Ohio Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the County Auditor and the County Recorder, Because an Ohio Deed Visits Both

An Ohio deed is recorded by the county recorder for the county where the land is situated, which need not be the county where you live, but it cannot go there first. The statute says no deed of absolute conveyance shall be recorded until it bears the county auditor's stamp that the conveyance has been examined and the conveyance fee law complied with. It must also carry the auditor's endorsement "transferred" or "transfer not necessary." So the deed goes to the auditor, then to the recorder, usually in the same courthouse. Ohio has no state directory of its auditors and recorders; search the county's name and "auditor" or "recorder," and the office's page says whether it takes documents at the counter, by mail, or through electronic recording.

Recording is what protects the grantee. Until a deed is recorded, the statute says, it is fraudulent as against a later bona fide purchaser who, at the time of buying, had no knowledge of it. A later buyer who did know about your deed cannot use the statute against you. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor, but it does not protect the person it was given to against an innocent later buyer or lender.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed on the Statutory Form

Ohio's Revised Code prints the form, and a deed that follows it in substance has the force of a deed in fee simple without covenants of any kind. It is short. The grantor, with marital status and county, "for valuable consideration paid, grant(s) to" the grantee, "whose tax-mailing address is" the address, "the following real property." Then comes the description, with any encumbrances, reservations, and exceptions, and a Prior Instrument Reference giving the volume and page of the deed the grantor received. Then the line the spouse signs, "wife (husband) of the grantor, releases all rights of dower therein," and the date and the grantor's signature. The word "grant" carries no covenants here; the statute says so.

Two more things belong on the deed. The county auditor will not transfer the property without the grantee's last known address and the reference to the prior recorded instrument, which the form already carries. And if a survey was made of the land being conveyed, the auditor requires the surveyor's name on the deed, in the statute's words: "A survey of this property was made by ____." The paper standards are statewide, and Step 9 gives them. A deed that misses them is still recorded, for $20 more. Ohio also refuses an instrument that does not say who prepared it. The name must appear on the deed, printed, typewritten, stamped or signed legibly, and the statute accepts the line "This instrument was prepared by (name)." If you filled the form in yourself, that name is yours. The requirement does not reach a deed executed or acknowledged outside Ohio.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor, With Marital Status, and Plan for the Dower Release

The grantor is the party giving up whatever interest they hold: a person, a married couple, a trustee, or a company. Give the full legal name exactly as it appears on the deed the grantor received, because the recorder indexes by name and a title examiner has to match the two. Give the county of residence the form asks for. Where the grantor is a trust, the trustee signs as trustee; where it is a company, an officer signs with their title.

Ohio's form asks for the grantor's marital status, "married" or "unmarried," and the answer decides whether there is a second signature. A married grantor's spouse signs the dower release line even when the spouse's name is not on the title, for the reason Step 6 explains. If the grantor is unmarried, say so, and the release line is left out or struck. Where a married couple both own the property, both are grantors, and each releases dower in the other's share.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a Tax-Mailing Address, and Say How Co-Owners Take Title

Name the grantee, the party taking the interest, by the full legal name that should appear on the next deed and on the tax bill. Give the grantee's tax-mailing address, which the form carries; it is where the tax bills will go. 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 Ohio's phrase is its own. A deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common, separate shares that pass by will or inheritance, unless it creates a survivorship tenancy. Ohio's survivorship deed conveys to the grantees "for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them." The statute says any deed showing a clear intent to create survivorship is construed to do so, but "or" between two names does not do it. Survivorship tenants hold equal shares unless the deed says otherwise, and when one dies the share vests in the survivors without probate. An owner may create a survivorship tenancy in a single deed to themselves and others. Ohio has had no tenancy by the entirety since April 4, 1985; a married couple who want survivorship use the survivorship deed like anyone else.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description and the Prior Instrument Reference

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed: the lot on a recorded plat with the plat reference, or the metes and bounds by section, township, and range. A street address is not a legal description, though the auditor's parcel number is useful on the deed. Then fill in the Prior Instrument Reference, the volume and page or instrument number of the deed by which the grantor took title. The auditor will not transfer the property without a reference to the next preceding recorded instrument in the chain.

The form says "for valuable consideration paid" whatever the deal is, and the price, or the fact that there is none, goes on the conveyance fee statement in Step 7 rather than on the deed. Ohio has no separate statute requiring the deed to recite the amount.

Step 6: If You Are Married, Your Spouse Signs to Release Dower

Ohio still has dower, and it is why the statutory quitclaim form carries a spouse's signature line. A spouse who has not released it is endowed of an estate for life in one-third of the real property of which the other spouse was seized during the marriage. Ordinarily that interest ends when the owning spouse dies, replaced by a share of the estate. But the statute keeps it alive for property the owning spouse conveyed during the marriage without the other spouse's release. So a house deeded to a child by one spouse alone carries the other spouse's dower with it. If the grantor dies first, the surviving spouse can claim a life estate in a third of it against the child.

The cure is on the form. The grantor's spouse signs the line releasing all rights of dower, and acknowledges the deed like the grantor, whether or not the spouse's name is on the title. Dower ends on an absolute divorce, so a former spouse does not sign. An unmarried grantor has no dower to release, which is why the form asks for marital status first. Where both spouses are on the title, each signs as a grantor and each releases dower in the other's share.

Step 7: Sign Before a Notary or Other Officer, in Person or Online

A deed must be signed by the grantor and acknowledged before an officer who certifies the acknowledgment. In Ohio that officer may be a judge or clerk of a court of record, a county auditor, a county engineer, a notary public, or a mayor. The spouse releasing dower acknowledges too. No witnesses are required for a deed signed on or after February 1, 2002; older deeds needed two. A deed signed in another state is acknowledged before an officer that state authorizes.

Ohio allows online notarization. A notary the Secretary of State has authorized as an online notary, who is a resident of Ohio and physically in Ohio at the time, may take your acknowledgment by live audio-video communication. You may be anywhere in the United States, or abroad if the deed concerns Ohio property. The notary identifies you by personal knowledge, by a government identification credential checked by credential analysis and identity proofing, or by a credible witness, and keeps an electronic journal for ten years. The deed is then an electronic document, which the statute treats as an original; ask the recorder whether it accepts electronic recording before you book. The Secretary of State's notary resources page explains what an authorized online notary must do, and our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Complete the Conveyance Fee Statement or the Exemption Statement for the Auditor

Before the auditor endorses a deed, the grantee submits a statement declaring the value of the property on the form the Tax Commissioner prescribes, Form DTE 100, the Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt. Where the transfer is exempt, only a statement of the reason is required, on Form DTE 100EX. The statement also carries two affirmations, whether the property receives the homestead reduction and whether it is under current agricultural use valuation, because a transfer can end either. The auditor collects the conveyance fee of 10 cents for each $100 of value, that is $1 per $1,000, with a $1 minimum. Where the county commissioners have adopted the county's own transfer tax, up to 30 cents per $100 is added, so up to $4 per $1,000 in all. The auditor also collects 50 cents for entering the transfer.

No fee is charged on the transfers most family deeds make. The statute exempts a transfer to evidence a gift, in trust or otherwise, between husband and wife, or between parent and child or the spouse of either. It exempts a transfer among the heirs or devisees of a decedent with no money paid, and a transfer to the trustee of a revocable trust and back to the grantor. It exempts a transfer to survivorship tenants under the survivorship deed statute, a deed that confirms or corrects an earlier one, a transfer for no money or valuable consideration that is not a gift, and a transfer where the value conveyed is $100 or less. A gift to a grandchild or a sibling is not on the list; it is exempt only if it fits one of the others.

Step 9: Take the Deed to the Auditor, Then Record It With the Fee

Take the acknowledged deed, the DTE 100 or DTE 100EX, and the fee to the county auditor. The auditor examines the deed, collects the conveyance fee and the transfer fee, transfers the property on the tax list into the grantee's name, and stamps and endorses the deed. Then take it to the county recorder with the recording fee: $34 for the first two pages and $8 for each page after that, half of each amount being the state's housing trust fund fee. A document preservation surcharge of up to $5 is added if the county has adopted one. The recorder indexes the deed and returns it; include a stamped envelope or the return address, and keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

The paper standards are statewide: type no smaller than 10 point, paper between letter and legal size, black or blue ink, no highlighting, and one-inch margins at the sides and bottom of every page. The first page carries a three-inch blank margin across the top for the auditor's and recorder's stamps, and every other page one and one-half inches. A deed that does not conform is still recorded, for $20 more. If your reason for the deed is to pass the property at your death, Ohio offers a transfer on death designation affidavit instead. It is recorded now and takes effect only when you die, and the beneficiary completes the transfer afterward with an affidavit of confirmation and a death certificate.

Where do I record an Ohio quitclaim deed?

With the county recorder for the county where the land is situated, whether or not you live there, but only after the county auditor has stamped it. The recorder may not record a deed until it bears the auditor's stamp that the conveyance fee law was complied with, and the auditor's endorsement "transferred" or "transfer not necessary." Ohio has no state directory of its auditors and recorders; search the county's name and the office. An unrecorded deed is fraudulent as against a later bona fide purchaser who bought without knowledge of it.

Does my spouse have to sign an Ohio quitclaim deed?

Yes, to release dower, whether or not your spouse is on the title. Ohio still gives a spouse a life estate in one-third of any real property the other spouse owned during the marriage, and that dower survives a deed the spouse did not release. The statutory quitclaim form carries the line: the grantor's wife or husband "releases all rights of dower therein," signed and acknowledged like the grantor's own signature. An unmarried grantor has no dower to release, and dower ends on an absolute divorce.

Do I owe Ohio's conveyance fee on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not on a gift between spouses, or between parent and child or the spouse of either, which the statute exempts. Nor on a transfer among heirs with no money paid, a transfer into or out of a revocable trust, or a transfer for $100 or less. Those transfers file the exemption statement, Form DTE 100EX, with the county auditor and pay only the 50-cent transfer fee. A gift to a grandchild or a sibling has no exemption of its own. Where the fee applies it is $1 per $1,000 of value, plus up to $3 per $1,000 where the county has added its own transfer tax.

What does the county auditor do with an Ohio deed before it can be recorded?

The auditor examines the deed, takes the conveyance fee statement or the exemption statement, collects the conveyance fee and the 50-cent transfer fee, transfers the property on the tax list into the grantee's name, and stamps and endorses the deed. The statute forbids the recorder to record a deed of absolute conveyance until that stamp and the "transferred" endorsement are on it. The auditor needs the grantee's address and the reference to the prior recorded deed, both of which the statutory form carries, and the surveyor's name if the land was surveyed for the conveyance.

How do two owners get survivorship on an Ohio deed?

With a survivorship deed, which conveys the property to them "for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them." Without those words, or others showing a clear intent to create survivorship, a deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common. "Or" between the names does not do it. Ohio has had no tenancy by the entirety since 1985, so a married couple use the survivorship deed like anyone else. A single deed from an owner to themselves and others can create the survivorship tenancy.

Can I get an Ohio quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes, through an Ohio online notary. A notary the Secretary of State has authorized to perform online notarizations, who lives in Ohio and is physically in Ohio at the time, may take your acknowledgment by live audio-video communication from anywhere in the United States. Identity is established by the notary's personal knowledge, by a government identification credential checked through credential analysis and identity proofing, or by a credible witness, and the notary keeps an electronic journal for ten years. The notarized deed is an electronic document, so confirm that the county recorder accepts electronic recording before you book.

Where do I get an Ohio quitclaim deed form?

Ohio prints its own in the Revised Code, headed "Quit-Claim Deed," and a form that follows it in substance has the statutory effect. A form written for no particular state leaves out what the Ohio form has: the grantor's marital status, the grantee's tax-mailing address, the prior instrument reference the auditor needs, and the line where the grantor's spouse releases dower. A deed without that release carries the spouse's dower with it. And it will not come with the conveyance fee statement or the exemption statement the auditor needs. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.