Essex County Warranty Deed (Two Grantors) Form

Two owners of record, one instrument: this Virginia general warranty deed is configured for two grantors, co-owners who convey Virginia real property together in a single deed. The form recites exactly two grantors, closes with two signature blocks, and carries a separate acknowledgment certificate for each signer, so a co-owned parcel passes to the new owner in one recorded document with each owner's execution fully documented.

Two grantors, and why both signatures matter

A Virginia deed conveys the estate, right, title, and interest of the person who signs it, so a deed signed by one co-owner reaches only that owner's undivided share. Passing the whole title out of co-ownership takes every owner's signature, and this form builds both into the instrument. For married couples the point carries statutory force: under Code of Virginia Section 55.1-136(B), no interest in real property held as tenants by the entirety may be severed by written instrument unless the instrument is a deed signed by both spouses as grantors. A married couple selling their entireties property, two siblings conveying inherited halves held as tenants in common, and joint owners with survivorship transferring the whole parcel to a buyer present the two-grantor pattern this form is built around.

Two signature blocks, two notary certificates

Each grantor signs above a printed-name line, a convention that supports Section 55.1-604, under which a clerk may refuse a document whose indexed names do not legibly appear. A separate acknowledgment certificate follows for each grantor, carrying the county or city venue line Section 47.1-16 requires, the operative acknowledged-before-me wording Section 55.1-619 accepts, and lines for the notary's commission expiration date and registration number, both certificate content under Virginia notarial law. Because the certificates are self-contained, the two grantors are free to acknowledge on different dates, before different notaries, or in different states; Virginia law does not require separate certificates, and the layout simply keeps each signer's acknowledgment independent of the other's schedule.

The covenant both grantors give

The granting clause conveys with general warranty, words Section 55.1-356 reads as a full warranty covenant, and the deed then recites the Section 55.1-354 covenant that the grantors will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed, a promise good against the claims and demands of all persons and subject to the exceptions the deed states. The deed collects those exceptions in their own numbered section, so the record shows exactly what the warranty carves out.

Built for the clerk's intake

Above the title, the form assembles the entries the circuit court clerk's office looks for on page one, from the preparer and underwriter statements to the parcel number and the return address. The consideration and the actual value of the property conveyed sit there too: Virginia measures its recordation tax against the greater of the two figures, and a deed subject to the grantor tax cannot be admitted to record until its first page states the consideration. Where a recordation tax exemption applies, a dedicated line states the law under which it is claimed. The document meets the statewide format standards for recorded instruments, including the 1.25 inch top margin on every page, and leaves the top of page one open for the clerk's recording data.

What arrives in the download

Recording happens at the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city where the property is located, and an unrecorded deed is void as to later purchasers for value without notice and lien creditors under Section 55.1-407, so the deed ordinarily goes to record promptly after signing. The download contains the two-grantor warranty deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing every entry for a married couple's Henrico County sale, and a plain language guide covering each section, the signing and notarization steps, the recording taxes and fees, and county cover sheet practice; the materials are informational and are not legal advice.