Vermont Special Warranty Deed (Married Grantor with Non-Owner Spouse Joinder)

Two signatures close this deed, but only one of them conveys title. This is a Vermont special warranty deed for a married grantor whose spouse holds no record interest in the property: the owner conveys with covenants confined to the owner's own time in title, and the spouse signs a dedicated joinder section that releases homestead and marital rights without making any promise about the title itself. The package prepares the deed for recording in the land records of the town or city where the property lies.

The second signature Vermont law calls for

Vermont protects the family home with a joinder rule. Under 27 V.S.A. Section 141, a homestead belonging to a married owner passes by deed only when the owner's spouse joins in both the execution and the acknowledgment; a conveyance the spouse never joined is inoperative as to the homestead, a defect recording does not cure. A related rule in Section 349 keeps an interest in homestead or entireties property from passing to anyone other than the owner's spouse without that joinder. Record title in one name alone does not switch these statutes off. A house bought before the wedding, a property one spouse inherited, and title left in a single name after a financing all remain capable of carrying the other spouse's homestead interest, which is why Vermont closing practice expects the second signature whenever a married seller conveys the home.

Built as a joinder deed from the first line

The form carries one grantor section reciting a married individual who holds record title, one joining spouse section naming the grantor's spouse as a non-owner, a signature line for each, and a separate acknowledgment certificate for each signer on the short form of 26 V.S.A. Section 5368, complete with the notary commission number line Vermont accepts in place of a stamp. Its spousal joinder section does the legal work in express words: the joining spouse joins in the execution and acknowledgment under Section 141 and conveys and releases to the grantee every interest that spouse holds in the property, homestead included, while making no covenant of title. The covenants belong to the grantor alone. A home acquired before the marriage and still titled in the acquiring spouse's name, property that came to one spouse by inheritance, and a household selling a residence titled in one name present the pattern this deed recites. The form is not arranged as a deed for an unmarried owner, for two record owners, or for a couple who both appear on the title; those configurations recite different parties and different operative language than this deed carries.

Covenants that reach back only to one ownership

Because no Vermont statute reads covenants into an ordinary conveyance, this deed spells out its warranty and its limit: seizin, right to convey, freedom from encumbrances the grantor made or suffered, and a duty to warrant and defend only against claims arising by, through, or under the grantor. Title questions older than the grantor's ownership stay outside the promise, which is the boundary a special warranty deed, called a limited warranty deed in some Vermont title work, always states on its face.

At the town clerk's counter

The finished deed records with the municipal clerk where the land sits, never with a county office, at $15.00 per page. Vermont pairs every transfer deed with a Property Transfer Tax Return, Form PTT-172, and 32 V.S.A. Section 9608 bars a clerk from recording without a complete return and its Act 250 certificate. The ordinary tax runs 1.47 percent of value once the clean water surcharge is counted, with a lighter bracket where the buyer will occupy the property as a principal residence, and the guide walks the return, the rates, and the exemption list in full.

The download contains three pieces: the special warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example carrying every entry for a Rutland County sale by a married grantor with the spouse joining, and a plain language guide covering each numbered section, grantee vesting, notarization for both signers, and recording with the town clerk. These materials describe Vermont law generally and do not constitute legal advice; a Vermont attorney can apply the rules to a particular marriage, homestead, or title.