New Hampshire Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the Registry of Deeds for the County Where the Land Is Located

A New Hampshire deed is recorded in the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies, which need not be the county you live in. Land lying in two counties is recorded in both. New Hampshire has ten counties and ten registries. The state's own website, NH.gov, carries a County Registry of Deeds page that links to each of the ten. It is named here without a link because the site does not answer automated link checks. Each registry's site says whether it takes documents by mail, at the counter, or through electronic recording.

Recording is what protects the grantee. A deed that is not acknowledged and recorded is valid only against the grantor and the grantor's heirs. It is not effective against a later buyer who paid value in good faith until it is recorded. So the deed protects the grantee only once it is on the registry's books.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed So the Register Will Accept It

New Hampshire's recording statute lists three things a register may not accept a deed without. The latest mailing address of every grantee. The name of every municipality where the land lies, stated in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the description. And the printed or typed name of every signer beneath the signature. The conveyance statute repeats the first: every deed shall show the mailing address of the grantee.

Beyond that, the statute leaves the physical form to document standards the ten registers adopt and post together. Those standards ask for white paper of at least 20-pound weight, letter or legal size, with three inches of clear space at the top of the first page for the recording stamp and one-inch margins elsewhere. They ask for black or dark blue ink and type of at least 10 points. They are the registers' rules, not the statute's, so check the registry's posted standards before printing. Do not put a Social Security number or an account number anywhere in the deed; the statute forbids it, and the preparer is liable for it.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor

The statutory form opens with the grantor: "________, of ________ County, State of ________, for consideration paid, grant to". Fill the blank with the name exactly as it stands on the deed the grantor received, because the register's index and every later title search run on names. "Robert" and "Bob" are two people to an index. Add the grantor's town and county as the form asks. A trustee signs as trustee of the named trust, an officer signs for a company under its registered name, and a married couple conveying together are both named as grantors. The deed need not say whether the grantor is married, but the form's last line, where a spouse releases the homestead right, is where Step 7 comes in.

After recording, the grantor files the seller's Declaration of Consideration, Form CD-57-S, with the state, and Step 9 explains it.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a Mailing Address

Name the grantee, the party taking the interest, by the full legal name that should appear on the next deed and on the tax bills, and give the grantee's latest mailing address on the deed. Two statutes require it and the register will not accept a deed without it. The address is where the recorded deed and the tax bill will go, so use the one that will still be right next year.

A trust takes title through its trustee, so write "Jane Doe, Trustee of the Doe Family Trust"; a company takes it under the exact name on its Secretary of State filing. Two or more grantees need one more phrase saying how they hold title, and Step 6 explains why, in New Hampshire, the phrase "as tenants by the entirety" does not mean what it says.

Step 5: State the Consideration, and Work Out the Transfer Tax

New Hampshire's real estate transfer tax is unusual in falling on both sides. The buyer pays 75 cents for each $100 of the price, or fraction of $100, and the seller pays the same, so a $300,000 sale carries $2,250 from each and $4,500 in all. Where the price is $4,000 or less, each side pays a minimum of $20. Each party buys stamps from the register of deeds, the register attaches them to the deed, and the deed is recorded with the stamps on it as public evidence of the tax paid. Every transfer is presumed taxable unless an exemption applies.

The exemption that matters for a family deed is the one for a noncontractual transfer: a gift, meaning a transfer with donative intent, actual delivery, and immediate surrender of control, with nothing given in exchange. A deed to a child or a spouse for nothing is exempt. Two cautions. The recital "ten dollars and other valuable consideration" is not consideration under this chapter, so it does not make a gift taxable, but a real payment does. Where related parties state a price the Department of Revenue Administration does not believe, it taxes the fair market value. And a transfer to a trust is a gift only if it meets the gift test; a transfer to a revocable trust the grantor funds for estate planning is taxed at the $20 minimum from each side. A deed between spouses under a final divorce decree, a deed that corrects an earlier one, and a transfer at death are exempt too.

Step 6: Add the Legal Description, and Say How Co-Owners Will Hold Title

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed, and begin its first sentence with the name of every town or city where the land lies. The register may not accept the deed otherwise. For a lot on a recorded plan that is the lot number and the plan's registry reference; for other land it is the metes and bounds. A street address is not a legal description.

If two or more people will own the property, the wording decides what happens when one of them dies. The statute makes every conveyance to two or more persons a tenancy in common: separate shares that pass by will or inheritance. The exception is a deed that says the grantees take as joint tenants, or "to them and the survivor of them", or otherwise clearly expresses a joint tenancy. The survivor of joint tenants takes the whole. The statute goes on to say that the words "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship" or "as tenants by the entirety" after the grantees' names are a clear expression of that intent. New Hampshire has no tenancy by the entirety, so a couple who write those words get a joint tenancy, which is what they wanted. Write one of those phrases if the survivor is to take the whole.

Step 7: If You Are Married, Your Spouse Signs a Deed of the Home

New Hampshire has abolished dower and curtesy, the old survivor's shares. What it kept is the homestead right: every person is entitled to a homestead right in the home they own and occupy, protected from most creditors up to a set value. The owner's spouse is entitled to occupy the homestead during the owner's life and after it. Because of that, the statute says no deed shall convey or encumber the homestead right unless it is executed by the owner and the owner's spouse, with the same formalities as a deed of land. No declaration has to be filed; the right arises from owning and living in the home.

The practical rule follows. If you are married and deeding the house you live in, both of you sign and acknowledge the deed, whether or not both names are on the title. The statutory deed form ends with the line for it: "________, (wife) (husband) of said grantor, release to said grantee all rights of homestead and other interests therein", and a spouse who is not on the title signs there. Property that is not the home, a rental house or land the couple does not live on, carries no homestead right and may be conveyed by the owning spouse alone. A deed of the home into a revocable trust does not cost either spouse the homestead right unless the deed expressly releases it, and the statute says so. The statute makes no exception for a deed from one spouse to the other, so have both spouses sign that deed too.

Step 8: Sign the Deed Before a Notary, in Person or Online

A deed must be signed by the grantor and acknowledged before a justice of the peace, a notary public, or a commissioner, and New Hampshire has required no witnesses since August 15, 1981. The officer confirms the grantor's identity from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence, and that the signature is the grantor's, then completes and signs the certificate of acknowledgment. Print your name beneath your signature. Where the grantor signs as a trustee or an officer, the acknowledgment says so.

New Hampshire allows remote notarization. A notary public located in New Hampshire may take your acknowledgment while you are somewhere else, over communication technology that lets you see and hear each other at the same time. The notary first confirms your identity by personal knowledge, a credible witness, or two different identity-proofing methods. The notary makes an audio-visual recording of the act and keeps a journal of it for ten years, and the statute counts the remote appearance as appearing before the notary. The result may be an electronic deed, and a notary may certify a paper copy of it as accurate. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 9: Record the Deed, Then File the Declarations and the Inventory Within 30 Days

Take or mail the signed and acknowledged deed to the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies, with the fee, the surcharge, and the tax. The recording fee is $10 for the first page and $4 for each additional page, the same in every registry. Every deed also carries a $25 surcharge, paid by the grantee, for the state's Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, evidenced by a stamp on the deed. A county that has adopted an equipment surcharge adds up to $2 more. Both parties buy their transfer tax stamps from the register at the same time, or, for an exempt gift, record the deed without them. Include a stamped envelope or a return address for the recorded deed.

Recording is not the end. Within 30 days after the deed is recorded, the buyer and the seller each file a Declaration of Consideration with the Department of Revenue Administration, the buyer on Form CD-57-P and the seller on Form CD-57-S. Each states the price paid and the tax computed. The declarations are required even for a gift, which is the one exempt transfer the statute does not excuse from them. In the same 30 days the buyer files an Inventory of Property Transfer, Form PA-34, with the Department and with the town or city where the land lies, giving the parties, the property, the price, and whether the buyer will live there. The town uses it to update its records, and the information is confidential. Willfully skipping the inventory or lying on it is a violation, though a missed filing does not cloud the title. The forms are on the Department's website, named here without links because that site refuses automated link checks.

Step 10: Know What Changes After Recording, and What Does Not

From the moment the deed is recorded it is effective against everyone, and the register returns it with the book and page stamped on it. Keep it with the property's papers; it is the document a future buyer, lender, or heir will ask for.

Property tax in New Hampshire is a town matter. The town's assessing office learns of the transfer from the recorded deed and the Inventory of Property Transfer, and bills the owner of record. Exemptions and credits, for the elderly, the disabled, and veterans among others, are granted by the town on application and do not pass with the deed. A new owner who may qualify asks the town's assessing office what to file and by when.

Where do I record a New Hampshire quitclaim deed?

In the registry of deeds for the county where the land is located, whether or not you live there, and in both registries if the land crosses a county line. New Hampshire has ten counties, and the state's NH.gov website carries a County Registry of Deeds page linking to all ten. A deed that is not acknowledged and recorded is valid only against the grantor and the grantor's heirs, and it is not effective against a later good-faith buyer until it is recorded.

Do I pay New Hampshire's transfer tax if I give my house to my child?

No. A gift is a noncontractual transfer, and the tax applies only to contractual transfers. A gift means donative intent, actual delivery, and complete surrender of control, with nothing given in exchange; the "ten dollars and other valuable consideration" recital does not count as consideration. But both of you still file a Declaration of Consideration with the Department of Revenue Administration within 30 days, and the child files an Inventory of Property Transfer with the Department and the town. And the child, as grantee, pays the $25 surcharge on the deed. A sale to a child for a real price is taxed like any sale, on the price or on fair market value if the stated price is not believed.

Does my spouse have to sign a New Hampshire quitclaim deed?

If the property is the home you own and live in, yes. New Hampshire's homestead statute says no deed shall convey or encumber the homestead right unless it is executed by the owner and the owner's spouse, with the formalities of a deed of land. The spouse's right exists whether or not the spouse is on the title, and without any filing. Both spouses sign and acknowledge the deed. Property that is not the home carries no homestead right and may be conveyed by the owning spouse alone; New Hampshire has abolished dower and curtesy.

What do I have to file after recording a New Hampshire deed?

Three things, all within 30 days after recording. The seller files a Declaration of Consideration, Form CD-57-S, and the buyer files one, Form CD-57-P, each with the Department of Revenue Administration, stating the price and the tax. The buyer also files an Inventory of Property Transfer, Form PA-34, with the Department and with the town where the land lies. The declarations are required for a gift as well. Missing a filing does not cloud the title, but willfully skipping the inventory is a violation.

Does a deed to my spouse or my child give them survivorship rights in New Hampshire?

Only if the deed says so. A conveyance to two or more people creates a tenancy in common, with separate shares that pass by will or inheritance. A deed escapes that default only by saying the grantees take as joint tenants, or "to them and the survivor of them", or by otherwise clearly expressing a joint tenancy. The statute treats "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship" and "as tenants by the entirety" as clear expressions of it. New Hampshire has no tenancy by the entirety, so a married couple who use either phrase hold as joint tenants and the survivor takes the whole.

Can I get a New Hampshire quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. Under New Hampshire's Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, a notary public located in the state may perform a notarial act for a remotely located individual over communication technology that lets both see and hear each other at once. The notary confirms your identity by personal knowledge, a credible witness, or two different identity-proofing methods, records the act, and keeps a journal for ten years. The statute counts that appearance as appearing before the notary. Confirm that the registry accepts an electronic deed, or have the notary certify a paper copy.

Where do I get a New Hampshire quitclaim deed form?

New Hampshire gives the quitclaim deed a short statutory form in its conveyance statute, with the quitclaim covenants written in, and any deed that follows it in substance is sufficient. A form written for no particular state can fail a New Hampshire register in three places. It has no line for the grantee's mailing address, and it does not begin the description with the names of the municipalities. It leaves no three inches clear at the top of the first page under the registers' document standards. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.