Berkeley County Quitclaim Deed (Trustee Grantee) Form

A trust holds West Virginia land through the person serving as its trustee, and the deed that moves a parcel there names that person in that capacity. This West Virginia quitclaim deed does that on its face: one grantor releases whatever interest that grantor holds to a single grantee named as trustee, with the trust and the date of its trust instrument recited beside the trustee's name.

A grantee who takes in a fiduciary capacity

Section 2 collects three things where an ordinary deed collects one: the trustee, the trust with the date of its instrument, and the grantee's mailing address. Section 8 runs the release to that grantee as trustee, and to the successor trustees serving under the trust, and states that the grantee takes in that capacity and not individually. Pairing a trust's name with its date is how West Virginia identifies a trust wherever trusts touch the land records, in the recorded memorandum of Section 36-1-4a and in the certification of trust of Section 44D-10-1013. A parcel moved under an existing trust, a parcel found outside a trust funded years earlier, and a release of a residual interest to a trustee holding the rest of the title all present the grantor-to-trustee pattern this deed recites. The form draws one grantor block and one trustee block; a release by two record owners, by a company, or by a grantor signing in a fiduciary capacity follows a different execution pattern than these blocks draw.

Why a gift into a trust reaches the record on two signatures

Since July 11, 2025, W. Va. Code Section 39-1-2(b)(2) has conditioned recording of a quitclaim deed made without consideration on execution and acknowledgment by the grantee as well, or proof by two witnesses before the county clerk. Every exception the subsection lists is a relationship between individuals: a transfer on death deed, and transfers between spouses, between parent and child or that child's spouse, and between grandparent and grandchild or that grandchild's spouse. A grantee who takes as trustee takes for a trust rather than in a family relationship of that kind, so a gift into a trust ordinarily reaches the counter carrying the trustee's own signature and certificate. The subsection makes a deed recorded in violation of it void, which is why the rule appears in capital letters above the signature lines. Where consideration passes, the subsection does not reach the deed and the second block goes unused.

Where the trustee's authority shows up

The deed states the capacity; the trust instrument supplies the powers. West Virginia answers that gap twice without putting the trust agreement into the public record. Section 36-1-4a allows a memorandum of trust, signed by the acting trustees and the living settlors and acknowledged the way a deed is, to be recorded with the deeds and indexed under both sides, reciting the trust's date, its trustees and successor trustees, revocability, and the trust powers over real property. Section 44D-10-1013 lets a trustee hand a certification of trust to a lender or buyer instead of the instrument itself, and Section 44D-10-1012 protects a person who in good faith and for value deals with a trustee without knowing those powers are being exceeded. Each is prepared separately from this package.

Consideration, stamps, and the exemption a trust transfer names

Section 11 carries the declaration of consideration or value that W. Va. Code Section 11-22-6 places at the end of the instrument: consideration paid, true and actual value, and any exemption claimed under Section 11-22-1. Two exclusions in that definition can describe a transfer to a trustee, the one for testamentary or inter vivos trusts, which the Tax Department's rule explains as a transfer of property to a trustee for the benefit of a third party, and the one the same rule states for a quit claim deed made without consideration. Where stamps are due instead, the clerk computes them at the state's $1.10 for each $500 of value, plus a county excise that begins at 55 cents and rises no higher than $1.65. The State Tax Commissioner's sales listing form travels to the counter with the deed and is completed separately. Nothing in the release warrants the title: recorded liens and easements ride through to the trustee untouched.

The download delivers this deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example set in Jefferson County, and a line by line guide to the eleven sections, the acknowledgment options, and the recording package. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.