6-4). O.C.G.A. Section 48-6-2(a)(5) exempts a transfer of real estate between a husband and wife in connection with a divorce case, the exemption the completed example claims; the guide flags that the subsection speaks of a husband and wife while the form is drafted for a judgment already entered. Page one keeps its top three inches clear for the recording notation, opens with the return-to name and address under O.C.G.A. Section 44-2-14(b), and carries a parcel number line for DeKalb County.

Three files arrive with the purchase: the fillable deed, a completed example set in Henry County, where a former husband releases a McDonough residence four weeks after the decree, and a plain language guide covering the eight numbered sections, the attestation formalities, Georgia's ownership forms, and the filing path. These materials describe Georgia law generally and are not legal advice.