Lavaca County Gift Deed Without Warranty Form

A Texas gift deed transfers real property to a family member or other recipient now, during the owner's life, for no money. The consideration is love and affection, the transfer is immediate and complete, and the recorded deed documents the gift in the county records. This form prepares a Texas gift deed under the conveyancing statutes of Property Code Chapter 5, with the recitals Texas case law and marital property law expect a gift conveyance to carry.

How a Texas Gift Deed Works

No Texas statute names the gift deed; it is built from Property Code Section 5.021, which requires a written, signed, and delivered instrument, and from the case law of gifts, which requires donative intent, delivery, and acceptance. This form recites all three elements in operative terms, so the document itself shows an immediate, unconditional, completed gift rather than a promise that waits for a future event.

The deed conveys the property itself, with words of grant and a habendum clause, but without warranty of title, the posture most often seen when property moves inside a family. Texas Property Code Section 5.023 would imply title covenants into any deed that uses the words grant or convey, so the form expressly excludes them, the mechanism the statute itself provides.

The Separate Property Recital

This is the detail generic forms miss. Under Texas Family Code Section 3.001 and Article XVI, Section 15 of the Texas Constitution, property a spouse acquires by gift is that spouse's separate property, an exception to the community property presumption. The form recites the gift characterization expressly, so a married grantee's separate property claim is supported on the face of the recorded deed, and the guide explains the related presumption for gifts between spouses under Section 3.005.

Homestead and Married Grantors

A gift deed is a lifetime conveyance, so the homestead joinder rule of Family Code Section 5.001 applies: where a married grantor conveys homestead property, the grantor's spouse joins by signing. The form carries a labeled second signature block for a second grantor or a joining spouse, each signer with a separate notary certificate.

What Is Included

• The blank gift deed as a fillable PDF, completed on screen or printed and completed by hand
• A plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, plus recording, creditor, and federal gift tax considerations described in general terms
• A completed example showing the entire deed filled in for a realistic Bexar County family gift

The document is formatted for Texas recording standards: letter size pages within Local Government Code Section 191.007, the Property Code Section 11.008 notice of confidentiality rights in 12 point capitals at the top of the first page, grantee address blanks that serve Section 11.003, and reserved space on page one for the clerk's recording stamp. A non-recorded instructions page at the front of the PDF covers completion basics and is removed before signing.

Related Texas Forms

The Texas General Warranty Deed includes general warranty covenants. The Texas Deed Without Warranty conveys real property without title warranty covenants outside the gift-deed format. The Texas Quitclaim Deed is structured as a release of whatever interest, if any, the signer may have in the property. The Texas Transfer on Death Deed (Individual) is designed for a transfer that occurs at the owner's death rather than as a present lifetime conveyance.