Pennsylvania Quitclaim Deed (Married Couple as Grantors)

When Pennsylvania real estate stands in the names of a married couple, the law reads the title as one estate rather than two half shares, and a deed that moves it carries both spouses. This quitclaim deed is arranged for exactly that ownership: a Pennsylvania instrument whose grantor section names two spouses, recites that they are married to each other, and releases everything the couple holds, with no warranty of title.

A deed that recites the marriage

The marriage recital is the working difference between this configuration and a generic co-owner release. Pennsylvania presumes that spouses who take title together hold as tenants by the entirety, a single indivisible estate with survivorship built in, and a lifetime conveyance of that estate is the act of both spouses rather than of either one. The deed states the relationship on its face, performs the release through both owners in one operative sentence, and adds an express statement that the grantors' entire interest passes, including any estate held by the entirety, so the instrument the county indexes shows on its face who conveyed and in what capacity.

Two spouses, one release

The architecture follows the couple. The grantor section names the two spouses with their addresses, each spouse signs and dates the deed, and the form carries an acknowledgment certificate for each signer, printing the short-form sentence of 57 Pa.C.S. Section 316, so the spouses are free to appear together before one officer or to acknowledge separately, in or out of Pennsylvania. Patterns in Pennsylvania record rooms that present this married-couple configuration include spouses moving record title into one spouse's sole name, a couple deeding their real estate to the trustee of the trust they settled, and spouses joining in a boundary-line adjustment with a neighboring owner. The form recites two grantors married to each other at delivery; a release by co-owners who are not spouses, or by an owner acting alone, follows a different grantor architecture than this quit claim deed carries.

Release words the statute defines

Pennsylvania defines the deed's operative words by statute: under 21 P.S. Section 6, release and quitclaim language passes the grantors' whole right, title, interest, claim, and demand, and it bars later claims by the grantors and their heirs. The form says plainly that it carries no covenant and no warranty, so the grantee takes the couple's interest as the record holds it, subject to liens and whatever else then affects the title.

What the county recording desk looks for

The recording mechanics are built into the first and last pages. The prepared-by and return-to blocks sit in the top-left area of page one with the right side left clear for the county stamp, a parcel identifier entry serves the Uniform Parcel Identifier counties, and the deed ends with the grantee residence certificate, the signed statement of the grantee's precise residence and complete post-office address that 16 P.S. Section 9781 tells every Pennsylvania recorder of deeds to require. Transfer tax follows the substance of the conveyance rather than the deed's label: a married couple's deed to one of the spouses, or to close family, is commonly an excluded transaction documented on the REV-183 Statement of Value, while a release for value pays the 1 percent state tax plus the local rate when the deed records.

The download is a complete Pennsylvania package: the quitclaim deed as a blank fillable PDF arranged for the married-couple grantor pattern, a completed example following an Erie County couple placing title in one spouse's name, and a plain-language guide to every section, the entireties rules, notarization, transfer tax documentation, and county recording. The materials describe Pennsylvania law in general terms and are not legal advice.