North Dakota Quitclaim Deed

A North Dakota quitclaim deed prepared for a single grantor conveys whatever interest that one owner holds in the property, and nothing more. This form recites one individual grantor for North Dakota real estate, carries one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate, and prints on its face the exemption certification North Dakota recorders check before accepting a quitclaim deed for record.

A conveyance of present interest, without warranty

The deed's operative words are remises, releases, and forever quitclaims. Under North Dakota Century Code Section 47-10-19, the word grant used as a word of conveyance implies limited covenants against the grantor's own acts, and under current Section 47-10-15 a quitclaim deed that includes the word grant passes title the grantor acquires later. This deed uses neither effect: it states expressly that grant is not among its words of conveyance, that it carries no covenant or warranty of title, and that it passes no after-acquired title. The grantee receives the interest the grantor holds at delivery, subject to whatever encumbers that interest. Section 47-10-15 also states that conveying by quitclaim deed creates no defect in the conveying party's title, a reassurance North Dakota wrote into the statute itself.

The certification printed on the face of the deed

North Dakota law adds one requirement to every deed that many other states leave to tax forms. Under Section 11-18-02.2, the county recorder may not record a deed unless its face carries either a statement of the full consideration paid or a certification that an exemption applies. Subdivision h of subsection 6 exempts transfers made by quitclaim deed, and this form prints that certification with its statutory citation, followed by signature and date lines for the grantee or the agent presenting the deed. The form also prints the legal description drafter statement of Section 47-19-03.1, which the recorder looks for whenever a deed carries a metes and bounds description; a description copied from a previously recorded instrument satisfies the statement's closing phrase.

One grantor, one signature line

The form recites a single individual grantor, with a marital status line in the grantor section. That line earns its place because of North Dakota's homestead statute: under Section 47-18-05, the homestead of a married person, whatever its value, cannot be conveyed unless the instrument is executed and acknowledged by both husband and wife. The single-signature architecture of this deed describes an unmarried grantor, or a married grantor conveying property that is not the homestead of the marriage; a married owner's homestead conveyance presents a two-signature pattern this form does not recite. The patterns that present a lone grantor are familiar in the record: a former co-owner releasing a fractional share to the other owner, a family member moving an inherited interest to a relative, and an owner clearing a stray interest so a title examination comes back quiet. A quit claim deed, as buyers often spell it in searches, is the customary instrument for each of those transfers precisely because it moves an interest without promising anything about it.

Recording in the county where the property lies

The completed deed travels a two-stop path. Section 11-18-02 has the county auditor certify transfer and tax matters first, and the recorder then accepts the deed for record; the recorder shall refuse a deed that skips the auditor. Statutory recording fees are twenty dollars for a deed of one to six pages and sixty-five dollars above six, and North Dakota imposes no transfer tax or deed tax. The deed carries the grantee's post-office address and city street address, which Sections 47-10-07 and 47-19-05 make conditions of acceptance, and it reserves the top three inches of the first page for the recorder's stamp under Section 11-18-05. Once recorded, the deed holds its priority: Section 47-19-41 makes an unrecorded conveyance void as against a later good-faith purchaser who records first.

The download includes the blank quitclaim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the entire document filled in for a Cass County fact pattern, and a guide that walks through every numbered section, the signing formalities, and the recording steps. The materials describe North Dakota law in general terms and are not legal advice.