Essex County Quitclaim Deed (Interspousal) Form

Virginia lets a property owner stand on both sides of a deed. Code of Virginia Section 55.1-108 provides that a person holding an estate or interest in real property may convey it to himself, or to himself and another, including to himself and his spouse as tenants by the entirety, and that being both grantor and grantee in one conveyance is no objection. This interspousal quitclaim deed is built on that section: one spouse signs as grantor, and the grantee entry takes the other spouse alone or names both spouses together.

Marriage alone does not make the estate; the designation does

Spouses in Virginia hold as tenants by the entirety only where the deed says so. Section 55.1-136(A) permits spouses to own property that way for as long as they are married, with the intent that the part of the one dying belongs to the other manifest from a designation as tenants by the entirety or tenants by the entireties. Absent that designation, Section 55.1-135 leaves spouses holding by moieties, as though a distinct moiety had been given to each spouse by a separate conveyance, a tenancy in common in all but name. So Section 1 of the form prints a tenancy designation line beside the grantee entry, and Section 4 asks what tenancy the vesting deed already shows.

A grantor spouse, a grantee spouse, and no second signature line

The form recites exactly one grantor, a married individual signing personally, with a single signature line and one acknowledgment certificate, because a grantee signs no Virginia deed. Section 1 collects the date, the grantor with a mailing address, the grantee entry, and the tenancy designation. A spouse who owned the parcel before the marriage and conveys to the two of them as tenants by the entirety, and a spouse releasing an undivided moiety so that title stands in one name under a written separation agreement, present the one-grantor interspousal pattern this deed recites. The form is not set up to sever an existing entireties estate, a step Section 55.1-136(B) reserves for an instrument that both spouses sign on the grantor side, and it recites no trustee, personal representative, entity, or attorney-in-fact capacity.

Two exemptions, and the words each one asks for

Transfers between spouses commonly pass no money, and Virginia answers that twice. Since July 1, 2026, Section 58.1-811(D) has exempted a quitclaim deed from the state recordation tax where nothing passes between the parties and the deed states that classification. A transfer made under a decree of divorce or of separate maintenance, or under a written instrument incident to a divorce or separation, is exempt instead under Section 58.1-811(A)(15), and Section 58.1-811(C)(1) carries the same transaction out of the grantor tax imposed by Section 58.1-802. Section 2 of the form takes the consideration, the actual value that Section 58.1-801 measures by the most recent assessment, the Code section relied on, and the classification sentence; Section 6 is where a decree or a separation agreement is identified.

The capitalized surname a Virginia clerk looks for

Section 17.1-223(A) gives a clerk authority to reject a deed filed without a cover sheet unless each individual party's surname is underscored or written entirely in capital letters in the first clause identifying the parties, and unless the indexing names of grantor and grantee are listed in that clause. That is why Section 1 of this form reads as a parties clause rather than a data block, and why the completed example prints HALLOWAY in capitals. The same statute keeps consideration and actual value on the first page and puts the title insurance underwriter and the owner-or-attorney preparer statements there as well, while Section 17.1-252 adds the parcel identifier in localities with unique parcel systems. The example runs a Fairfax County transfer through all of it, and the guide takes up cover sheet practice, which changes from one circuit court clerk to the next.

What the download holds

Searchers reach this instrument as an interspousal transfer deed, a quit claim deed to a spouse, or a spousal quitclaim deed; this package prepares the Virginia quitclaim deed for one spouse conveying to the other. Three files arrive: the blank deed as a fillable PDF, the completed example described above, and a plain-language guide covering every blank, the forms in which spouses may hold title, notarization under Title 47.1, and the taxes and fees collected at the recording counter. These materials describe Virginia law generally and are not legal advice.