Wisconsin Warranty Deed

The Wisconsin Warranty Deed (Individual Grantor) conveys real property from one owner, signing alone, with the full statutory title covenants of Wis. Stat. section 706.10(5). The form recites a single individual grantor, carries one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate, and pairs with Wisconsin's electronic real estate transfer return at recording.

A warranty that reaches the whole chain of title

Wisconsin gives the warranty deed its force through section 706.10(5). A deed by which the grantor warrants the land or its title carries, except as the deed provides otherwise, covenants that the grantor is lawfully seized of the property, has good right to convey it, that the property is free from all encumbrance, and that the grantor and the grantor's heirs and personal representatives will forever guarantee and defend the title and quiet possession against lawful claims originating at or before the conveyance. That covenant package, sometimes searched as a general warranty deed or full covenant deed, runs to the grantee and the grantee's heirs, successors, and assigns, and reaches title defects that arose before the grantor ever owned the property. The deed's exceptions section narrows the promise to what the record actually supports: recorded easements, restrictions, and municipal ordinances entered there sit outside the covenants, and under section 706.10(6) no covenant is implied beyond what the deed states.

One grantor, one signature, one certificate

The form is configured for exactly one individual grantor. It recites the grantor's name and status in a single grantor section, collects the grantee, consideration, county, legal description, source of title, and warranty exceptions in numbered sections, and closes with one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate worded to the Wis. Stat. section 140.16(1) short form, the certificate a Wisconsin notarial officer completes for an acknowledgment in an individual capacity. A sole owner selling a home, an unmarried owner deeding land to family, and a single titleholder conveying an investment parcel present the one grantor pattern this deed recites. The form recites exactly one grantor; conveyances by co-owners, spouses conveying together, and entities follow different signing patterns.

Homestead and the married grantor

Wisconsin is a marital property state, and one signing rule shapes individual grantor conveyances: under Wis. Stat. section 706.02(1)(f), a conveyance that alienates any interest of a married person in a homestead is not valid unless each spouse signs or joins in it, except a conveyance directly between spouses. The form's homestead status section recites whether the property is the grantor's homestead, the fact that determines whether that rule reaches the transaction. The recital states the status asserted; the guide describes the rule, the case law enforcing it, and the marital property classifications that sit behind a married owner's title.

Recording in Wisconsin: the flat fee and the eRETR

Every Wisconsin county records deeds for a flat $30 fee under Wis. Stat. section 59.43(2)(ag)1. The form is built to the statutory document format: the document name at the top of the first page, a blank upper right recording area at least 3 inches by 3 inches, the drafter statement section 59.43(5)(a) requires, first page return information, and a parcel identification number line for counties that require one. A conveyance also travels with Wisconsin's electronic real estate transfer return; the eRETR receipt accompanies the deed at the counter, and the transfer fee of 30 cents per $100 of value, $3 per $1,000, is imposed on the grantor. A conveyance exempt from the fee states its exemption on the face of the deed by subsection of Wis. Stat. section 77.25, and the form carries a transfer fee status section for exactly that statement.

What arrives in the download

The purchase delivers the blank fillable warranty deed built to Wisconsin's recording format, a completed example showing a realistic Dane County transaction from grantor block to notary certificate, and a plain language guide that walks through every section with its statutory basis. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a Wisconsin attorney can address how these statutes operate on a specific title.