St Joseph County Warranty Deed (Individual Grantor) Form

An Indiana warranty deed built for one signer: this fill-in-the-blank form recites a single individual grantor, carries one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate, and conveys with the two operative words Indiana law gives full effect, "conveys and warrants." The form recites a record owner who holds Indiana real property alone, married or unmarried, and conveys the entire interest to the grantee.

Two words that carry five covenants

Indiana Code Section 32-17-1-2 supplies the statutory short form, "A.B. conveys and warrants to C.D." A deed in that form conveys a fee simple and implies five covenants from the grantor: lawful seisin, good right to convey, quiet possession, freedom from encumbrances, and a promise to warrant and defend the title against all lawful claims. The covenants reach the whole chain of title, not merely the grantor's own period of ownership, which is the substance of an Indiana general warranty deed. This form prints the statutory operative words in its conveyance section and pairs them with an exceptions section, so recorded easements, plat restrictions, and current-year taxes can be excepted from the covenant against encumbrances rather than breaching it at delivery.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form is arranged around a single individual owner. Section 1 recites the grantor's name, marital status, and mailing address; the signature section carries one signature line with the printed name Indiana Code Section 36-2-11-16(c) requires beneath it; and the notarial certificate that follows is completed for that one signer, including the commission expiration date and county of residence Indiana Code Section 33-42-9-12 makes certificate content. Indiana abolished dower and curtesy, and no Indiana statute adds a non-owner spouse's signature to a sole owner's lifetime deed, so a married grantor who holds title alone signs alone. A sole owner conveying to a family member, an unmarried seller closing a residential sale, and a divorced owner deeding under a settlement all present the single-grantor record pattern this deed recites. Title held by two or more owners, including spouses as tenants by the entirety, presents a different execution pattern; this form recites exactly one record owner.

The statements at the end of an Indiana deed

Indiana recorders read the end of a deed as closely as the beginning. This form closes with the exact statutory text that county recorders list among their most common rejection items when it is missing: the tax statement and grantee mailing address statements of Indiana Code Section 32-21-2-3(e), the Social Security number redaction affirmation of Indiana Code Section 36-2-11-15, and the prepared by statement the same section requires. The grantee address on an Indiana deed is a street or rural route address rather than a post office box.

From assessor to auditor to recorder

Recording an Indiana deed is a three-office sequence. A conveyance for valuable consideration files a sales disclosure form reviewed by the county assessor, with a twenty dollar fee to the county auditor; the auditor endorses the deed as duly entered for taxation under Indiana Code Section 36-2-11-14; and the county recorder then records the deed for the statewide twenty-five dollar fee. Indiana imposes no documentary stamps and no real estate transfer tax. The form keeps the statutory format rules of Indiana Code Section 36-2-11-16.5: white paper, ten point black type, and the two inch top and bottom margins the first and last pages carry clean for recording information.

The download includes the fillable Indiana warranty deed form, a completed example showing a fictional Hamilton County transaction line by line, and a plain-language guide that walks through every section, the notarization, and the county recording sequence. This is the Indiana general warranty deed in its single-owner configuration, the instrument also searched as a full covenant deed or a warranty deed form for one grantor; the materials are informational and are not legal advice.