Cortland County Quitclaim Deed (Individual Grantor) Form

A New York quitclaim deed built around one signature line: a single individual grantor releases whatever right, title, and interest that grantor holds, and the grantee takes exactly that interest, no more and no less. This form prepares a quitclaim deed, sometimes written quit claim deed, for New York real property with one individual grantor, the configuration behind most family transfers, buyout releases, and estate cleanups that move title without a market sale.

A release of interest, not a promise of title

New York lists the quitclaim deed among the statutory short forms of Real Property Law Section 258. Its operative words, remise, release, and quitclaim, convey all the grantor's estate and rights in the premises without any covenant that the interest exists or that the title is clear. Real Property Law Section 251 completes the logic: no covenant is implied in a New York conveyance, so a deed without express covenants carries none. That is the working difference between this instrument and the state's bargain and sale and full covenant forms, where express covenant language does the promising.

The form also carries the trust fund covenant of Lien Law Section 13, the clause New York's customary printed deed forms include so that a conveyance recorded while a building improvement is under way holds its priority against later filed mechanics' liens.

One grantor, one certificate

The form recites exactly one grantor, an individual signing personally. The signature section carries a single signature line with a printed name and date, followed by one acknowledgment certificate conforming substantially to the New York statutory short form of Real Property Law Section 309-a, with closing lines for the notary's name, state, county of qualification, and commission expiration. Record patterns that present a single grantor include a sole owner passing property within a family, an heir releasing an inherited fractional interest, a former co-owner releasing a share after a buyout, and an ex-spouse releasing an interest under a settlement. Deeds carrying two grantors, an entity grantor, or a fiduciary capacity recite different signature and capacity patterns than this form carries.

What New York asks for on the face of the deed

Real Property Law Section 333 shapes the blanks: the parties' residence addresses with street numbers, the city, town, or village where the property lies, and, in county practice, the tax map designation, the section, block, and lot identifiers that Suffolk and Nassau counties look for on the first page. The form collects each item in its numbered sections, along with the legal description copied from the vesting deed and an informational listing of matters of record that expressly creates no covenant or warranty.

From signing to the county clerk's records

The deed records with the county clerk of the county where the property is located, or with the City Register through ACRIS in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It travels with companions, prepared separately at filing time: a TP-584 transfer tax return is required whether or not tax is due, the RP-5217 Real Property Transfer Report is filed on legal size paper with its statutory fee, and the state transfer tax of two dollars per five hundred dollars of consideration attaches where consideration exceeds five hundred dollars, with statutory exemptions that include bona fide gifts. Under Real Property Law Section 291, an unrecorded deed is void as against a later good faith purchaser from the same grantor who records first, which is the reason prompt recording appears throughout New York title practice.

The package delivers the blank quitclaim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the form filled in for a realistic Erie County transfer, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the notarization, and the recording package. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a New York attorney can address how a quitclaim conveyance operates on a specific title.