South Carolina Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the Register of Deeds for the County Where the Property Is Located

A South Carolina deed is recorded with the register of deeds for the county where the property is located, or with the clerk of court in a county that has no separate register. It need not be the county where you live. The state's Department of Environmental Services keeps a county plat or deed page that links every county's register of deeds or clerk of court, which is the quickest way to the right office. The office's page says whether it takes documents at the counter, by mail, or electronically.

Recording is what protects the grantee. Under the recording statute a deed is valid against later creditors, and against later purchasers for value who have no notice of it, only from the day and hour it is recorded in the county where the land lies. A later buyer or lender who wants that protection must record too, and priority goes by the time of filing. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor, but it does not protect the person it was given to against the grantor's later buyers, lenders, or creditors.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed on the Statutory Form, Without the Warranty

South Carolina's statute prints a form of release that "to all intents and purposes" carries the fee simple of land from one person to another. It begins "Know all men by these presents," names the grantor and the grantor's residence, and recites the consideration "in hand paid" by the grantee "of ___ County, State of ___." It says the grantor has "granted, bargained, sold and released" the described premises, "together with all and singular the rights, members, hereditaments and appurtenances." The grantee is to have and to hold them, "his heirs and assigns, forever." The form then carries a warranty clause, in which the grantor binds himself and his heirs "to warrant and forever defend" the premises against every person claiming them. The next section says the statute does not oblige anyone to insert the warranty clause, and does not stop the parties from adding any other clause they think proper.

A quitclaim deed is the statutory form with the warranty clause left out. Use the granting words the form uses, or say the grantor "releases and quitclaims" the property, and title the deed "Quitclaim Deed" so that the register treats it as one. The form ends "Witness my hand and seal" with "[L.S.]" beside the signature; a deed that shows the parties meant it to be sealed is treated as sealed whether or not a seal is attached. Give the name and address the register should return the deed to.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor, and Decide Whether a Spouse Signs

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, and the county and state of residence the form recites. The register indexes by name, and a title examiner has to match the two. Where the grantor is a trust, the trustee signs as trustee; where it is a company, an officer signs with their title.

South Carolina abolished dower and curtesy, the old rights a husband or wife had in the other's land, in the 1980s. The statute that did so has since been dropped from the Code as spent. A surviving spouse's protection now is the elective share, a right to claim a third of the deceased spouse's probate estate, which attaches at death and not to a deed signed in life. So a spouse who is not on the title does not sign, and no statute requires it. Where both spouses are on the title, both are grantors and both sign. South Carolina does not use the tenancy by the entirety, so a married couple on one deed hold as joint tenants or as tenants in common like anyone else.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a 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 roll. The recording statute requires the grantee's mailing address to be written on every deed conveying an interest in land; the requirement is regulatory, so a deed recorded without it is still good. Write it in anyway. 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. South Carolina's statute makes it simple. Whenever a deed names the grantees followed by the words "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, and not as tenants in common," a joint tenancy with survivorship "is conclusively deemed to have been created." When one joint tenant dies, the whole interest vests in the survivor, or equally in the survivors. A joint tenant cannot mortgage the property alone, and a deed from one of two joint tenants to the other ends the joint tenancy. A divorce decree severs a joint tenancy between spouses and leaves them tenants in common. Without those words, a deed to two or more people gives them separate shares that pass by will or inheritance. Use the statute's phrase exactly; the statute does not promise the same result for a paraphrase.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed: the lot and block on a recorded plat, with the plat's book and page, or the metes and bounds, with the county. A street address is not a legal description. The county's tax map number for the parcel is worth adding, since the county uses it to identify the parcel. Do not put a Social Security number on the deed; it becomes a public record.

Every other South Carolina deed must carry a derivation clause, a sentence in the description saying how the grantor got the property. That is the name of the grantor's own grantor and the recording date of that deed, or, for inherited property, the name of the person it came from, the approximate date, and the probate court. The register may not record a deed without one. A quitclaim or non-warranty deed is excused from the clause by the same section. Nothing prevents a quitclaim deed from carrying one, and a title examiner finds it useful.

Step 6: State the Consideration, and Prepare the Affidavit of Value

The form recites the consideration "in hand paid," and the deed recording fee statute wants the value behind it. The register of deeds must require an affidavit of value to be filed with every deed, signed by a responsible person connected with the transaction and stating that connection. For a deed subject to the fee, the affidavit states the value; for an exempt deed, it need not state the value but must state the reason the deed is exempt. The register may waive the affidavit at his discretion, and a willfully false one is a misdemeanor. Ask the register for the affidavit form it uses when you ask about recording.

Value means the consideration paid or to be paid in money or money's worth, which includes a debt the grantee takes over. Any lien that was on the property before the transfer and stays on it after is deducted. A gift has a value of nothing, so the affidavit states that the deed is exempt because the value is $100 or less. A transfer to a trust is measured by the property's fair market value, though a transfer into a trust in which the grantor becomes a beneficiary, for no other consideration, is exempt. Step 8 explains the fee.

Step 7: Sign Before a Notary and Two Witnesses

South Carolina asks for more signatures than most states. The statutory form itself is valid only if it is "executed in the presence of and subscribed by two or more credible witnesses," and the recording statute gives two ways to make a deed recordable. Either the grantor signs and acknowledges the signing before a notary or other officer "in the presence of two witnesses," or one of the subscribing witnesses later swears an affidavit before an officer that the grantor signed it. The usual practice is the first: the grantor, two witnesses, and a notary in one room. The witnesses sign on the witness lines, and the notary completes a certificate in the statutory form, that the grantor "personally appeared before me this day and acknowledged the due execution of the foregoing instrument." The statute does not say whether the notary may also serve as one of the two witnesses, so bring two people besides the notary, or ask the register first.

The notary identifies the grantor by personal knowledge or by satisfactory evidence: a current government identification with a photograph, a signature, and a physical description, a current passport, or the oath of a credible witness the notary knows. South Carolina has no remote online notarization. A notary registered as an electronic notary may notarize an electronic document, but the signer must still be in the notary's presence. A deed signed in another state before that state's notary, with two witnesses, is recognized here. So is a deed notarized online by a notary of a state whose law allows it, as long as that state's law was followed. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Work Out the Deed Recording Fee

South Carolina's deed recording fee is a transfer tax by another name. It is imposed "for the privilege of recording a deed" that transfers realty, at $1.85 for each $500 of the property's value, or fraction of $500. Of that, $1.30 goes to the state and 55 cents to the county. The fee is the grantor's liability, and the grantee is secondarily liable for it; if the grantor is a government body or a court's master in equity, the grantee pays. It is paid to the register at recording, and the register notes the amount on the deed.

The exemptions cover most family deeds, though not by naming relatives. A deed is exempt when its value, as the statute defines it, is $100 or less, which covers a gift to a person and any other deed for no consideration; a transfer to a trust or a company is measured by market value and has its own exemptions, described below. A transfer between spouses, or between former spouses as part of a divorce, is exempt when the federal tax code treats it as no gain or loss. The code does that for transfers between spouses and for transfers incident to divorce. Exempt too are a transfer to a trust or a company in which the grantor is or becomes a beneficiary or owner, for no other consideration, and a transfer from a family trust or family partnership to a beneficiary or partner. So are a corrective deed, or a quitclaim deed that only confirms title already vested in the grantee, for no consideration; a deed to the mortgage lender in lieu of foreclosure; and a partition. A gift to a child, a sibling, or a friend is exempt because its value is nothing, not because of the relationship. A sale to any of them at a real price pays the fee on that price.

Step 9: Record the Deed and Pay the Fees

Take or mail the signed, witnessed, and acknowledged deed, with the affidavit of value, to the register of deeds for the county where the property is located. The recording fee is set by state statute and is the same in every county: $15 for a deed to real estate. Add the deed recording fee on the value if the deed is not exempt. The register records the deed, notes the fee on it, and returns it to the address you gave. Keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

South Carolina has no transfer-on-death deed, and its Code contained no statute creating one when this page was checked. A deed meant to take effect only at the owner's death has nothing to stand on here. Passing the property at death is a question for a will or a trust and for an attorney, not a quitclaim deed. A deed that is signed, witnessed, acknowledged, and delivered now, and recorded promptly, is what the statutes provide for.

Where do I record a South Carolina quitclaim deed?

With the register of deeds for the county where the property is located, or the clerk of court in a county without a separate register, whether or not you live there. The state's county plat or deed page links every county's office. A deed is valid against later purchasers for value without notice, and later creditors, only from the day and hour it is recorded, and priority goes by the time of filing, so record promptly.

Does my spouse have to sign a South Carolina quitclaim deed?

Only if your spouse is an owner. South Carolina abolished dower and curtesy in the 1980s, and a surviving spouse's protection is the elective share of the estate at death, which does not reach a deed signed and recorded in life. A spouse who is not on the title therefore does not sign; no statute asks for it. Where both spouses are on the title, both sign. South Carolina does not use the tenancy by the entirety.

Do I owe South Carolina's deed recording fee on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not on a gift. The fee is $1.85 for each $500 of value, and value means what is paid, counting a debt the grantee takes over. A deed for no consideration has a value of nothing and is exempt because its value is $100 or less, whoever the grantee is. A transfer between spouses, or between former spouses in a divorce, is exempt as well. A sale to a relative at a real price, or a deed in which the relative takes over the mortgage, pays the fee on that amount. Every deed is recorded with an affidavit stating the value or the reason it is exempt.

Why does a South Carolina deed need two witnesses?

Because the statutes say so twice. The statutory form of deed is valid only if it is signed in the presence of, and subscribed by, two or more credible witnesses. And the recording statute lets the register record a deed only if the grantor acknowledged it before a notary in the presence of two witnesses, or a subscribing witness later swears to its execution. The grantor, two witnesses, and a notary in one room is the ordinary way to satisfy both.

How do two owners get survivorship on a South Carolina deed?

By using the statute's exact words. A deed that names the grantees followed by "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, and not as tenants in common" creates a joint tenancy with survivorship, and the statute says the result is conclusive. Without those words the grantees hold separate shares. A joint tenant cannot mortgage the property alone, a deed from one of two joint tenants to the other ends the tenancy, and a divorce severs a joint tenancy between spouses.

Can I get a South Carolina quitclaim deed notarized online?

Not by a South Carolina notary. South Carolina has no remote online notarization law; its Electronic Notary Public Act of 2021 lets a registered notary use electronic documents and signatures, but the signer must be in the notary's presence. A deed notarized remotely by a notary of a state whose law allows it is recognized in South Carolina if that state's law was followed, and the deed still needs two witnesses. Confirm that the register accepts an electronic document before you arrange either.

Where do I get a South Carolina quitclaim deed form?

South Carolina prints a form of deed in its statutes and lets the warranty clause be left out, so a form that follows it in substance, without the warranty, does the job. A form written for no particular state fails in the pieces around it. It has one witness line or none where South Carolina needs two, no line for the grantee's mailing address, no affidavit of value, and survivorship wording that may not match the statute's exact phrase. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.