Quitclaim Deed

What are Quitclaim Deed Forms?

Just looking at the name alone, a Quitclaim Deed form can sound like a form you sign in order to quit your job. But as it turns out, the Quitclaim Deed is actually all about transferring interest in a property or title from one person (the grantor) to another (the grantee), even if that interest is only in a piece of property. Typically a Quitclaim Deed is filed in order to transfer the ownership of real estate - even if it’s simply from the title of one person’s property to a trust controlled by the same person. Let’s learn more about these forms and how they might actually be of great advantage to you one day. Who uses Quitclaim Deed forms? Well, typically they’re people with significant assets like real estate to move around. For example, if a married couple has owned a property but it was only in the husband’s name, but in the divorce settlement it was agreed the wife would take control of the property, the husband can then use a Quitclaim Deed form in order to transfer his interest in the real estate over to his ex-wife. In such cases, it’s not exactly a time to celebrate - unless you’re the ex-wife, of course. In other cases, however, a Quitclaim Deed can be used simply to alter one’s estate for tax or financial purposes. Transferring a property from one’s name to under the control of a trust, for example, is a way of manipulating an estate to maximize its value when passed on after someone’s death. In other cases, it’s simply a good way to reorganize one’s assets in order to protect them from lawsuits and other attacks that can be made against one’s property. A person with a good knowledge of the law and financial structures can utilize a Quitclaim Deed for a number of purposes - and good lawyers recognize these purposes as well. They can also have simpler, administrative functions. For example, a Quitclaim Deed can be used to remove someone’s name from a title - to use the divorce example again, if two people’s name are on a property’s title, whoever is granted the property in a divorce settlement will then have the other person’s name removed from the title via a Quitclaim Deed. A transferring of property from one family member to another using a Quitclaim Deed can be a very fast and easy way of making sure the transfer was done properly and can be respected in court should the need ever arise. In short, Quitclaim Deed forms are ways of moving property around - not by moving the physical property itself, but by changing the ownership and control of that property. This can be done between divorcing spouses, between family members, between people and companies, between companies and trusts. There are a number of reasons a Quitclaim Deed form can be used, but its official function is not difficult to understand: it’s how our legal system can respect one person’s interest in a property and know, in writing, who controls what.