Rhode Island Quitclaim Deed (Interspousal)

Rhode Island lets a married owner deed property straight across to the other spouse, and this quitclaim deed is configured for exactly that transfer: one spouse named as grantor, the other spouse named as grantee, a printed statement of the parties' marriage, and a single signature line, because only the conveying spouse executes the deed.

The statute that lets spouses deal directly

General Laws Section 34-11-3 is the authority. It provides that land may be conveyed by a husband to his wife and by a wife to her husband, alone or jointly with another person, and by a spouse to that spouse and the other spouse as tenants by the entirety, and it lets spouses convey to themselves as co-tenants under any tenancy allowable between them by law. A deed running from one spouse to the other therefore stands on the face of the statute, with no straw party and no intermediate conveyance. Its wording is gender specific, from a 1990 amendment, while Section 15-1-1 opens marriage regardless of gender.

Quitclaim covenants inside a marriage

A Rhode Island quitclaim deed is a covenant deed, not a bare release. Section 34-11-12 supplies the statutory form, and Section 34-11-18 fills in the phrase with quitclaim covenants: the grantor warrants and defends the premises against lawful claims of anyone claiming by, through, or under that grantor, and nobody else. Between spouses the covenant reaches the conveying spouse's own chapter of the chain of title, a mortgage that spouse granted or an interest that spouse assigned, and stops there. Section 34-11-27 sizes what moves: every estate the grantor owns at execution, so a spouse holding an undivided half passes a half.

One grantor, one certificate, eleven sections

The form recites one grantor spouse signing personally and in an individual capacity, with a printed name beneath the signature as Section 34-11-1.1 contemplates, and one acknowledgment certificate carrying the substance Section 34-12-1 prescribes. Section 3 states the marital relationship; Section 6 records how the grantor holds, which shows whether one signature carries the interest described. Ownership patterns appearing in the land evidence records in this shape include a spouse who took title before the marriage passing it to the other spouse, and spouses shifting record title so that one of them holds it individually. Where both spouses hold as tenants by the entirety, the Cull v. Vadnais line of decisions puts disposal of that estate beyond either spouse acting alone, so an entireties estate does not move on one signature; an unmarried sole owner recites no marital statement, and a trustee or entity grantor recites capacity language this deed does not carry.

No money changes hands, and no spousal exemption

Rhode Island does not carve spouses out of its conveyance tax. The exemptions in Section 44-25-2 run to government grantors, certain debt-security instruments, and a short list of project-specific and affordable-housing transfers, saying nothing about married people. Consideration answers instead: Section 44-25-1 reaches a conveyance only when the consideration paid exceeds one hundred dollars, liens left in place included, and Section 44-25-1(c) has an instrument on which nothing is paid state that the consideration is such that no documentary stamps are required. Section 9 of the form holds that statement, and the completed example pairs it with the sentence Division of Taxation regulation 280-RICR-20-10-1.14 contemplates for gifts, that the transfer is by way of gift and that no withholding is required under Section 44-30-71.3.

Filed with a clerk, not a county

No county office records deeds in this state. Each city and town keeps its own land evidence records, so the signed deed reaches the clerk of the single municipality where the parcel sits. The grantee spouse's mailing address rides along for Section 34-11-1.2, and the layout keeps the head of page one and the foot of the last page clear for the recorder. One dated change is already law: beginning September 1, 2027, a municipality may accept a remotely filed electronic instrument only with documentation identifying the person filing it or through a trusted submitter. Searchers call this an interspousal transfer deed, a spousal quitclaim deed, or a quit claim deed between spouses.

The purchase downloads three files: the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example worked through an East Greenwich transfer between spouses, and a plain language guide covering the eleven numbered sections, the acknowledgment, the tax statements, and municipal recording. These materials describe Rhode Island law in general terms; they are informational and are not legal advice.