Howard County Warranty Deed Form

Nebraska keeps no official warranty deed form in its statutes. What makes a Nebraska deed a warranty deed is the language printed inside it, construed as a whole for the parties' intent under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 76-205, and this fillable form supplies that language already drafted: the granting words, the four title covenants, and the habendum, set as fixed text under sections 76-201 to 76-238, above open party blanks that one or two individuals on each side of the transfer complete.

Words that decide what the deed is

Three statutes stand behind the printed covenants. Section 76-206 reads a grantor's statement of lawful seisin, where the instrument does not expressly negative it, as a covenant of good title to the very estate the deed purports to pass. Section 76-207 allows the warranty and quiet enjoyment promises to be broken by eviction under a paramount title, actual or constructive, and section 76-208 carries them down the chain to later owners. Section 76-209 then draws the line this instrument sits on: an interest the grantor picks up after signing runs to the grantee, an effect the statute withholds from quitclaim and special warranty instruments. With the covenant language preprinted, the blanks collect facts, not drafting.

Open blanks for one or two owners on each side

This is the base configuration of the Nebraska warranty deed line. A grantor block receives one or two individual names with whatever status the signers state; a grantee block receives one or two names together with any words of co-ownership the buyers choose; two signature blocks headed GRANTOR and SECOND GRANTOR each carry an acknowledgment certificate of their own. On a conveyance by a single owner the second block and its certificate are left blank, and the deed is complete without them. No marital status, capacity, or vesting language is preprinted anywhere on the instrument, so one form records a transfer from one owner or from two, to one buyer or to two. Title signed for a corporation or limited liability company, by a trustee, by an agent under a power of attorney, or by three or more owners of record presents capacity and signature configurations this form does not recite.

Homestead decides who signs

Dower and curtesy do not figure in a Nebraska deed; section 30-104 abolished both estates, so no release of either appears in the text. Marriage reaches the signature page through the homestead statute instead. Under section 40-104, the homestead of a married person is conveyed only by an instrument that both spouses execute and acknowledge, and the Nebraska Supreme Court reads that statute to place both acknowledgments on the face of the instrument, failing which the homestead conveyance is void. The second signature block and its certificate hold that spousal joinder where the property conveyed is homestead property. Where it is not, an owner of record signs alone.

What the register of deeds expects

Filing happens in the county where the land lies. Page one is laid out to section 23-1510, carrying the instrument title and the return address below the three-inch band of blank space reserved for recording information, and the body sets in twelve-point type, well above the eight-point legibility presumption in section 23-1503.01. Section 33-109 sets the fee at ten dollars for the first page and six per additional page. A Form 521 Real Estate Transfer Statement signed by the grantee accompanies the deed under section 76-214, and under sections 76-901 and 76-903 the office computes and collects documentary stamp tax, $3.32 for each $1,000 of value on a transfer made on or after July 18, 2026, before the deed is accepted, unless the deed shows a section 76-902 exemption backed by the signed certification the statute demands.

A Sarpy County example, filled to capacity

The completed example works every blank at full two-person capacity: two owners conveying a platted Papillion lot to two buyers taking as joint tenants with right of survivorship, a $319,000 price, a plat-based legal description, the prior recorded deed cited as the source of title, exceptions for matters of record and current-year taxes, and both certificates filled in. The guide follows the form entry by entry, computes the stamp tax on that price, and lays out the ownership forms Nebraska law makes available to grantees.

Three files arrive with the purchase: the fillable deed, the completed Sarpy County example, and a guide covering the blanks, the execution formalities, and the filing itself. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.