Whatcom County Quitclaim Deed (Trustee Grantee) Form

The grantee line is what sets this Washington quitclaim deed apart. Title lands in a trustee, named in that capacity, holding one parcel for a trust the deed identifies by name and by the date of the trust instrument. One grantor signs, one acknowledgment certificate follows the signature, and the operative words are the statutory conveys and quitclaims of RCW 64.04.050, so the trustee receives the rights the grantor holds at delivery and no covenant of title with them.

A grantee named in a capacity, not just by name

Washington trust law puts the fiduciary, not the trust, on the deed. RCW 11.98.008 lists transfer of property to another person as trustee among the methods of creating a trust, and RCW 11.98.070 gives a trustee, or the trustees jointly, the discretionary power to acquire, manage, and convey trust property. Title to trust real estate is held in the trustee's name and capacity, and the grantee entry records all three parts of that: who serves, that the person takes as trustee, and which trust is served. A separate numbered section carries the trust name and the date of the trust instrument as their own entries, the pair a later title examiner reads off the face of the deed.

Why cotrustee grantees are not cotenants

The default that governs most Washington co-owners does not reach this deed. RCW 64.28.020 makes an interest created in two or more people a tenancy in common unless it is acquired in partnership for partnership purposes, declared a joint tenancy under RCW 64.28.010, or acquired as executors or trustees. Cotrustees named as grantees sit in that excluded category: they take no undivided personal shares, and what follows a trustee's death, resignation, or removal comes from the trust instrument and chapter 11.98 RCW. That is why the vesting line on a deed into a trust carries a capacity phrase instead of a tenancy designation.

What the deed states, and what stays in the trust

The deed states capacity and stops there. It does not name beneficiaries, recite distribution terms, or set out the trustee's powers, and the trust instrument does not become part of the record. When a lender or title company later wants proof of authority, RCW 11.98.075 supplies a certification of trust: the existence and date of the trust, the trustee's powers, revocability, whether cotrustees act together, and the titling of trust property, without the dispositive terms. That certification is signed and, where a party asks for it, recorded as its own instrument, prepared separately from this deed and not included in this package.

Excise tax follows the kind of trust

Funding a trust meets the excise tax system even when nothing is owed. WAC 458-61A-303 calls for a real estate excise tax affidavit whenever ownership transfers by deed or quitclaim, and RCW 82.45.090 keeps the auditor from accepting a taxable instrument until the treasurer verifies the tax as paid or not due. Which rule applies turns on the trust. WAC 458-61A-211 treats a transfer into any revocable trust as a mere change in identity or form, with no change in beneficial ownership. WAC 458-61A-210 sends a transfer into an irrevocable trust down a different path, taxable where the transfer both shifts the beneficial interest and carries valuable consideration, with relief of an underlying debt counting as consideration and documentation from the trust instrument going to the treasurer.

One grantor, and a first page the auditor can index

The grantor side stays simple: one grantor entry, one signature line with a printed name and date, one certificate in the individual capacity short form of RCW 42.45.140. Community real property and homestead property answer instead to RCW 26.16.030(3) and RCW 6.13.060, which take execution and acknowledgment by both spouses or both state registered domestic partners, a two signer arrangement this form does not carry. The first four numbered sections hold what RCW 65.04.045(1) puts on page one: the party names, the abbreviated legal description, the parcel number, and reference numbers, with the return name and address in the statutory upper left position of a full three inch recording band.

The download holds the blank deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example prepared for a Thurston County transfer into a living trust, and a plain language guide to every entry, the notarization, the excise tax affidavit, and recording. Searchers also reach this configuration as a quit claim deed into a trust. The materials describe Washington law in general terms and are not legal advice.