Utah Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the County Recorder for the County Where the Property Is Located

A Utah deed is recorded with the county recorder of the county where the property is located, which need not be the county where you live. There is no state directory of the 29 recorders that this page could find, so search for the county's name and "recorder." Every county has been required to accept electronic recording since 2022. A deed can go to the counter, through the mail, or through an electronic recording service.

Recording is what protects the grantee. A deed that is not recorded is void as against a later purchaser of the same property who buys in good faith and for value and records first. As between the parties and anyone who has notice of it, an unrecorded deed is still valid. From the time it is recorded, a deed executed, acknowledged, and certified as the statute prescribes imparts notice to all persons of its contents. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the family, but it does not protect the person it was given to against the grantor's later buyers.

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

Utah's statutory quitclaim deed is short. Under the title "Quitclaim Deed," the grantor, "of" a place of residence, "hereby quitclaims to" the grantee, of a place of residence, "for the sum of ___ dollars, the following described tract of land in ___ County, Utah, to wit:" and the description. Then come "Witness the hand of said grantor this" with the date, and the signature. A deed "substantially" in that form is enough. Executed as the law requires, it conveys all right, title, interest, and estate the grantor has in the premises at the date of the deed, with the rights, privileges, and appurtenances belonging to them. It carries none of the five covenants the statutory warranty deed carries.

Two things the recorder must see on the first page. A brief caption stating the nature of the document, which "Quitclaim Deed" supplies, and the document itself must be an original or an electronic document under the electronic recording act. The deed must also be legible enough for the recorder to make certified copies. Give the name and address the recorder should return it 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 place of residence the form recites. The recorder 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.

Utah has no dower or curtesy, and no statute requires a spouse who is not an owner to join a deed. A surviving spouse's protection is the elective share, a right to claim one-third of the augmented estate at death, which reaches some transfers made during life but does not require a signature on a deed. So a spouse who is not on the title does not sign. Where both spouses are on the title, both are grantors and both sign.

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, with the grantee's place of residence. The recording statute says a deed conveying title is entitled to be recorded only if it names the grantees and recites a mailing address to be used for assessment and taxation. Give the address where the property tax notice should 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 Utah's rule changed on May 1, 2024. An ownership interest granted on or after that date to two or more persons in their own right is presumed to be a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, unless the grant expressly declares otherwise; before that date the presumption ran the other way for everyone but spouses. The words "joint tenancy," "with rights of survivorship," "and to the survivor of them," or words like them make a joint tenancy. The words "tenancy in common," "with no rights of survivorship," or "undivided interest" make a tenancy in common, and "and/or" between the names makes a tenancy in common unless joint tenancy words go with it. Joint tenants hold equal, undivided shares, and the survivor takes the whole. A joint tenancy cannot be made with a company, a trustee, or a partnership; a grant that cannot be a joint tenancy is presumed a tenancy in common. Whichever you mean, say it, because a deed that is silent now gives the survivor everything.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed. The statute lists the forms it accepts. They are metes and bounds; a government survey description with township, range, base and meridian, and section, with the aliquot part or lot; a lot, block, tract, parcel, or unit in a recorded plat; or a few survey-based alternatives. A street address is not a legal description, and a deed without a description in one of those forms is not entitled to be recorded. Add the county's parcel or serial number if the current deed or the tax notice shows it. Do not put a Social Security number on the deed; it becomes a public record.

Utah deeds may carry a water rights addendum. For a deed conveying fee title to land, a person submitting the deed for recording "may also submit" an addendum on the form the Legislature approved, either describing the water rights transferred with the land or stating that none are. The grantor completes and signs it, the grantee signs to acknowledge a copy, and the recorder sends a copy to the state engineer. The statute makes it optional, not a condition of recording, but where a well, a ditch, or shares in an irrigation company go with the land, it is the record of that. The state engineer's office publishes the form.

Step 6: State the Consideration

The form recites "for the sum of ___ dollars." Utah has no transfer tax and requires no statement of value for recording, so recite what is true: the price, or, for a gift, "for love and affection" or "for no consideration." A recorded deed that recites only a nominal consideration does not, by itself, put anyone on notice of an unstated interest of the grantor. If the grantee takes the property subject to a mortgage, say so after the description.

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

A deed is entitled to be recorded when it carries a certificate of acknowledgment, or of proof of execution, signed and certified by the officer who took it, and notarial acts affecting real property must follow the Notaries Public Reform Act. No witnesses are required. The grantor appears before a notary public and acknowledges the signature. The notary must know the grantor personally or have satisfactory evidence of identity. That means an unexpired government identification with photograph, signature, and physical description, an unexpired passport, or the oath of a credible person who knows the grantor and whom the notary knows or who shows such identification. The notary completes the certificate and applies the seal. A county recorder may also take an acknowledgment, for a small fee.

Utah has allowed remote notarization since 2019. A notary who holds a remote notary certification from the lieutenant governor may notarize for you by an electronic process that lets you see and hear each other at the same time. The notary must be physically in Utah at the time. Unless the notary knows you personally, you transmit an image of your identification and pass a second authentication of identity, such as knowledge-based questions, and the notary records the session and keeps the recording. A remote notarization satisfies any law that requires you to appear before a notary. The lieutenant governor, who commissions Utah's notaries and certifies its remote notaries, keeps a notary site for them. The deed is then an electronic document, and since every Utah county must accept electronic recording, it can be recorded electronically in any county, as long as it meets the other recording rules. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Record the Deed and Pay the Fee

Take or mail the acknowledged deed to the county recorder for the county where the property is located, with the fee, or send it through an electronic recording service. The recording fee is set by state statute and is the same in every county: $40 for a deed, however many pages it runs, plus $2 for each legal description beyond ten. A recorder may charge only one recording fee for an instrument, whatever it is titled and whatever attachments it carries, and $5 to redact personal information on request. The recorder records the deed and returns it to the address you gave. Keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

Utah has no real estate transfer tax, so nothing is owed on a gift, a sale, or a transfer into a trust beyond the recording fee. If your reason for the deed is to pass the property at your death, Utah 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 notice to the beneficiary, and changes nothing while you live. It is not a quitclaim deed.

Where do I record a Utah quitclaim deed?

With the county recorder of the county where the property is located, whether or not you live there. There is no state directory of the 29 recorders that this page could find; search the county's name and "recorder." An unrecorded deed binds the parties and anyone with notice of it, but it is void against a later good-faith purchaser for value who records first. A recorded deed is notice to everyone, so record promptly. Every county accepts electronic recording.

Does my spouse have to sign a Utah quitclaim deed?

Only if your spouse is an owner. Utah has no dower or curtesy, and no statute requires a spouse who is not on the title to join a deed; the surviving spouse's protection is an elective share of the estate at death. Where both spouses are on the title, both sign, and a deed of the whole property needs every joint tenant.

Is there a transfer tax on a Utah quitclaim deed?

No. There is no Utah tax on transferring real property. A recorded deed costs the recorder's $40 fee, whoever the grantee is and whatever was paid.

Is the water rights addendum required?

No. The statute says a person submitting a deed that conveys fee title "may also submit" a water rights addendum, on the form the Legislature approved, describing the water rights that go with the land or stating that none do. The grantor signs it and the grantee signs to acknowledge a copy, and the recorder sends a copy to the state engineer. It is optional, but where water rights go with the land it is the record of that transfer, so use it when they do.

How do two owners get survivorship on a Utah deed?

Since May 1, 2024, they get it by default. A deed to two or more persons in their own right is presumed to create a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship unless it expressly declares otherwise, so a deed that says nothing gives the survivor the whole. To be sure, add "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship"; to create separate shares instead, add "as tenants in common." A joint tenancy cannot include a company, a trustee, or a partnership.

Can I get a Utah quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. A notary certified by the lieutenant governor as a remote notary may take your acknowledgment by live audio-video while the notary is physically in Utah. Unless the notary knows you, you show your identification on camera and pass a second identity check, and the notary records the session. The result is an electronic document, which can be recorded electronically in any Utah county, since every county must accept electronic recording.

Where do I get a Utah quitclaim deed form?

Utah's conveyancing statute sets out the quitclaim form, so a deed that quitclaims the property in substantially those words has the wording Utah needs. Where a generic internet form lets you down is everything around that sentence. It has no line for the mailing address for tax notices, no caption, no place for the survivorship or tenancy-in-common words that Utah's 2024 presumption makes important, and no water rights addendum. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.