Essex County Warranty Deed (Individual Grantor) Form

This fillable Massachusetts warranty deed is set up for one individual grantor: a single person who holds record title alone and conveys the property with full warranty covenants. The deed carries one grantor section, one grantor signature block with its own acknowledgment certificate, and a conditional homestead release for a non-owner spouse, the configuration a sole owner's conveyance presents in the record.

Four words that carry the whole warranty

Massachusetts is a short-form state. Under General Laws Chapter 183, Sections 10 and 16, a deed that grants land with warranty covenants conveys a fee simple backed by four covenants measured at delivery: that the grantor was lawfully seized in fee simple, that the premises were free from all encumbrances, that the grantor had good right to sell and convey, and that the grantor will warrant and defend the title against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. Those covenants reach the entire chain of title, which is what separates a Massachusetts warranty deed from the more common quitclaim deed, whose limited covenants under Section 17 answer only for claims arising by, through, or under the grantor. The operative section of this form places the statutory words in capitals, WITH WARRANTY COVENANTS, so the two-word shorthand does the work Section 16 assigns to it.

One owner signs, and homestead has its own rule

The form recites exactly one record owner as grantor, married or unmarried, with a marital status line in the grantor section. What marriage adds to a sole owner's deed in Massachusetts is the homestead release: under General Laws Chapter 188, Section 10, a deed to someone outside the family terminates an estate of homestead only when it is signed by the owner and by any non-owner spouse or former spouse who lives in the home as a principal residence. The deed carries that release as its Section 8, with a conditional second signature block and a separate acknowledgment certificate, completed only where the release applies; an unmarried grantor, or one whose spouse does not reside in the property, leaves it blank. Because each signer has a certificate of acknowledgment, the grantor and a releasing spouse may appear before different notaries on different dates. A conveyance by two co-owners, a trustee, or an entity presents a different architecture than this form recites.

Consideration, excise stamps, and the registry

Massachusetts registries apply acceptance rules that this deed builds in. General Laws Chapter 183, Section 6 requires the grantee's full name, residence, and post office address and a recital of the full consideration in dollars; Section 6A requires a title reference locating the grantor's deed of record; and Section 6B places the property's street address on the document. The deed excise of Chapter 64D is computed from the stated consideration, at $2.28 per $500 or fraction in most counties and $3.24 per $500 in Barnstable County, and is denoted by stamps affixed at the registry alongside the statewide $155 deed recording fee. The form is sized to the statewide standards, with the upper right of its first page held open for the registry's recording information, and the guide's recording section walks through the companion filings a Massachusetts closing can involve, from the assessor transfer form to the 2 percent island land bank processing in Dukes County and Nantucket.

What arrives in the download

The package delivers the blank warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing every section filled in for a realistic Worcester County sale, and a plain-language guide that walks through the statutes, the notary certificates, and the recording steps. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.