Alaska Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find Your Recording District

Alaska does not record deeds county by county. One statewide office, the Recorder's Office of the Department of Natural Resources, keeps the land records for the whole state, and it divides the state into 34 recording districts. Your deed goes on record in the district where the land is located, which is not always the district where you live.

Don't assume the district follows the borough. The district lines were drawn separately, and a single borough can take in parts of several districts. The Recorder's Office has a Find Your District page with an interactive map, and a district list showing which towns and communities fall in each one.

Write the district's full name on the deed, with the words “Recording District” after it. If the land lies in more than one district, the deed is recorded in each of them.

Step 2: Say Where the Recorded Deed Should Go

Once the deed is recorded, the Recorder's Office mails it back. The deed has to tell the office where to send it, so put a “Return To” block on it with a name and a complete mailing address, ZIP code included. Most people send it to the grantee, since the deed is theirs to keep.

Keep that block inside the page margins described in Step 10. If you would rather put the return address in a cover letter, the office can record the letter along with the deed, but the letter then becomes part of the public record and is charged as another page.

Step 3: Fill In Your Name and Address

As the grantor, you are the owner who is signing the property away. Write your full legal name the way it appears on the current deed, followed by your mailing address. Alaska's wording for a quitclaim deed puts your place of residence right after your name.

The address is not optional. Alaska will not record a deed unless it carries a mailing address for everyone who gives or receives an interest in the property.

If you own the property with someone else and you are both signing it over, list each of you the same way.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee's Name, Address and Marital Status

The grantee is the person receiving the property. Write the grantee's full legal name and mailing address, and check the spelling, because the land records will carry that name from now on.

Then add the grantee's marital status after the name, such as “a single person” or “a married person.” Alaska's deed law says a deed must state the marital status of the people taking title. Step 7 shows why: when a married couple receives property together, being married decides how they own it.

Step 5: Use Alaska's Quitclaim Wording

You don't have to invent the sentence that transfers the property. Alaska's law spells out the wording for a quitclaim deed, and a deed written substantially the same way gets the core wording right. Here it is with plain labels in the blanks:

Quitclaim Deed

The grantor [your name and place of residence], for and in consideration of [what the grantee gives in return] conveys and quitclaims to [grantee's name] all interest which I (we) have, if any, in the following described real estate [legal description], located in the State of Alaska.

Dated this [day] day of [month], [year].

A few words about that wording:

• “Conveys and quitclaims” are the working words. Alaska's warranty deed says “conveys and warrants” instead, and that one word is what makes a deed promise a good title.
• “If any” tells the grantee you are passing along only what you actually own.
• Use “we” when more than one person is signing the property over.
• For the consideration, write what the grantee is giving you for the property. If it is a gift, it is common to say so, or to write “love and affection.”

Step 6: Add the Legal Description

The legal description is the wording that pins down exactly which piece of land you mean. Take it from the current recorded deed and copy it exactly, word for word. A street address will not do.

For land that has been subdivided, the description names the lot, the block, and the subdivision or its plat number. For land that has not, it names the section, township, range and meridian, the survey grid used across Alaska.

If you don't have the current deed, you can look it up through the Recorder's Office online search. If your new deed corrects or changes a deed that is already on record, give that earlier deed's book and page or its document number.

Step 7: Decide How Co-Owners Will Hold Title

If only one person is receiving the property, skip this step.

A married couple receiving property together owns it as tenants by the entirety unless the deed says otherwise. That kind of ownership comes with survivorship: when one spouse dies, the other owns the whole property automatically.

Anyone else receiving property together, such as a parent and a grown child, or two friends, owns it as tenants in common. Each owns a share, and when one of them dies, that share passes through the owner's estate to whoever inherits it, not to the other owner.

Many states let co-owners write “joint tenants with right of survivorship” on a deed. Alaska abolished joint tenancy in land, so those words will not create survivorship here.

If what you really want is for someone to receive the property when you die, Alaska has a separate deed for that, the transfer on death deed. You keep full ownership while you are alive, and the property passes to the person you name at your death. It has to be recorded before you die.

Step 8: Check Whether Your Spouse Must Sign

If you are not married, skip this step.

If you are married and the property is your family home, Alaska's law says you and your spouse both join in the deed. That holds even when the title is in your name alone, and your spouse signs in front of the notary along with you. The law is clear that signing does not give your spouse an ownership share your spouse did not already have.

If your spouse does not sign, what happens depends on the title. A spouse who is on the title has to sign, or the deed may not be valid. A spouse who is not on the title can still challenge the deed for one year after it is recorded, by going to court or by recording a notice of interest. After that year, the deed stands.

The law does not define “family home,” but a rental house, or a vacant lot where you don't live, is not the home you share with your spouse.

Step 9: Sign in Front of a Notary

Alaska does not use witnesses for deeds. Instead, you sign in front of a notary, who adds a certificate saying you did. That is called an acknowledgment, and the Recorder's Office will not record a deed without one.

What to do:

• Sign the deed in front of the notary, or tell the notary that the signature already on it is yours.
• Bring photo identification, such as a driver's license, unless the notary knows you personally.
• No notary nearby? A judge, a magistrate, a court clerk or a United States postmaster can take the acknowledgment instead, which helps in a small community.
• Signing in another state? Use a notary there. Alaska accepts that state's own certificate form.
• Don't plan on the recording office for this. Its staff cannot notarize.

What the Notary's Certificate Says

The notary fills this in, not you, but it helps to know what it should say. Alaska's form for an individual is short:

Acknowledgment for an Individual

State of [state]
[judicial district] Judicial District

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this [date] by [your name].

[notary's signature]
[title or rank]
[serial number, if any]

A few words about the certificate:

• Alaska has no counties, so the notary names the judicial district where you signed. A notary signing outside Alaska can name the county instead.
• “The foregoing instrument” means the deed above it.
• If your spouse signs too, the certificate names each person who signed.

Signing Over Video

Alaska allows remote online notarization. You appear before an Alaska notary by live video, the notary records the session and keeps the recording for at least ten years, and the certificate says the notarization was done using communication technology.

Not every Alaska notary offers it. A notary has to notify the Lieutenant Governor's office, and name the technology to be used, before doing the first one. The notary must be in Alaska, but you can be anywhere, even in another country, as long as that country does not forbid it.

Think ahead about recording, too. The Recorder's Office accepts electronic signatures, and it takes electronic documents through three e-recording services. Those mostly work with title companies, and a title company can usually submit a document for you, for a fee.

Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the rules in every state.

Step 10: Check the Layout and Record the Deed

Before you send the deed in, check it against the Recorder's Office layout rules. They are strict, and a deed that misses them costs extra:

• White, opaque paper no bigger than 8½ by 14 inches
• A 2-inch margin at the top of the first page, and 1 inch on every other edge and page
• Type no smaller than 10 point
• A title at the top that says what the document is, such as Quitclaim Deed
• No pages taped or stapled onto larger sheets, and no two-hole punches at the top

Send or bring the original signed deed, never a copy, with the recording fee. Two offices, one in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks, do the recording for all 34 districts, and the district list gives their addresses.

Everything on the deed becomes part of the permanent public record, open for anyone to view. Leave off anything you would not want a stranger to read, such as a Social Security number.

Record It Soon

Between you and the grantee, the deed counts once it is signed and handed over, recorded or not. It also counts against anyone who actually knows about it.

The danger is someone who doesn't know. Until the deed is on record, the records still show you as the owner. If a buyer or a lender later deals with the property in good faith, pays for it, and gets their own paperwork recorded first, Alaska's law puts them ahead of the unrecorded deed. Recording promptly closes that gap for the grantee.

Where do I record an Alaska quitclaim deed?

With the Alaska Recorder's Office, in the recording district where the land is located. Alaska records deeds through one statewide office rather than by county or borough, and the state is divided into 34 recording districts.

Two offices, in Anchorage and Fairbanks, handle the recording for every district. You can mail the deed or bring it in, along with the recording fee.

Record it soon after signing. An unrecorded deed can lose out to a later buyer or lender who did not know about it and recorded first.

How do I find my Alaska property deed online?

Use the Recorder's Office online search. Because Alaska keeps its land records in one statewide system, a single search covers every recording district.

You can search by name, by legal description, by document number, or by book and page. The Recorder's Office also takes copy requests online.

What is the difference between a quitclaim deed and a warranty deed in Alaska?

It comes down to one word. A warranty deed says the grantor “conveys and warrants” the property, and Alaska's law turns that into three promises: that the grantor owns it outright and has the right to convey it, that it is free of liens and other claims, and that the grantor will defend the grantee's title against anyone else's claim. A quitclaim deed says “conveys and quitclaims” and makes none of those promises.

Alaska does not read promises into a deed that does not state them, so a quitclaim deed passes only whatever interest the grantor has, if any.

Does my spouse have to sign an Alaska quitclaim deed?

Yes, if you are married and the property is your family home, even when only your name is on the title. The grantee, the person receiving the property, never signs.

If the signature is missing and your spouse is not on the title, the deed still passes the property. Your spouse, though, has a year after recording to challenge it in court or to record a notice of interest.

Does an Alaska quitclaim deed need witnesses?

No. An Alaska deed needs no witnesses. What it needs instead is an acknowledgment: you sign in front of a notary, or another official such as a judge or a postmaster, who certifies that the signature is yours.

Without that acknowledgment, the Recorder's Office will not record the deed.

Does Alaska charge a tax on a quitclaim deed?

No. Alaska has no state tax on deeds or real estate transfers, so the only cost to record a quitclaim deed is what the Recorder's Office charges: the recording fee, and $50 more if the deed does not meet the margin rules in Step 10.

Federal tax is a separate question. If you are giving property to a family member, our Transferring Property to Family guide explains how a gift affects the recipient's tax basis and the capital gains tax on a later sale.

Does a quitclaim deed avoid probate in Alaska?

Only for property you give away while you are alive. Once you sign and deliver the deed, the property belongs to the grantee, so it is no longer part of your estate, but you cannot take it back either.

Adding a co-owner who is not your spouse only moves part of the property out of your estate. Alaska abolished joint tenancy, so the two of you own it as tenants in common, and your own share still goes through your estate when you die. Spouses are different: a married couple taking title together owns it with survivorship, as tenants by the entirety.

If your goal is to leave the property to someone at your death while keeping it until then, Alaska's transfer on death deed does that. You can change or cancel it during your life, and it must be recorded before you die.

Where do I get an Alaska quitclaim deed form?

The state does not hand one out, and the Recorder's Office provides no blank forms of any kind. Alaska's law does print the key wording, though, and Step 5 shows it.

A generic form can miss requirements that are specific to Alaska. It may have no line for the recording district, may not leave the 2-inch top margin, and may not ask for a mailing address for both sides. Any of those can get a deed turned away or charged an extra fee.

If you would rather start from something built for Alaska, see our Quitclaim Deed Help page.

Can I get an Alaska quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. Alaska allows remote online notarization with an Alaska notary who has told the Lieutenant Governor's office that they perform it. You meet by live video, and the session is recorded.

The Recorder's Office takes electronic documents through e-recording services that mostly work with title companies, and a title company can usually submit one for a fee.