Dekalb County Quitclaim Deed (Married Grantor with Non-Owner Spouse Joinder) Form

The second signature line on this Tennessee quitclaim deed belongs to a person who owns nothing. Record title stands in one spouse's name, and the other spouse signs to consent. That is the configuration this form is built for: one married record owner releasing whatever interest that owner holds in Tennessee real property, with the nonowner spouse joining to supply the joint consent Tennessee's homestead statute describes.

The spouse who is not on the deed

Tennessee abolished dower and curtesy in 1977 and is not a community property state, so a spouse whose name never reached the deed records ordinarily holds no interest to convey. What that spouse does hold is homestead. T.C.A. Section 26-2-301(a) attaches a homestead exemption to property used by the owner, the owner's spouse, or a dependent as a principal place of residence, and subsection (b) provides that while a marital relationship exists, a homestead exemption is not alienated or waived without the joint consent of the spouses. Subsection (d) completes the mechanism: an instrument conveying property in which there may be a homestead exemption, duly executed, conveys the property free of the exemption. The joining signature is what makes the consent joint, and this deed records it on the instrument's face.

One grantor, one consenting spouse

The form recites exactly one grantor, an individual who holds record title and is married, and one joining spouse who holds no record interest. Section 2 names that spouse and states the marriage and the absence of a record interest. Section 11 does the legal work in three sentences: the grantor quitclaims all of the grantor's interest in the described land; the joining spouse consents to the conveyance and to the alienation of any homestead exemption under Section 26-2-301(b), while conveying no interest and making no covenant of title. Each signer has a signature block and an acknowledgment certificate of its own, so the two signatures can be taken on different days or before different notaries. Land that came to one spouse before the marriage, land that arrived by inheritance or gift, and land deeded to one spouse alone are the title patterns this configuration recites. The form is not set up for two record owners conveying together, or for a trustee, executor, or entity signing in a representative capacity.

A release, not a promise

What passes is the grantor's interest exactly as it stands. T.C.A. Section 66-5-103(2), Tennessee's statute of sufficient deed forms, prints the quitclaim in a single sentence, and a deed carrying that substance conveys the grantor's right, title, and interest with no covenant to sue on. Deeds of trust, judgment liens, easements, restrictions, and unpaid property taxes travel with the land. Searchers reach the instrument as a quitclaim deed, a quit claim deed, or a quick claim deed.

The sworn figure, not the appraisal

Recording a Tennessee deed collects the state transfer tax, thirty seven cents per one hundred dollars of consideration or value, stated on county schedules as $3.70 per $1,000 and collected from the grantee before the instrument records. A deed in the statutory quitclaim form conveying only the grantor's interest is taxed under Section 67-4-409(a)(4) on the actual consideration rather than on value, a materially different figure on a transfer recited at ten dollars. Section 13 carries the oath that figure rests on, sworn by the grantee or the grantee's agent before an officer authorized to administer oaths.

What the register reads at the counter

Tennessee writes several recording requirements into the deed itself, and the numbered sections collect each one: the derivation of title recital of Section 66-24-110; the name and address of the new owner and of the party responsible for the property taxes under Section 66-24-114; the assessor's parcel identification number under Section 66-24-122; the source of the legal description under Section 66-24-121; the property identification map number and improved property notation Section 66-24-113 calls for in metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County; and the preparer statement of Section 66-24-115. Where an instrument leaves no room for the register's certificate, Section 8-13-108(a)(6) lets the register add a page at the page fee, so the form reserves the top of the first page for the stamp.

The download holds the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example set in Rutherford County, and a plain language guide walking each section, the two certificates, the sworn oath, and the filing itself. All of it describes Tennessee law generally, for information, and none of it is legal advice.