Ohio Warranty Deed

Ohio writes its deed covenants by reference. A conveyance saying that the grantor grants, with general warranty covenants, imports a full set of title promises that the Revised Code spells out in a different section entirely. This form prepares that instrument for Ohio real property under Sections 5302.05 and 5302.06 of the Ohio Revised Code, in the base configuration of the line: one or two people conveying to one or two people, with nothing about status, capacity, or co-ownership preprinted on the page.

A form the Code itself calls sufficient

Chapter 5302 is captioned Statutory Forms of Land Conveyance, and Section 5302.01 says what that means: the listed forms may be used and shall be sufficient, they may be altered as circumstances require, and authorizing them does not prevent the use of other forms. A deed in substance following the Section 5302.05 form takes the effect the statute assigns without reciting its covenants, because Section 5302.06 defines the phrase: seisin in fee simple at delivery, land free of encumbrances, good right to sell and convey, and a duty to defend the title against all lawful claims. Section 5302.03 supplies the counterweight: the bare word grant conveys but implies no covenant at all, so the covenant phrase, not the granting word, separates this deed from Ohio's limited warranty and quitclaim patterns.

One or two names on each side

The deed recites free-form grantor and grantee blocks that hold one or two natural persons signing in their own right, so the same instrument serves four count patterns, one or two owners conveying to one or two grantees. Two signature blocks and two acknowledgment certificates follow, one per signer, so signers may acknowledge on different dates or before different notaries; an unused block is left blank. Sole owners selling to a couple, co-owners consolidating title in a single name, and an owner joined by a spouse all present patterns this arrangement recites. What the form is not set up as is equally definite: no entity recital for a corporate or limited liability company grantor, no representative capacity for a trustee or an attorney-in-fact, and no third block for three or more owners.

The grantee line is where survivorship is won or lost

Ohio supplies a default that surprises people. Under Section 5302.19, a conveyance to two or more grantees that says nothing further creates a tenancy in common, so each share passes through its owner's estate rather than to the co-owner. Survivorship comes from words, not from the relationship: Section 5302.17 conveys to the grantees for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them, and Section 5302.20 recognizes any deed clearly manifesting that intent while providing that the word or, standing alone, does not create it. Tenancy by the entireties is no longer available, since Section 5302.21 preserves only estates created by deeds recorded between 1972 and 1985. The grantee blank carries a designation after the names, and the completed example writes one in.

Marital status, and a release Ohio still asks for

Ohio remains a dower state. Section 2103.02 gives the spouse of an owner a life-estate interest in one third of the real property the owner is seized of during the marriage, which is why the statutory form opens with a marital status and closes with a release. The conveyance section carries that release as a standing sentence: each person who signs as the spouse of a grantor releases all rights of dower to the grantee. A spouse who is not an owner signs the second signature block and releases; two owners married to each other release in both directions at once; an unmarried grantor states that status and signs alone.

Two county desks, one of them particular

The county auditor transfers the parcel first, and Section 317.22 keeps a deed of absolute conveyance out of the record until the auditor's stamp and endorsement appear and are legible. The recorder adds a gate of its own: under Section 317.111 it may not receive a deed for record unless the preparer's name appears legibly on it.

The download holds the blank warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example filled in for a realistic Montgomery County conveyance, and a plain language guide covering every numbered blank, the dower release, notarization, the auditor's transfer, and recording fees. What the guide gives is a description of Ohio statute and county practice, not legal advice, and a question about one parcel, one marriage, or one chain of title belongs with an Ohio attorney.