Ritchie County Quitclaim Deed (Married Grantor with Non-Owner Spouse Joinder) Form

One name in the chain of title, two signatures on the deed. This West Virginia quitclaim deed pairs a married owner who holds record title alone with the spouse who holds none of it, and says on its face why the second person signs. The form carries one grantor block, one joinder block, one grantee, a certificate for each signer, and a conditional grantee block West Virginia added in 2025.

A signature that conveys nothing

West Virginia abolished dower and curtesy in W. Va. Code Section 43-1-1 and recognizes no community property, so a spouse whose name never reached the deed ordinarily has no interest to give up. What that spouse has instead is a statutory role. W. Va. Code Section 43-1-2 puts the duty on the conveying party: a married person who parts with an interest to which dower would formerly have attached notifies the spouse, either beforehand or inside thirty days, carries the burden of showing that it happened, and discharges that burden by one of two routes, the spouse's signature on the instrument or other competent evidence. Section 8 says as much on the face of the deed: the joining spouse is not a record owner, is not a grantor of any record interest, signs to meet that burden, and releases whatever interest the spouse does hold.

Where a missing notice actually lands

No county clerk polices the notice, and nothing in Section 43-1-2 creates a lien or claim against the interest conveyed, so a grantee's title is not what hangs on it. Subsection (d) points elsewhere: on a divorce within five years, the value of the real estate at the time of the conveyance becomes part of the conveying party's marital property for equitable distribution or support. In Stanley v. Stanley, No. 13-0960 (W. Va. 2014), the Supreme Court of Appeals held a husband entitled to that notice of his wife's conveyance to her adult children, and reinstated the order counting the value as marital property.

Two signers, two certificates, and a conditional third

Section 10 gives the grantor and the joining spouse each a signature line, printed name, and date, and each has a certificate of its own in the short form of W. Va. Code Section 39-4-16. West Virginia law does not require separate certificates; this layout carries them because one certificate recites a single date and a single officer, and the example shows what that buys: the grantor acknowledges in Cabell County, the spouse four days later in another county before a different notary. Section 11 sits ready for a third signature. Since July 11, 2025, W. Va. Code Section 39-1-2(b)(2) has kept a no consideration quitclaim deed, and any deed whose property value is $100 or less with no excise tax paid on it, out of the record unless the grantee has signed and acknowledged it too, subject to the exceptions the subsection lists, and a deed recorded in violation of it is void.

One owner of record, one grantee

A spouse who took title before the marriage, a spouse who inherited a parcel under a deed naming that spouse alone, and a spouse whose is the only name in the vesting deed all present the single-owner-plus-joinder pattern this deed recites. Two record owners, three or more, a company, a trustee, or a personal representative each execute through a different architecture than the two individual blocks this form draws. The release reaches only what the signers hold at delivery, without covenant or warranty, so recorded liens and easements pass through undisturbed.

Consideration, stamps, and the sheet that travels alongside

Section 12 carries the declaration of consideration or value that W. Va. Code Section 11-22-6 requires, at the end of the instrument: one line for consideration paid, one for true and actual value, over a signature, a stated interest, and an address. The clerk reads that figure when computing the excise stamps, $1.10 per $500 of value under Section 11-22-2 plus a county excise beginning at 55 cents that a county commission may raise, which is how Cabell County reaches a combined $5.50 per $1,000. Every recorded document also arrives with the State Tax Commissioner Sales Listing Form, Form STC 12:39, prepared separately from this package.

The download delivers this West Virginia quit claim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example set in Cabell County, and a line by line guide to the twelve sections, the signing options, and the recording package. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.