South Dakota Quitclaim Deed Instructions

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

A South Dakota deed is recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the property is located, which need not be the county where you live. The Secretary of State keeps a list of the county registers of deeds for all 66 counties, with each office's address, telephone number, and email. The office's page says whether it takes documents at the counter, by mail, or electronically.

Recording is what protects the grantee. An unrecorded deed is valid between the parties and anyone who knows about it. But every conveyance of real property is void as against a later purchaser or lender in good faith and for value whose own conveyance is recorded first. From recording, a properly acknowledged deed is constructive notice to every later purchaser or lender. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor and the family, but it does not protect the person it was given to against the grantor's later buyers or lenders.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed on South Dakota's Statutory Quitclaim Form

South Dakota's standard quitclaim deed is short. Under the title "Quitclaim Deed," the grantor, "of ___ county, state of ___, for and in consideration of ___ dollars, conveys and quitclaims to" the grantee, "of ___ P. O., all interest in the following described real estate in the county of ___ in the State of South Dakota," then the description, the date, the signature, and the acknowledgment. The form is standard but not mandatory; other forms of quitclaim deed are as valid. A deed on the form conveys all the grantor's right, title, and interest, and does not reach title the grantor acquires afterward unless words to that effect are added. No seal is needed.

One thing the word "quitclaim" does in South Dakota that it does not do in most states: unless the deed restricts it, the words "remise," "release," or "quitclaim" imply two covenants by the grantor. The first is that the grantor has not conveyed the same estate, or any interest in it, to anyone else before this deed. The second is that the property is free of encumbrances made or suffered by the grantor. Those are promises about the grantor's own conduct, not about earlier owners. A grantee who takes under such a deed is treated as a good-faith purchaser unless the grantee actually knew of a prior unrecorded conveyance. If the grantor means to promise nothing at all, the deed has to say so in express terms.

Two lines the register looks for before anything else. Every document presented for recording must carry a legend reading "prepared by," followed by the name, address, and telephone number of the person who prepared it. And the paper standards are statewide. They call for letter or legal size white paper, black ink and type of at least 10 points, a blank space of at least three inches across the top of the first page, one-inch margins elsewhere, and a title at the top of the first page. A deed that misses the standards is still recorded if it is legible, but keep to them. Do not put a Social Security number or other personal identifier on the deed; the statute forbids the preparer to include one.

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 Dakota has abolished dower and curtesy, but it protects the homestead. A conveyance of the homestead by a married owner, where both spouses live in South Dakota, is valid if both husband and wife concur in it and sign, either the same deed or separate ones. The homestead is the house the owner uses as a home, with its appurtenant buildings, whether the title stands in one name or both. So a deed of the family home from a married owner needs the spouse's signature, and a deed of a rental house, a lot, or farmland the family does not live on does not. The statute makes a recital in the deed of the parties' marital status, or of whether the property is the homestead, prima facie evidence of the fact. So say which it is: "a married person, and the property described is not the homestead of the grantor," or "husband and wife," with both signing. Where both spouses are on the title, both sign in any case.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a Post Office 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. Give the grantee's post office address in the form's "of ___ P. O." blank. The register may not accept a deed for record that lacks the names of the grantor and grantee, the grantee's post office address, or a legal description. The grantee must also give the register a current mailing address when the deed is presented. 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. Every interest created in favor of several persons is an interest in common, separate shares that pass by will or inheritance, unless it is declared in its creation to be a joint interest. A joint tenancy, equal shares with the survivor taking the whole, is created when the deed expressly declares it, or when the way the grantees are described or the granting clause shows the intent to create one. A deed from one spouse to the other that shows that intent creates a joint tenancy between them. A deed in which the grantor is also a grantee works the same way, so an owner may deed to themselves and another as joint tenants in one instrument. So write "as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and not as tenants in common" after the names. There is no tenancy by the entirety in South Dakota.

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 addition's name, or the section, township, and range with the quarter, or the metes and bounds, and the county. A street address is not a legal description, and the register may not accept a deed without a legal description. Add the county's parcel number if the current deed or the tax notice shows one. If the grantee takes the property subject to a mortgage, say so after the description.

Step 6: State the Consideration, and Complete the Certificate of Real Estate Value

The form recites the consideration in dollars. The transfer fee statute defines the value of a deed that is not a gift as the full consideration paid or to be paid, and the fee is figured on it. For a gift, recite that the deed is made for love and affection, or for no consideration, and mark the exemption on the deed as Step 8 describes.

Every deed used in the purchase, exchange, transfer, or assignment of an interest in real property must be accompanied by a certificate of real estate value. The register may not accept a deed without one. The certificate gives the names and addresses of the buyer and seller, the legal description, and the actual consideration exchanged. It also gives the relationship of the seller and buyer if any, and the terms of payment if the price is not paid in full at the sale. The Department of Revenue's form is the Certificate of Real Estate Value, Form PT-56, which its register of deeds page links; the register keeps it and reports transfers to the tax officials each month. A transfer-on-death deed is the one deed the statute excuses from the certificate.

Step 7: Sign Before a Notary, in Person or by Video

A deed must be acknowledged before the register may record it, or, if it is not acknowledged, proved by a subscribing witness. Ordinarily the grantor appears before a notary public, or a judge, clerk, register, or magistrate, and acknowledges the signature. The officer may not take the acknowledgment unless the officer knows the grantor or has satisfactory evidence, on the oath of a credible witness, that the grantor is the person who signed. The certificate follows the statutory form: that the grantor "personally appeared" and was "known to me (or proved to me on the oath of ___)" to be the person who executed the instrument. No witnesses to the signature are required. A deed acknowledged in another state before a notary, a court clerk, or a commissioner of deeds is acknowledged for South Dakota purposes.

South Dakota allows two kinds of remote notarization, and they differ. A notary in South Dakota may notarize a paper deed for a signer who appears by video only if the notary has personal knowledge of the signer's identity. The notary then signs the original paper, and the certificate states the signer's remote location and that the signer appeared by video. For an electronic deed, a notary may perform a remote online notarization for a signer who appears by video, identifying the signer by two different methods of identity proofing, using a tamper-evident system, and making an audio-visual recording. The certificate says so. The result is an electronic record, so ask the register whether it accepts electronic recording before you book. The Secretary of State's notary public page explains the program, and our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Work Out the Transfer Fee

South Dakota's real estate transfer fee is imposed "upon the privilege of transferring title to real property," at 50 cents for each $500 of value, or fraction of $500, and it is paid by the grantor. The register collects it when the deed is offered for recording, based on the value declared, and writes the amount on the face of the deed after recording. Declaring a false value, or claiming an exemption that does not apply, is a misdemeanor.

The exemptions cover most family deeds. The fee does not apply to a transfer between individuals, "regardless of the relationship," that is an absolute gift without consideration of any kind, nor to any transfer for which no consideration was given. It does not apply to a transfer between husband and wife, or parent and child, with only nominal consideration, or to a transfer under a divorce decree or a settlement agreement a decree adopts. Nor does it apply to a deed that confirms or corrects an earlier deed, a deed that only provides or releases security for a debt, a transfer between a fiduciary and a beneficiary to accommodate the fiduciary relationship, or a deed under a decree of distribution in an estate. An exempt deed must say "exempt from transfer fee" on its face and name the subdivision of the exemption statute it relies on. A gift deed to a child therefore carries that phrase and the subdivision number for absolute gifts.

Step 9: Record the Deed and Pay the Fee

Take or mail the acknowledged deed, with the certificate of real estate value, to the register of deeds for the county where the property is located, with the recording fee and the transfer fee if any is due. The recording fee is set by state statute and is the same in every county: $30 for a deed of up to fifty pages, and $2 for each page beyond fifty. The register records the deed, notes the transfer fee on it, and returns it to the grantee's address. Keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

If your reason for the deed is to pass the property at your death, South Dakota offers a transfer-on-death deed under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. It is recorded now in the county where the property is located, takes effect only when you die, needs no consideration and no certificate of value, and changes nothing while you live. It is not a quitclaim deed, and the statute prints its own form.

Where do I record a South Dakota quitclaim deed?

With the register of deeds of the county where the property is located, whether or not you live there. The Secretary of State's list of county registers of deeds gives every office's address, telephone number, and email. An unrecorded deed binds the parties and anyone who knows of it, but it is void against a later good-faith purchaser or lender for value who records first, so record promptly.

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

If the property is the homestead, the house you live in, yes. A conveyance of the homestead by a married owner whose spouse lives in South Dakota is valid only if both spouses sign, either the same deed or separate ones, whichever name is on the title. South Dakota has abolished dower and curtesy, so a spouse who is not on the title need not sign a deed of other property, such as a rental house or a lot. Recite the marital status and whether the property is the homestead; the statute makes that recital prima facie evidence.

Do I owe South Dakota's transfer fee on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not on a gift. The fee is 50 cents for each $500 of the price and is paid by the grantor. But an absolute gift between individuals, whatever the relationship, is exempt, and so is any deed for no consideration, a deed between spouses or between parent and child for nominal consideration, and a transfer under a divorce decree. Write "exempt from transfer fee" on the deed with the subdivision of the exemption statute that applies. A sale to a relative at a real price pays the fee on that price.

What is the certificate of real estate value?

A form the register must receive with every deed used to transfer an interest in real property; the register may not accept a deed without it. It gives the buyer's and seller's names and addresses, the legal description, the actual consideration, the relationship between the parties if any, and the payment terms. The Department of Revenue's form is the Certificate of Real Estate Value, Form PT-56. A transfer-on-death deed is the one deed excused from it.

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

By showing the intent to create a joint tenancy in the deed. Every interest created in favor of several persons is an interest in common, with separate shares, unless the deed declares it a joint interest. A joint tenancy is created when the deed expressly declares it or when the description of the grantees or the granting clause shows that intent. Write "as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and not as tenants in common" after the names. A deed between spouses, or from an owner to the owner and another, creates a joint tenancy the same way. South Dakota does not recognize tenancy by the entirety.

Can I get a South Dakota quitclaim deed notarized online?

In two limited ways. A South Dakota notary may notarize a paper deed for a signer appearing by video only if the notary personally knows the signer, and the certificate must say the signer appeared by video and where. A notary may notarize an electronic deed for a remote signer identified by two methods of identity proofing, with an audio-visual recording. Confirm that the register accepts an electronic document before you book. A deed notarized in another state before that state's notary is accepted here.

Where do I get a South Dakota quitclaim deed form?

South Dakota prints a standard quitclaim deed form in its statutes, and any form that follows it in substance does the job. A form written for no particular state fails in the pieces around it. It has no "prepared by" line, no post office address for the grantee, no three-inch space at the top for the register, no place to mark the transfer fee exemption, and no spouse's signature line for a homestead deed. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.