Rhode Island Quitclaim Deed

A Rhode Island quitclaim deed is not the bare release many states record under that name. The statutory form carries quitclaim covenants, a built-in limited warranty, and this version of the form prepares that conveyance for exactly one individual grantor: one signature line, one acknowledgment certificate, one person's interest passing to the grantee.

A quitclaim that carries its own covenant

Rhode Island General Laws Section 34-11-12 supplies the statutory quitclaim deed, and Section 34-11-17 states what its covenant phrase does: the deed conveys the property in fee simple, and the grantor warrants the title against the lawful claims of persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor, and no others. Liens the grantor placed and conveyances the grantor made sit inside that covenant; defects that predate the grantor's ownership sit outside it. The phrase itself does the legal work. Under Section 34-11-26, the word grant implies no warranty in a Rhode Island deed, so the covenant lives in the words with quitclaim covenants, which this form prints in its conveyance section exactly as the statute frames them.

The deed also passes everything the grantor owns unless it says otherwise. Section 34-11-27 provides that a conveyance passes all the estate the grantor holds at execution, with no words of inheritance required, which is why a quitclaim of a whole parcel by the owner of an undivided half interest passes that half interest, no more and no less.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form recites a single grantor who signs personally, in an individual capacity. A printed name line sits under the signature, matching Section 34-11-1.1, which calls for typed or printed names beneath the signatures of signers and notaries, and the single acknowledgment certificate carries the substance Section 34-12-1 requires: the person was known to the officer, known to be the party executing the deed, and acknowledged it as a free act and deed. No subscribing witness lines appear, because Rhode Island deed law asks for signature and acknowledgment, not witnesses.

Single-grantor quitclaim deeds appear throughout the land evidence records: a co-owner releasing an undivided fractional interest to the other co-owner after a buyout, a former spouse conveying an interest described in a property settlement, a relative consolidating inherited shares in one name. The form recites one individual grantor signing in that capacity alone; property held by spouses as tenants by the entirety carries both spouses' signatures, and fiduciary or entity grantors recite different capacity language, so those configurations sit outside the pattern this deed recites.

Recording town by town

Rhode Island records land evidence by city or town, not by county, so the completed deed goes to the clerk of the municipality where the property is located. The form reserves the top of the first page for the recording stamp and collects the content the recording statutes look for: the grantee's mailing address under Section 34-11-1.2 and, on a sale, the total sale price under Section 34-11-1.4, two items a clerk may decline a deed without. The consideration sentence pairs with a conveyance tax statement line, so a no-consideration transfer can carry the statement Section 44-25-1(c) contemplates, while a sale simply states its price and takes its documentary stamps at recording.

The guide that accompanies the form walks each numbered section, the signing and notarization step, the statewide recording fee, and the conveyance tax arithmetic, and the completed example shows a realistic Barrington fact pattern from the grantor block to the notary block. A searcher who arrives calling this instrument a quit claim deed or a release of interest is looking at the same statutory form.

What arrives with the purchase

The download contains the blank quitclaim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the entire document filled in for a realistic Rhode Island fact pattern, and a plain language guide describing every section, the acknowledgment, and the town-by-town recording process. The materials describe Rhode Island law in general terms; they are informational and are not legal advice.