Steele County Quitclaim Deed (Married Couple as Grantors) Form

The second signature on this North Dakota quitclaim deed can belong to a spouse whose name never appears in the chain of title. The form is configured for a married couple as grantors: husband and wife are named together in Section 1, both execute and acknowledge the instrument, and one recorded deed releases whatever interest either of them holds, without covenant or warranty of title.

Why the deed names the marriage

Under North Dakota Century Code Section 47-18-05, the homestead of a married person, whatever its value, cannot be conveyed or encumbered unless the instrument is executed and acknowledged by both husband and wife. The statute reads on the marriage, not on the record title, so the rule reaches a house titled in one spouse's name alone. This deed is built around that fact. It recites that the two grantors are married to each other and that both execute and acknowledge it, so the conveyance carries the two-spouse formality whether the couple holds title together or one spouse holds it with the other joining. North Dakota keeps the rest of the marital overlay short: Section 14-07-09 extinguished dower and curtesy, and the state has never recognized tenancy by the entirety, so the joinder rule of Section 47-18-05 is the signature rule a married owner's conveyance answers to.

Two title patterns, one configuration

Two patterns in the record present this married-couple architecture. In the first, the spouses hold title together, and each conveys that spouse's own interest. In the second, the record owner is one spouse, and the other signs and acknowledges as the joining spouse, adding no separately titled interest but closing the homestead question that the recorder's customers, the title examiners, would otherwise carry forward. The form recites exactly two grantors who are married to each other; a lone unmarried owner's release, a conveyance by co-owners outside a marriage, and a transfer needing a third signature each follow a different architecture.

A release measured at delivery

The operative words are remise, release, and forever quitclaim, and the deed states expressly that grant is not among its words of conveyance. That exclusion keeps the limited covenants of Section 47-10-19 from arising and keeps the deed outside the after-acquired-title consequence Section 47-10-15 attaches to a quitclaim carrying grant. The grantee takes the interest the spouses hold when the deed is delivered, subject to whatever encumbers it, and the same statute confirms that conveying this way leaves the grantors' own title without defect. A quit claim deed, in the spelling that fills the search box, is the customary shape for transfers inside a family, and a married couple moving property to a child, to another relative, or into one spouse's name after refinancing plans change presents this pattern as often as any sale does.

What the recorder's checklist finds

North Dakota deeds answer the recorder on their face. Section 9 of this form prints the certification of Section 11-18-02.2, designating the subdivision h exemption that covers a transfer of property for which a quitclaim deed is given, with signature and date lines for the grantee or presenting agent. Section 5 prints the drafter statement of Section 47-19-03.1 for a legal description written in metes and bounds. The grantee entry takes the post-office address and city street address that Sections 47-10-07 and 47-19-05 make conditions of acceptance, the county auditor certifies the transfer under Section 11-18-02 before the recorder takes the deed, and the statewide recording fee is twenty dollars for a deed of six pages or fewer, with no transfer tax to compute or pay.

Both spouses, one notary appointment

Each spouse signs before a notary, and each execution is acknowledged. The form carries a certificate for each spouse in the short form of Section 44-06.1-19, a layout choice rather than a legal demand, since North Dakota accepts one certificate substantially in the statutory form naming both signers. Couples ordinarily acknowledge together, and the completed example shows both spouses before the same Grand Forks notary on the same day; remote appearance through communication technology under Section 44-06.1-13.1 remains available where that statute's conditions are met.

The package delivers three pieces: the fillable blank deed, a completed example worked through a Grand Forks County fact pattern from the grantor blocks to the second acknowledgment, and a guide treating every numbered section, the homestead joinder rule, and the auditor-to-recorder path. The materials describe North Dakota law generally and are not legal advice.