Howard County Quitclaim Deed Form

The Maryland Quitclaim Deed (Individual Grantor) is a fill-in-the-blank instrument for one owner conveying alone: a single grantor releases to a named grantee whatever right, title, and interest the record gives the grantor, with no covenant or warranty of title. The form follows Maryland recording practice from the first page down, and the grantee receives exactly what the grantor can convey, whether that is the whole parcel, an undivided fractional share, or nothing at all.

A release of interest, not a promise of title

Maryland deeds carry no implied warranty. Warranty exists only where a deed speaks it in express covenant words, such as warrant generally or warrant specially, and a quitclaim deed contains no covenant at all. The conveyance paragraph of this deed uses the customary Maryland release words, remises, releases, and forever quitclaims, and then states plainly that the grantor conveys only the interest held at delivery and makes no warranty. Under Real Property Article Section 4-101, a deed is sufficient when it names the grantor and grantee, describes the property with reasonable certainty, and states the interest conveyed; the form collects each of those elements in numbered sections, from the parties through the liber and folio reference of the vesting deed.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form recites exactly one grantor, signing personally, with one acknowledgment certificate and a certificate of preparation. The patterns that present a single releasing owner run all through Maryland land records: a former co-owner releasing an undivided half after a buyout, a parent passing a home to an adult child as a gift, an owner moving a parcel into a revocable living trust, and a divorce settlement in which one former spouse releases the marital home. The form is not set up as a two-grantor instrument, and it recites a personal-capacity signer rather than a trustee, personal representative, or attorney-in-fact.

The consideration section is drafted around Tax-Property Article Section 12-104, which requires the consideration payable, including any assumed mortgage debt, to be described in the deed's recitals or acknowledgment or in an accompanying affidavit. A gift transfer states zero consideration in the blank, the same statement the completed example carries, and the recordation and transfer taxes compute from what the section states.

Built for Maryland's recording counter

Several Maryland recording rules are visible on the face of the form. A certificate of preparation appears above the grantor's signature because Real Property Article Section 3-104(f) bars a deed from record without a certification that it was prepared by a party named in the instrument or by, or under the supervision of, an attorney admitted to the Maryland Bar. A printed name line sits beneath each signature, the placement Section 3-104(d) describes. The first page reserves a full 3 inch top margin for the clerk, with 1 inch side margins and 12 point type, comfortably above the 8 point statutory floor, since a nonconforming instrument can draw a treble recording charge or be refused. The acknowledgment certificate follows the State Government Article Section 18-216 short form, and Maryland authorizes remote online notarization when the statutory conditions are met.

At the counter, the deed travels with a completed Land Instrument Intake Sheet, the separate cover form prescribed for change-of-ownership instruments, which carries the consideration, the taxes, any exemption citations, and the grantee's tax bill mailing address. Recordation tax rates are set county by county per $500 of consideration, the state transfer tax generally runs 0.5 percent, and county transfer taxes vary; a quit claim deed given without consideration states zero and computes the consideration-based taxes accordingly.

What arrives with the download

The download delivers three pieces: the blank fillable Maryland quitclaim deed formatted for one grantor, a completed example showing an Anne Arundel County gift transfer entry by entry, and a plain-language guide that walks every section of the form, the signing formalities, and the county recording workflow. The materials describe Maryland law and the form itself; they are informational and are not legal advice.