Cowlitz County Quitclaim Deed Form

A single individual grantor signs this Washington quitclaim deed: the form carries one grantor entry, one signature line, and one acknowledgment certificate, the configuration for one owner releasing whatever interest that owner holds in Washington real property. It follows the statutory quitclaim form of RCW 64.04.050 and conveys the grantor's present interest without any covenant or warranty of title.

What conveys and quitclaims means in Washington

RCW 64.04.050 supplies both the form and the operative words. A deed in the statutory substance, using conveys and quitclaims, is a good and sufficient conveyance, release, and quitclaim to the grantee of all then existing legal and equitable rights of the grantor in the described premises. Two consequences separate it from Washington's warranty forms. The deed carries no covenant of title, so the grantee receives exactly the interest the grantor holds at delivery, whether that is a full fee, a fractional share, or nothing at all. And it does not reach after-acquired title: a better title the grantor gains later stays with the grantor unless the deed added words expressing an intention to pass it. Those two features are why the quitclaim, often searched as a quit claim deed, appears throughout Washington practice wherever the work is releasing or reorganizing an interest rather than selling with title assurances: clearing a cloud from the record, moving an interest between family members, or carrying out the division a dissolution decree describes.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form recites exactly one grantor, and its signature architecture matches: a single signature line with a printed name and date, followed by a single acknowledgment certificate in the RCW 42.45.140(1) short form. Three Washington ownership patterns present that architecture in the record: an unmarried owner conveying property held alone; a married owner or state registered domestic partner conveying separate property that is not homestead; and the direct interspousal conveyance of a community interest that RCW 26.16.050 authorizes, signed and acknowledged by the grantor as a single person. A conveyance of community real property or homestead property takes execution and acknowledgment by both spouses or both domestic partners under RCW 26.16.030 and RCW 6.13.060, a two-signer pattern this form is not set up as. The grantee side stays open: the completed example shows a single grantee taking sole ownership, and a deed naming two or more grantees carries the vesting designation Washington law recognizes, tenancy in common by default under RCW 64.28.020 or a joint tenancy created by express declaration under RCW 64.28.010.

Built for the auditor's first page

Washington recording law assigns specific content to a deed's first page, and the form places each item where RCW 65.04.045 puts it. The name and address for return of the recorded deed sit in the statutory top left position inside a full 3 inch top margin reserved for the county auditor. Below the margin come the document title, the grantor and grantee names, an abbreviated legal description with a cross reference to the complete description, and the assessor's property tax parcel number. Body text runs at 12 point against the statutory 8 point minimum, margins meet the 1 inch rule, and no blank asks for a social security number, a birth date, or any other identifier RCW 65.04.045(3) bars from a recorded instrument.

The excise tax step before recording

A Washington deed rarely travels alone. A conveyance by quitclaim deed for valuable consideration is a sale under chapter 82.45 RCW, and a real estate excise tax affidavit generally accompanies any deed that transfers ownership, taxable or exempt. The affidavit, the deed, and any payment go to the county treasurer first, because the auditor may not accept a taxable instrument for recording until the treasurer verifies that the tax is paid or not due. The state portion runs on a graduated scale beginning at 1.10 percent, local rates add to it, and exempt transfers, gifts among them, claim their exemption by code on the affidavit. The guide included with this form walks through the affidavit requirement, the treasurer step, and the statutory recording fees and surcharges, so the whole recording package arrives at the counter complete.

What is delivered

The download contains the blank quitclaim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing every section filled in for a King County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through each entry, the notarization, and the excise tax and recording steps. The materials describe Washington law in general terms and are not legal advice.