Maine Quitclaim Deed (Interspousal)

On this Maine deed the grantee is the person the grantor is married to. That one fact shapes the whole instrument: it is a quitclaim deed without covenant, the release deed of Maine's statutory short forms, set up so that one spouse releases to the other, and so that every interest the signing spouse holds in the described property, interests arising from the marriage included, travels in a single operative sentence.

A release that stays inside the marriage

Most spousal deed questions in Maine involve a spouse who is not on the deed; this configuration answers a different one. Here the spouse is the grantee, so 33 M.R.S. Section 480, which lets an owner convey without the nonowner spouse's signature except in the elective share and recorded divorce claim situations, has nothing left to police, because the person whose marital rights are in issue is the one receiving the release. The deed collects no second signature and prints no testimonium joinder, because a grantee does not sign a Maine deed. The operative sentence carries the marital side expressly, releasing the grantor's right, title, and interest in the property together with any interest arising from the marriage of the two parties.

Everything moved, nothing promised

Maine measures a quitclaim by its covenant phrase rather than by its title. A deed granting with warranty covenants promises seisin, freedom from encumbrances, good right to convey, and defense against all lawful claims; a deed granting with quitclaim covenant promises defense only against claims by, through, or under the grantor. This form uses neither phrase, which makes it the without covenant member of the 33 M.R.S. Section 775 family, and it says so on its face. What the word release does carry is reach: under 33 M.R.S. Section 161 and Section 771, a release passes all the estate the grantor could pass by a deed of any other form. An encumbrance section lists the mortgages, easements, and restrictions that stay on the land, above a printed line stating that the listing is informational and creates no covenant.

One grantor block, one certificate

The form recites one grantor, married, and one grantee, that grantor's spouse. A single signature line carries the printed name entry 33 M.R.S. Section 651-A makes a condition of recordability, and a single acknowledgment certificate follows the individual capacity short form of 4 M.R.S. Section 1917, completed by a notary public in the State, a Maine attorney, or another officer 33 M.R.S. Section 203 lists. Two title shapes bring this pattern to the registry: a home whose record title stands in one spouse's name alone, released to the other spouse; and spouses holding together as joint tenants, where one of them releases to the other and the receiving spouse is left holding the whole estate, so the concurrent ownership and its survivorship feature end for want of a second owner. Parties not married to each other, two owners signing side by side, a nonowner spouse joining an owner's deed to a buyer, and companies, trustees, personal representatives, or agents under a power of attorney present configurations this form does not recite.

The exemption the transfer tax gives spouses

36 M.R.S. Section 4641-C, subsection 4 exempts deeds between spouses made without actual consideration for the deed, along with deeds between spouses in divorce proceedings. The exemption is not paperwork relief: under 36 M.R.S. Section 4641-D a declaration of value still travels with the deed to the counter, and the reason for the exemption is stated on it. Where a price does pass between spouses, the rate table applies as it would to any sale, 2 dollars and 20 cents for each 500 dollars of value to 1,000,000 dollars and 6 dollars per 500 dollars on value above that, divided evenly between the two sides, with mortgage balances left on the property counted as consideration. Recording costs the statutory 40 dollars for ordinary submitters at the registry serving the county where the parcel sits.

The package holds the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a plain language guide to all nine numbered sections, the certificate, and the recording steps, and a completed example filled in for a Knox County couple moving a platted Rockport lot into one spouse's name without consideration. Searchers look for this instrument as an interspousal deed, an interspousal transfer deed, or a spouse to spouse quitclaim deed; under any of those names, the materials are informational and are not legal advice.