South Carolina Warranty Deed

South Carolina still asks for two witnesses at the signing table. This fillable Warranty Deed carries the state's full statutory warranty and the execution architecture that goes with it: two subscribing witness blocks, an officer's certificate for each grantor, and party blocks that take one or two natural persons on either side with no word of status or co-ownership printed on them. It is the general configuration of the South Carolina warranty deed, ready for recording in any county in the state.

Two witnesses, then an officer

Section 27-7-10 of the South Carolina Code makes its statutory form of conveyance effectual where the instrument is executed in the presence of and subscribed by two or more credible witnesses, so the deed prints two witness blocks, each with a signature line and a printed name entry. Section 30-5-30 then makes acknowledgment or proof the prerequisite to recording, and it opens two routes: the grantor acknowledges the deed before an officer, or a subscribing witness swears to the execution on the probate path, where Section 26-1-120(E) requires that certificate to state the witness is neither party nor beneficiary. This form prints the acknowledgment route in the individual short form pattern of Section 26-3-70, and Horry County publishes that the notary may serve as one of the two witnesses.

One or two names on either side

This is the general configuration of the deed type, and its architecture is deliberately open. A free form grantor block takes one or two natural persons signing in their own capacity, with any status wording the parties enter after the names; a grantee block of the same shape takes one or two names followed by any words of co-ownership; and the execution area carries two signature blocks, headed GRANTOR and SECOND GRANTOR (if applicable), with one acknowledgment certificate for each. Where a single grantor conveys, the second block and its certificate are left blank. Nothing about marriage, status, or vesting is preprinted on the instrument, which is how one deed carries all four count patterns: one or two natural persons conveying to one or two natural persons. The form is not set up as an entity, trustee, or attorney in fact deed, and it prints no third owner block.

The vesting words the grantees supply

Because nothing is preprinted, the grantee block is where the state's co-ownership menu gets picked, and the guide lays it out form by form. Silence has a cost: two grantees named without survivorship words take as tenants in common, and Section 62-2-804 deems a joint tenancy in real property severed at death unless the instrument expressly provides survivorship. Section 27-7-40 supplies the conclusive words, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, and not as tenants in common, and lets the survivor clear the record by filing a certified death certificate. Tenancy by the entirety does not exist here, and dower and curtesy were abolished in 1985, so a spouse holding no record interest has no signature line on this deed.

Warranty on the page, and where the title came from

Two content points mark a general warranty deed in this state. The covenant is optional under Section 27-7-20, so the deed states it in full, binding the grantor and the grantor's heirs, executors, and administrators to defend the property against every person lawfully claiming it. And Section 30-5-35 makes a derivation clause and the grantee's mailing address content of the deed itself, with the register directed not to record an instrument missing the derivation unless the information is shown to be unavailable. Section 5 holds that entry.

At the recording counter

Recording sets priority rather than completing the conveyance: under Section 30-7-10 the deed reaches later creditors and purchasers for value without notice only from the day and hour of recording. The office collects the statewide fifteen dollar filing fee for a deed under Section 8-21-310 and the deed recording fee of Section 12-24-10, supported by the value or exemption affidavit of Section 12-24-70. One statewide step has since gone away: Act No. 133 of 2024 repealed the county auditor endorsement.

What the download contains

The package holds the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example worked through a Charleston County sale, and a plain language guide covering each numbered section, the witness and certificate pattern, the co-ownership menu, and the recording and fee steps. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a South Carolina attorney can apply the law to a specific transaction.