Smith County Special Warranty Deed (Executed by Attorney-in-Fact) Form

A Texas special warranty deed executed by an attorney-in-fact separates two roles that ordinarily belong to one person. The grantor named in the deed is the owner who conveys the property; the hand that signs belongs to an agent acting under a durable power of attorney. This form prepares that deed for the owner who is out of state, unavailable at closing, or no longer able to handle the transaction personally.

A warranty measured by the grantor's own time on title

Texas deeds sort themselves by the scope of the warranty. The special warranty deed conveys with a covenant binding the grantor to warrant and forever defend the property against every person lawfully claiming it, when the claim is by, through, or under the grantor, but not otherwise. Those last three words do the work: the grantor stands behind the title against defects arising during the grantor's own ownership and makes no promise about the chain of title before it. The Supreme Court of Texas has read the limitation exactly that way, confining a special warranty grantor's liability for a failure of title to claims arising by, through, and under the grantor. Property Code Section 5.022 permits any form of conveyance not in contravention of law, the room in which this narrower covenant operates.

Signature by an agent, conveyance by the owner

The deed identifies the grantor, the attorney-in-fact, and the durable power of attorney by date and recording reference. Texas Estates Code Section 751.0021 sets the execution requirements for that power: a writing signed by the principal, containing durability language, and acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer. When the agent signs the deed, Chapter 751 gives the act the same effect as the principal's own, and the deed's operative section recites that the attorney-in-fact signs on behalf of the grantor and not individually. The notary certificate follows the statutory short form for an attorney-in-fact in Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 121.008, naming the agent as attorney-in-fact on behalf of the principal.

Two instruments go on record, not one

A conveyance signed under a power of attorney puts two documents into the county records. Estates Code Section 751.151 requires the durable power of attorney to be recorded in the county where the property is located no later than the 30th day after the deed is filed for recording, so the deed and its authority travel together in the title chain. The deed itself is recorded with the county clerk of the property's county and carries the confidentiality notice Property Code Section 11.008 places at the top of the first page. A homestead joinder block rounds out the form: where a married grantor conveys the homestead, Family Code Section 5.001 calls for the other spouse to join, and the spouse signs that block personally rather than through the agent.

The download includes the fillable deed with a separate acknowledgment certificate for each signer, a completed example showing a complete Tarrant County conveyance, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section, including the reservations and exceptions that shape the warranty. The materials describe Texas law in general terms and are informational; they are not legal advice, and a Texas attorney can address how a particular power of attorney and title fit together.