Whatcom County Quitclaim Deed (Divorce) Form

A Washington dissolution decree is itself a recordable document. Under RCW 65.04.070 the county auditor records certified copies of final decrees affecting title to real property, and from filing such a copy gives notice of its contents with the effect a recorded deed carries. Parties still record a deed. This quitclaim deed is the one they record: one grantor, one grantee, both of them parties to the same dissolution proceeding, and a numbered section naming the court, the cause number, and the date of the decree.

Two records, two different jobs

A certified decree brings the court's own words into the land records, formatted for the court rather than the auditor, which is why RCW 65.04.047(2) lists judgments and certified copies among the documents recordable with a cover sheet rather than under the ordinary format rules. What it does not do is place a conveyance under the parties' own names in the grantor and grantee indexes, with the parcel described as a title examiner reads a chain. That is the deed's work. Its operative words come from RCW 64.04.050: conveys and quitclaims, passing the legal and equitable rights the grantor holds at delivery, with no covenant of title and no reach to title acquired afterward.

One signature, because the marriage has ended

The form recites exactly one grantor and exactly one grantee, with one signature line, a printed name and date, and one acknowledgment certificate in the individual short form of RCW 42.45.140(1). The joinder rules that put two signatures on most Washington conveyances of a shared home speak in terms of spouses and domestic partners: RCW 26.16.030(3) reaches an instrument by which community real property is sold, conveyed, or encumbered, and RCW 6.13.060 reaches a conveyance or encumbrance of a homestead of a spouse or domestic partner. RCW 26.09.150(1) makes a decree final when entered, so from entry forward the parties are no longer spouses or state registered domestic partners of each other, and neither rule describes a conveyance between them. Two record patterns present this configuration: a residence assigned to one party, the other releasing whatever interest the record still shows, and a rental or vacant parcel assigned in the same division. What the form is not set up as: two grantor entries, a separately labeled block for a joining party, a signer in a representative capacity, or a conveyance to a buyer outside the proceeding.

The subsection the treasurer reads

Excise tax turns on one subsection and its neighbors. WAC 458-61A-203(2), captioned Court decree, holds the real estate excise tax off a transfer of property or an interest in it from one spouse or domestic partner to the other in fulfillment of a settlement agreement incident to a decree of dissolution, declaration of invalidity, or legal separation. Subsection (3) taxes a sale to a third party whether or not it follows a decree. Subsection (4) taxes transfers between ex-spouses or former domestic partners standing independent of any settlement agreement incident to their decree, unless another exemption reaches them. Exempt is still reported: WAC 458-61A-303(2) names a transfer resulting from a court order among the transactions taking an affidavit, and RCW 82.45.090 keeps the auditor from accepting the deed until the county treasurer verifies that the tax is paid or none is due. That affidavit is a Department of Revenue form, obtained separately and not part of this package.

What the decree already settled

The division itself comes from chapter 26.09 RCW: RCW 26.09.050 has the court make provision for the disposition of property and liabilities when it enters the decree, and RCW 26.09.080 supplies the standard, a disposition of community or separate property as appears just and equitable on all relevant factors. Section 6 names that proceeding; the decree stays the source of the disposition, and the deed adds a record entry. Liens ride along, and liability on a promissory note follows the note rather than record title. RCW 11.07.010 closes a separate loose end without help from this deed, revoking revocable nonprobate provisions in favor of a former spouse or former domestic partner on entry of the decree.

Searchers reach this configuration as a quit claim deed after divorce, or a divorce deed. The download holds the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example prepared for a Spokane County conveyance following an entered decree, and a plain language guide covering every entry, the notarization, the excise tax affidavit, and recording. These materials describe Washington law in general terms; they are not legal advice.