Defiance County Quitclaim Deed (Individual Grantor) Form

An Ohio quitclaim deed conveys whatever interest the grantor holds in real property, without covenants of any kind. This version of the form prepares that conveyance for a single grantor under Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.11, with the marital status line, the grantee's tax-mailing address, the prior instrument reference, and the release of dower entries that Ohio county transfer offices look for on the face of a deed.

A conveyance without covenants

Ohio wrote its quitclaim form into statute. A deed in substance following Section 5302.11, executed in accordance with Chapter 5301, has the force and effect of a deed in fee simple to the grantee, but without covenants of any kind on the part of the grantor. The word grant carries the conveyance, and Section 5302.03 confirms that no covenant is implied from it, so the grantee receives exactly the interest the grantor holds, subject to whatever encumbrances travel with the title. That mechanism is why this instrument, searched about as often as a quit claim deed as under its statutory spelling, appears constantly in Ohio family transfers, conveyances carrying out a divorce decree, corrective deeds, and transfers consolidating fractional interests in a single name.

One grantor, and the dower line Ohio still draws

The form recites a single grantor, states the grantor's marital status, and carries a numbered release of dower section with a second signature line and its own acknowledgment certificate. Ohio remains a dower state: Section 2103.02 of the Revised Code gives a spouse a life estate in one third of the real property of which the other spouse held an estate of inheritance during the marriage, so the deed of a married grantor conventionally carries the spouse's release, the sentence the statutory quitclaim form itself supplies. An unmarried grantor signs alone, and the dower entries stay blank. The form recites exactly one individual grantor; co-owner, entity, and fiduciary conveyances present different execution patterns.

No subscribing witnesses appear on the form, because Section 5301.01 requires signing and acknowledgment before a notary public or other authorized officer and nothing more. A printed name line sits under each signature, matching Section 317.11, which keeps an illegibly signed instrument out of the record unless the signer's name appears legibly beneath the signature.

The auditor comes before the recorder

Recording an Ohio deed is a two stop path. The deed goes first to the county auditor with a real property conveyance fee statement, form DTE 100, or the DTE 100EX exemption statement for transfers exempt under Section 319.54(G)(3). The auditor collects the statewide conveyance fee of ten cents per one hundred dollars of value, never less than one dollar, plus any county permissive transfer tax of up to thirty cents per one hundred dollars under Chapter 322, enters the transfer under Section 319.20, and stamps the deed; Section 317.22 keeps an unstamped deed of absolute conveyance out of the record. The county recorder then records it, at thirty-four dollars for the first two pages and eight dollars for each additional page under Sections 317.32 and 317.36, with a preservation surcharge of up to five dollars added in some counties.

The form is drawn to the standard document format of Section 317.114: a three inch blank top margin on the first page reserved for recording endorsements, one inch margins on the sides and bottom, an inch and a half at the top of later pages, and type above the statutory 10 point minimum, so it records without the twenty dollar nonstandard format fee. It also carries the two entries Section 319.20 requires before the auditor transfers a parcel, the grantee's tax-mailing address and the prior instrument reference, along with the Section 5301.25(B) survey statement line for a conveyance that follows a boundary survey.

What the download delivers

The purchase delivers three pieces: the Ohio quitclaim deed for an individual grantor as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the deed filled in for a Franklin County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, the signing and dower rules, the ways Ohio grantees may hold title, and the auditor and recorder steps in order. The materials describe Ohio law and this form in general terms; they are not legal advice.