Kentucky Quitclaim Deed

Two names on a Kentucky deed do not by themselves make a survivorship. This fillable Kentucky quitclaim deed is the base form of the line, written for one or two people conveying to one or two people, and the block that takes the grantee names is left open, because under Kentucky law the words deciding what happens at a co-owner's death have to be written into the deed. What passes is the interest the grantor holds at delivery, with nothing promised about it.

The survivorship words a Kentucky deed has to say out loud

KRS 381.120 is the section that catches people. When one joint tenant dies, that owner's part goes to the heirs, to a devisee, or to the personal representative, so the phrase joint tenants, standing alone, buys nothing at the first death. Survivorship comes from KRS 381.130, which lifts an instrument out of that rule where its language manifests the intent that a deceased owner's part belongs to the others; the wording Kentucky practice settled on is as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common. Spouses have a second route in KRS 381.050, which gives no mutual right to the entirety unless the deed expressly provides it. The grantee block here prints no pattern, so whichever form the deed intends is written on the line, and the guide sets out each one with its statute.

One or two on each side, with nothing preprinted

The form recites one or two grantors, natural persons signing for themselves, and one or two grantees, in any of the four combinations that allows. Both party blocks are open lines, so a name, a statement of status, a former name, or a fractional interest goes in as written rather than as a checkbox. Two owners named in one vesting deed passing a parcel on to two grantees, and a single owner releasing to a single grantee, present the count patterns this deed recites. It is not arranged for an entity signing through an officer, a member, or a partner, for a trustee conveying in a fiduciary capacity, for an agent signing under a power of attorney, for a spouse with no record title joining to relinquish a marital claim, or for three or more people on either side. Unused blocks are left blank.

Four signature lines, and why the receiving side signs

Kentucky puts a sworn statement inside the deed. KRS 382.135 asks for a notarized certificate signed by the grantor or an agent and by the grantee or an agent, stating either that the consideration reflected in the deed is the full consideration paid or, on a gift or nominal consideration transfer, that the transfer is a gift with the estimated fair cash value set out. Each side therefore has two signature lines, and each line its own notarial certificate: the grantor certificates take the oath and the acknowledgment together, and the grantee certificates take the jurat form, since a grantee signs to swear rather than to convey. Separate certificates let the signers appear on different days before different notaries.

A conveyance with no covenant behind it

Section 9 remises, releases, and forever quitclaims, and then says plainly that neither the general warranty words of KRS 382.030 nor the special warranty words of KRS 382.040 appear anywhere in the instrument. Mortgages, judgment liens, easements, mineral reservations, and breaks in the chain all ride through the transfer. Around that conveyance sit the entries a Kentucky clerk checks at intake. Section 7 gives the office, book, page, and date KRS 382.110 wants for the grantor's own title. Section 5 holds the address KRS 382.135 asks for so the year's tax bill can find someone. Section 8 has a line for purchase money still owed, which KRS 382.070 makes the condition of a grantor's lien standing up against later buyers, and Section 13 is the signed preparation statement no clerk may record an instrument without. The clerk computes the KRS 142.050 transfer tax from the figure the certificate swears to, fifty cents for each five hundred dollars of value, and KRS 382.260 keeps the deed out of the record until it is paid.

Sometimes searched as a quit claim deed or a release of interest, this download delivers the fillable deed, a completed Warren County example with every entry made, and a plain language guide covering each section, the vesting words, the four signatures, and recording. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.