Cook County Quitclaim Deed (Trustee Grantee) Form

A deed that lands title in a trustee says more than who receives the property: it identifies the trust the trustee holds for, and it survives a change of trustee. This Illinois quitclaim deed is arranged for that transfer, in the form Illinois conveyancers caption a quitclaim deed in trust. One individual record owner signs as Grantor, and Section 2 names the trustee and pins the trust down by name, agreement date, and trust number.

A grantee clause built around the trust

The operative sentence carries the statutory words of 765 ILCS 5/10, conveys and quit claims, then does what an ordinary grantee clause does not: it runs the conveyance to the named trustee and to every successor or successors in trust under the same trust agreement, so a successor trustee appointed years later takes under the recorded deed. Section 2 also collects the trustee's mailing address, which 55 ILCS 5/3-5026 makes a condition of recording. The trust entries state the capacity in which the grantee holds, while the trust instrument remains the source of the trustee's authority.

Express trust or Illinois land trust

Illinois runs two title-holding regimes through the same grantee clause, and Section 2 accommodates both. An ordinary revocable or irrevocable trust is an express trust under the Illinois Trust Code, 760 ILCS 3, in force since January 1, 2020, where 760 ILCS 3/1013 lets a trustee furnish a certification of trust instead of the trust instrument, signed separately and not included here. A land trust is the other regime, and 760 ILCS 3/102 puts it outside the Trust Code entirely, leaving the trust agreement and Illinois common law to govern while the land trustee holds legal and equitable title and the beneficial interest counts as personal property under In re Estate of Alpert. Land trusts are usually known by number, which is why the trust number blank sits beside the trust name.

What the trustee grantee configuration carries

One individual record owner is named in Section 1, with one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate following the substance of 765 ILCS 5/26, and the express homestead waiver clause of 765 ILCS 5/27 prints inside the operative sentence. Section 7 is where a statement of trustee powers goes: the long full power and authority paragraph of Illinois deed in trust practice is conveyancing custom rather than a statutory requirement, so that section incorporates a rider the trustee supplies. Patterns presenting this configuration include a sole owner landing a parcel with a corporate trustee under a numbered land trust agreement, an heir passing an interest taken outright to the trustee already holding the rest of a family property, and an owner clearing a stray interest into the trust that holds the balance of the title. The deed is set up for an individual grantor rather than an entity, and its one signature line does not carry the second signature 735 ILCS 5/12-904 calls for from a spouse where an occupied homestead is conveyed elsewhere.

No covenant rides along to the trustee

Under the statutory quitclaim form the trustee takes exactly what the grantor held at delivery. Mortgages, judgment and tax liens, easements, plat restrictions, and leases of record continue against the property in the trustee's hands, no covenant of title accompanies the transfer, and after-acquired title stays outside the deed unless Section 7 adds express words reaching it. Record title moves; debt does not.

The recording package

The deed collects what Illinois conditions recording on: the 55 ILCS 5/3-5022 preparer statement, the return block, the document number the grantor took title by, and the 765 ILCS 5/35c tax bill endorsement, naming the trustee. Section 8 answers transfer tax either way, through the PTAX-203 declaration or MyDec with stamps at 50 cents per $500 of value, or through a signed and dated exemption notation citing the paragraph of 35 ILCS 200/31-45 relied on. One county rule reaches land trust deeds directly: 55 ILCS 5/3-5020(b) and (c) call for sworn grantor and grantee statements naming everyone holding a beneficial interest on an exempt transaction in a county of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants.

The download holds three files: the quit claim deed to a trustee as a fillable PDF, a completed example filled in for a DuPage County land trust transfer, and a guide covering each section along with the trust, homestead, notarization, and recording rules. The materials are informational and not legal advice; an Illinois attorney or title company can speak to a particular trust and chain of title.