Ohio Limited Warranty Deed

An Ohio limited warranty deed conveys real property in fee simple with a promise that stops at the grantor's own conduct. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.08, the grantor covenants that the premises are free from all encumbrances made by the grantor and warrants title against everyone claiming by, through, or under the grantor, but against none other. This fillable form prepares that deed for one or two individual grantors conveying to one or two grantees, in the words of the Section 5302.07 statutory form.

A warranty that ends where the grantor's ownership began

The phrase by, through, or under the grantor is the whole mechanism. A mortgage the grantor never released, an easement the grantor signed, a judgment lien that attached during the grantor's ownership: these are matters made by the grantor, and the covenant answers for them. A defect already in the chain when the grantor took title is outside the covenant entirely. Ohio's general warranty deed under Section 5302.05 reaches that earlier history; the quitclaim deed under Section 5302.11 carries no covenants. The limited warranty deed, which practitioners in other states call a special warranty deed, sits between them, the covenant set found in many Ohio purchase contracts and lender-owned sales. The form prints the statutory operative words and the Section 5302.08 definition in the statute's own language, so the covenant reads on the face of the deed.

Dower, and why the spouse signs

Under Section 2103.02, the spouse of a property owner holds a life estate in one third of the real property the owner held during the marriage unless that interest is released or barred, and the Section 5302.07 form carries a sentence by which the grantor's spouse releases all rights of dower to the grantee. This deed carries that release in its conveyance section: each grantor who signs, and the spouse of a grantor who signs, releases dower. Section 5301.071(A) provides that a recorded conveyance is not defective because dower was not specifically released, so long as the spouse executed the instrument under Section 5301.01. The guide shows how the grantor entries read for a married couple conveying together, a sole owner whose spouse joins, and an unmarried grantor.

One form, one or two grantors

The form recites nothing about marital status, existing ownership, or capacity; those facts are the entries. The grantor section receives one or two natural persons signing in their own right, the grantee section receives one or two grantees with any designation of how they take title, and the signature section carries two blocks, GRANTOR and SECOND GRANTOR (if applicable), each followed by its own acknowledgment certificate in the Section 147.55(A) short form. One grantor leaves the second block and certificate blank. Two owners selling a home they hold together, and a parent conveying to a child with the parent's spouse joining to release dower, present the pattern this deed recites. The form is not set up as a conveyance by a corporation, a limited liability company, a trustee, an executor, or an attorney-in-fact, and not for three or more grantors or grantees.

Built for the auditor's desk and the recorder's counter

An Ohio deed is recorded in two stops. Section 319.20 requires the grantee's tax-mailing address and a reference to the prior recorded instrument in the grantor's chain of title before the county auditor transfers the parcel, so the form carries a tax-mailing address line and a prior instrument reference section. Section 5301.25(B) calls for a statement naming the surveyor when a survey was made, and Section 317.111 requires the preparer's name; the form carries both. The grantor pays the state conveyance fee of ten cents per hundred dollars of value under Section 319.54, plus any county transfer tax, and the auditor stamps the deed before the recorder accepts it under Section 317.22. The page meets the Section 317.114 format standard, with the three-inch blank top margin on the first page and one-inch side and bottom margins, so the deed records at the base fee rather than with the twenty-dollar nonconforming-format surcharge. Each grantor acknowledges before a notary public or another officer Section 5301.01 names; no witnesses are required.

The package includes the fillable limited warranty deed form, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County fact pattern, and a guide that walks through every section, the dower release, and the recording process. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.