Can I Use a Quitclaim Deed in Connecticut?
Yes. Connecticut recognizes quitclaim deeds as a way to transfer whatever ownership interest you have in real estate, and state law prints a short-form Quitclaim Deed you can follow. It's a simple, familiar way to move property into someone else's name: you hand over your interest as it stands, with no promises about the title. A mortgage on the property stays in place, and signing the deed doesn't pay off the loan or release anyone from it.
Quitclaim deeds are commonly used between people who already know the property: adding a son or daughter to the title, transferring property into a trust, dividing ownership after a divorce, or passing one co-owner's share to another. Connecticut's conveyance tax, the state and town tax on a transfer of real estate, is based on what's paid for the property, so no tax is due on a true gift with no mortgage left on it, or on a deed between spouses.
You'll see two terms throughout this Connecticut guide. The grantor is the person transferring the property. The grantee is the person receiving it.
🛟 Need a little extra help? If you would rather not prepare the deed entirely on your own, see Need Help With Your Connecticut Quitclaim Deed, further down this page, for resources that can help.
⚡ Connecticut Quick Facts
- Signing: You sign in person in front of a notary and two witnesses, and the witnesses sign the deed too.
- Where it's recorded: You record the deed with the town clerk of the town where the property is located. Connecticut keeps its land records town by town, not by county.
- Grantee's address: You put the grantee's current mailing address on the deed.
- Tax return: You file Form OP-236 with every deed. It's Connecticut's real estate conveyance tax return, the form that reports the transfer and its price to the state and pays any conveyance tax due, and it's required even when no tax is due.
- Two or more grantees: You add survivorship wording if you want the last one living to own the whole property.
- Recording cost: You pay the same fee in every town, because state law sets it.
What You Need Before Filling Out the Deed
With these in hand, the deed takes one sitting to prepare.
- A copy of the deed that gave you the property, so you can copy your name and the legal description (the paragraph that identifies the land) exactly. Keep its volume and page number, where the town clerk filed it, handy too.
- Your home address and the grantee's current mailing address
- Survivorship wording, if the property is going to more than one person
- What the grantee is paying, if anything, and the balance of any mortgage that will stay on the property
- Form OP-236, the conveyance tax return, which goes to the town clerk with every deed
- A notary and two witnesses, all at the signing together
- Money for the recording fee, and a check for any conveyance tax
If there's a mortgage, check the loan before transferring the property. A deed changes ownership but doesn't take anyone off the loan, and the loan's due-on-sale clause, which lets a lender ask for the full balance when ownership changes, may matter depending on the kind of transfer, including a move into a trust. Our guide to removing an ex-spouse from a deed explains how the deed and the loan are handled separately.
How to Fill Out a Connecticut Quitclaim Deed
Step 1: Find the Town Clerk
Connecticut records deeds by town. Your deed goes to the town clerk of the town where the property is located, wherever you live, and it's the town clerk who keeps that town's land records. The Secretary of the State lists every town clerk's office on its town clerk directory.
The town clerk's office is also where you'll hand in the conveyance tax return and pay any tax, so one trip covers everything.
Step 2: Start From Connecticut's Short-Form Quitclaim Deed
Connecticut law prints a short quitclaim deed you can follow word for word. Title it "Quitclaim Deed": under state law, a deed with that title hands over all of your right, title and interest in the property, with no promises about the title. The words "with quitclaim covenants" don't guarantee that the title is good; they add a narrower promise that you and your heirs won't later claim an interest against the grantee. And "for consideration paid" is the form's standard phrase for whatever the grantee gives, even if that's nothing. Here's the form, with blanks for your details:
Quitclaim Deed
[grantor's name], of [grantor's address], for consideration paid, grant to [grantee's name], of [grantee's mailing address], with QUITCLAIM COVENANTS
[legal description, and any additional provisions]
Signed this [day] day of [month], 20[year].
Witnessed by:
[witness]
[witness](Acknowledgment)
Under each signature line, type or print the name of the person signing: you, each witness and the notary. The town clerk charges an extra dollar when those names are missing. Keep each page no larger than 8½ by 14 inches, the size the recording fee is based on, and you can skip a seal.
Step 3: Enter Your Name, and Know When a Spouse Signs
Write your full legal name as it appears on the deed that gave you the property, then your address, which follows "of" on the form. A trustee signs for property held in a trust, and a person authorized by a company signs for property the company owns, adding the company's exact name.
Being married doesn't put your spouse's signature on the deed. In Connecticut, each spouse can transfer their own property as if they were unmarried, so a husband or wife who isn't on the title doesn't sign. A property you and your spouse hold jointly needs both signatures.
Step 4: Name the Grantee and Decide on Survivorship
After "grant to", write the grantee's full legal name, then their current mailing address, which follows "of" on the form. Connecticut requires that address on every deed, and the town clerk charges five dollars more to record one without it. For a trust, name the trustee, for example "Jane Doe, Trustee of the Doe Family Trust."
If two or more people are receiving the property, decide whether the last one living should end up with all of it. For that, the deed has to say so. Connecticut law lists wording that works, and the simplest is "as joint tenants" right after their names; "with right of survivorship" works too. Without survivorship wording, the deed doesn't give the survivor the other owner's share.
A married couple can use the same wording. Connecticut has no separate married-couple ownership: a deed to a couple "as tenants by the entirety" simply makes them joint tenants with survivorship. Joint owners can also hold unequal shares when the deed states each one's share.
Step 5: Add the Legal Description
In the space under the names, copy the legal description from the deed that gave you the property, exactly as written. It's the paragraph that identifies the land by its boundaries, a lot on a filed map, or both. A street address alone isn't a legal description. You can also add a line saying how you got the property, with the volume and page of your deed in the town's land records, so anyone tracing the property's history can find the earlier deed.
Step 6: Work Out What's Being Paid
The short form says "for consideration paid", and Connecticut's conveyance tax turns on that consideration, meaning everything the grantee gives for the property. That includes money, and it also includes any mortgage or other debt that stays on the property after the transfer, whether or not the grantee takes over the payments.
For a true gift, nothing is paid. If there's also no mortgage left on the property, or the balance is under $2,000, no conveyance tax is due.
The $2,000 figure is only the tax threshold. If the grantee is paying you anything for the property, don't treat it like a simple gift: Connecticut requires a Connecticut attorney to conduct a real estate closing, and any payment for the property makes the transfer one. A true gift, with nothing paid, isn't a closing.
Step 7: Fill Out Form OP-236 and Figure the Tax
Form OP-236, Connecticut's real estate conveyance tax return, goes to the town clerk with every deed, whether or not any tax is due. You sign it as grantor, and it asks for your mailing address and the grantee's, a taxpayer identification number for each of you, the consideration, and any exemption you're claiming. If you claim an exemption, enter its code from the form's instructions, because the town clerk can't accept an exempt return without one. Hand in both pages of the return.
Some towns also take part in myCTREC, the Department of Revenue Services' Real Estate Conveyance Tax Electronic Filing system. If yours does, you can submit Form OP-236 online for the town clerk to approve.
When no conveyance tax is due
No tax is due when the consideration is under $2,000, on a deed between spouses, on a deed made under a divorce decree dividing property, or on a deed that only changes the form of ownership while the same people keep the benefit of it.
When tax is due
Once the consideration reaches $2,000, you pay the tax when the deed is recorded. For most homes and land, it's 0.75 percent to the state and 0.25 percent to the town. What Will Recording Cost? lists the higher rates for large residential sales and for business property.
Step 8: Sign in Front of a Notary and Two Witnesses
Connecticut deeds need witnesses. Sign in front of two witnesses, who each sign in their own hand on the "Witnessed by" lines. The Secretary of the State's notary manual says a witness should ideally have no interest in the transaction, so choose people other than the grantee. Then acknowledge your signature to a notary, who completes the acknowledgment: the certificate saying you appeared and declared the deed your free act. In Connecticut, a justice of the peace, a town clerk or a Connecticut attorney can take the acknowledgment too. When you sign outside Connecticut, the notary in the state where you sign takes the acknowledgment.
Plan to sign in person. The Secretary of the State's guidance to notaries says remote notarization isn't for property deeds, so gather the notary and both witnesses in one room.
Step 9: Record the Deed With the Town Clerk
Bring or mail the signed deed to the town clerk with both pages of Form OP-236, the recording fee, and any conveyance tax by check to the Commissioner of Revenue Services. The clerk stamps the deed with the tax received, or with "No Conveyance Tax collected", records it, and mails it back to whoever the deed names for its return, so put a return name and address on the deed.
Record the deed promptly. Until it's in the town's land records, the transfer may not protect the grantee against claims by other people; recording puts it on the public record.
What Will Recording Cost?
Connecticut sets recording fees by state law, so they're the same in every town.
| Recording charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| First page (since July 1, 2025) | $70 |
| Each additional page | $5 |
| A conveyance of $2,000 or more | $2 more |
| Names not typed or printed under the signatures | $1 more |
| Grantee's mailing address missing | $5 more |
Conveyance tax applies only when the consideration is $2,000 or more, and never to a deed between spouses. The usual rate is 0.75 percent to the state plus 0.25 percent to the town. State law lets a few towns add up to 0.25 percent more.
For a residential property sold for $800,000 or more, the state's rate goes up in brackets. Each rate applies only to the part of the price in its bracket:
| Part of the residential price | State rate |
|---|---|
| Up to $800,000 | 0.75% |
| Over $800,000, up to $2.5 million | 1.25% |
| Over $2.5 million | 2.25% |
For property used for anything other than homes, other than unimproved land, the state rate is 1.25 percent.
Connecticut Quitclaim Deed FAQ
Where do I record a Connecticut quitclaim deed?
At the town clerk's office in the town where the property sits. Connecticut records deeds town by town, and each town clerk keeps that town's land records.
How do I find my current Connecticut deed?
The town clerk of the town where the property is located keeps it in the town's land records, filed by volume and page. Copy the legal description from that recorded deed.
Does a Connecticut quitclaim deed need witnesses?
Yes. Connecticut requires two witnesses who sign the deed in their own hand, as well as a notary's acknowledgment.
Does my spouse have to sign a Connecticut quitclaim deed?
Only if your spouse is on the title. Connecticut lets each spouse transfer their own property as if unmarried, so marriage alone doesn't add a signature.
What happens to jointly owned Connecticut property after a divorce?
If a married couple own Connecticut property as joint tenants, a divorce ends the survivorship: unless the decree says otherwise, each former spouse then owns a separate share. That change counts against other people once a certified copy of the decree is recorded in the town's land records, and no conveyance tax is due on a deed made under a divorce decree dividing property.
Do I owe Connecticut conveyance tax on a quitclaim deed to a family member?
Not on a true gift, as long as any mortgage left on the property is under $2,000, because Connecticut counts a remaining mortgage as part of the price. No tax is due on a deed to your spouse either way. When a relative pays $2,000 or more, the usual rate is 0.75 percent to the state and 0.25 percent to the town.
Do I need Form OP-236 if no tax is due?
Yes. The Department of Revenue Services requires the conveyance tax return for every Connecticut deed. For an exempt deed, enter the exemption code, or the town clerk can't accept it.
How do two owners get survivorship on a Connecticut deed?
Say so in the deed. Connecticut law makes co-owners joint tenants with survivorship when their names are followed by words such as "as joint tenants" or "with right of survivorship"; "as tenants by the entirety" has the same effect in Connecticut.
Can I get a Connecticut quitclaim deed notarized online?
Plan on signing in person. Connecticut's Secretary of the State tells notaries that remote notarization isn't for property deeds, and the deed also needs two witnesses signing by hand.
How much does it cost to record a Connecticut quitclaim deed?
Since July 1, 2025, $70 for the first page and $5 for each page after that, in every Connecticut town. When $2,000 or more is paid, the clerk adds $2, and conveyance tax is due as well.
What is the difference between a quitclaim deed and a warranty deed in Connecticut?
Connecticut prints both forms, and the difference is the promise. A deed titled "Quitclaim Deed", "with quitclaim covenants", passes your interest with no promises about the title. A "Warranty Deed", "with warranty covenants", adds promises that the grantor owns the property outright, that it's free of encumbrances, and that the grantor will defend the title.
Where do I get a Connecticut quitclaim deed form?
Connecticut doesn't offer a blank quitclaim deed to download; state law prints the wording. A form written for any state can miss what a Connecticut town clerk looks for: the "Quitclaim Deed" title and "with quitclaim covenants", two witness lines, the grantee's mailing address, and the names typed under each signature. It won't come with Form OP-236 either.
If you would rather start from something built for Connecticut, see our Quitclaim Deed Help page.
Official Sources
Connecticut's laws are collected in the General Statutes, and a citation such as CGS § 47-5 is an address: title 47, section 5. The statutes are published as a revision to January 1, 2025, with a 2026 Supplement holding the changes made in 2025.
You don't need any of them to follow the steps above. They're here so you can read the exact wording rather than take this page's word for it. Each section below links to its text on the Connecticut General Assembly's website, and the state agencies' pages and forms are linked directly; each opens in a new tab.
- CGS § 47-5 — a deed must be in writing, signed, acknowledged and attested by two witnesses, and must include the grantee's current mailing address.
- CGS §§ 47-36c to 47-36g — Connecticut's short-form deeds, including the Quitclaim Deed and Warranty Deed, and what "with quitclaim covenants" and "with warranty covenants" mean.
- CGS § 47-10 — a deed is recorded in the town where the land lies; unrecorded, it holds only against the grantor and the grantor's heirs.
- CGS §§ 47-14a and 47-14g — the wording that creates a joint tenancy with survivorship, including "as tenants by the entirety", and how a divorce separates a married couple's joint tenancy.
- CGS § 46b-36 — each spouse may convey their own property as if unmarried.
- CGS §§ 1-29 and 1-30 — who may take an acknowledgment in Connecticut and in other states.
- CGS § 3-95b — the remote notarization law and the records it can't be used for, including a real estate closing.
- Secretary of the State — Notary Public Manual (Rev. 2023-2) — the state's guidance that remote notarization isn't permitted for property conveyances.
- CGS § 51-88a — what a real estate closing is, and that only a Connecticut attorney may conduct one.
- CGS §§ 12-494 to 12-498 — the conveyance tax: the rates, the $2,000 threshold, payment by the grantor at recording, the return, and the exempt transfers.
- CGS § 7-34a, 2026 Supplement — the town clerks' recording fees: $10 for the first page and $5 for each additional page, plus a $10 fee and a $50 fee on every document (the $50 raised from $40 on July 1, 2025), which together make the $70 first-page charge town clerks post; the $2 charge on a conveyance whose sale data the town reports to the state; and the extra charges for missing names and a missing grantee address.
- Department of Revenue Services — Real Estate Conveyance Tax Information — who files Form OP-236 and when; the OP-236 instructions (Rev. 10/23) explain what counts as consideration and list the exemption codes.
On the figures. The amounts on this page were last checked against the sources listed here on September 18, 2026. Fees and tax rates change, sometimes in the middle of a year, so confirm the current figures with the recording office before you file.