Vermont Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the Town Clerk for the Town Where the Property Is Located

Vermont has no county recording offices. A deed is recorded "at length in the clerk's office of the town in which the lands lie," which need not be the town where you live. The Secretary of State publishes a list of the town clerks with every town and city clerk's address, telephone number, and hours. Town offices in small towns may keep limited hours, so check before you go, and ask whether the clerk takes deeds by mail.

Recording is what protects the grantee. A deed of land in fee simple "shall not be effectual to hold such lands against any person but the grantor and his or her heirs, unless the deed or other conveyance is acknowledged and recorded." So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor and the grantor's heirs, but it does not protect the person it was given to against the grantor's later buyers, lenders, or creditors. A deed that has been on record for fifteen years is validated against most defects in its form, and one with a defective acknowledgment is valid unless challenged within three years of recording.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed

Vermont prints no statutory quitclaim deed form. The statute says land may be conveyed "by deed executed by a person duly authorized to convey it," acknowledged and recorded as the chapter provides, and leaves the words to the parties. A Vermont quitclaim deed conventionally says that the grantor, "for consideration paid," does "remise, release, and forever quitclaim" to the grantee "all right, title, and interest" in the described land, with a "to have and to hold" clause, the grantor's signature, and the notary's acknowledgment. Title the deed "Quitclaim Deed" at the top, and give the name and address the clerk should return it to.

Two rules about the description belong on the form. If the deed refers to a survey prepared or revised after July 1, 1988, it may be recorded only if the survey accompanies it or the deed cites the volume and page where the survey is already recorded. And if the conveyance subdivides a parcel or changes its boundaries, after January 1, 2020, the deed must be accompanied by a survey plat of the new boundaries or cite where one is recorded. Neither omission voids the deed, but the clerk will look for them. A deed that leaves out a statement of consideration is valid unless it is challenged within three years of recording, the same rule that covers a defective acknowledgment.

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, because the clerk 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.

Vermont abolished dower and curtesy in 2009, and no statute requires a spouse who is not an owner to join a deed of ordinary property. The homestead is different. A homestead, or an interest in one, "shall not be conveyed by the owner thereof, if married," unless the husband or wife "joins in the execution and acknowledgment of such conveyance," and a conveyance not so made is "inoperative so far only as relates to the homestead." The homestead is the family's dwelling and the land around it, up to the value the exemption statute protects. So a deed of the family home from a married owner needs the spouse's signature and acknowledgment, whichever name is on the title. A deed of a rental property, a woodlot, or a camp the family does not live in does not. The statute lets one spouse convey his or her homestead interest to the other, so a deed from one spouse to the other of the home is good. Where both spouses are on the title, both are grantors and both sign.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, 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 town's grand list, its property tax roll, with the grantee's mailing address. 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. A conveyance to two or more persons creates an estate in common, separate shares that pass by will or inheritance. That is the result "unless it is expressed therein" that the grantees take "jointly or as joint tenants or in joint tenancy or to them and the survivors of them," or the intent to create a joint tenancy manifestly appears. So write "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship" after the names if that is what you mean. Vermont lets a deed create a joint tenancy with unequal shares, and a deceased joint tenant's share goes to the survivors in proportion to their interests. The rule does not apply to a conveyance to spouses or to trustees; Vermont treats a deed to a married couple as creating a tenancy by the entirety, in which each owns the whole and the survivor keeps it.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed. Vermont descriptions usually run "being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to the grantor by deed of ___ dated ___ and recorded in Book ___, Page ___ of the ___ Land Records." The metes and bounds, or the lot on a recorded survey, follow. Vermont deeds have carried that chain of reference by long custom. Cite the survey by book and page if the description refers to one. A street address is not a legal description. Add the property's SPAN, the school property account number from the tax bill, which the transfer tax return asks for. Do not put a Social Security number on the deed; it becomes a public record.

Step 6: State the Consideration, and Complete the Property Transfer Tax Return

Recite the consideration: the price, or, for a gift, "for no consideration" or "for love and affection." The figure that matters is the one on the Vermont Property Transfer Tax Return, Form PTT-172, which the statute requires "at the time a deed evidencing a transfer of title to property is delivered to the clerk for recording." The return, in the form the Commissioner of Taxes prescribes, discloses the value of the property transferred, or, for an exempt transfer, the basis for the exemption. It carries the parties' names, the SPAN, and notices about water and wastewater permits, zoning, and flood regulation, and it is signed as the form directs. The Department of Taxes' Property Transfer Tax page links the current form, its instructions, and a quick reference guide to the exemptions, and says the return may be filed online through myVTax or on paper.

The town clerk "shall not record, or receive for recording," any deed to which a properly executed return is not attached, complete on its face, together with a certificate that the conveyance complies with or is exempt from Act 250, the state land use law. A gift deed to a child is exempt from the tax, but it still needs the return, with the exemption claimed on it, before the clerk will record it. Step 8 explains the tax and the exemptions.

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

A deed must be "signed by the party granting the same and acknowledged by the grantor before a notary public." No witnesses are required, and the acknowledgment is valid without the notary's stamp. The grantor appears before the notary and acknowledges the signature. The notary identifies the grantor by personal knowledge or by satisfactory evidence. That means a passport, driver's license, or government-issued nondriver identification card, current or expired within the last three years, another government identification with a signature or photograph, or the oath of a credible witness the notary knows or can identify. The notary may ask for more, and then completes the certificate.

Vermont allows remote notarization by a notary who holds a special endorsement from the Secretary of State's Office of Professional Regulation. A notary located in Vermont with the endorsement may take your acknowledgment by communication technology, live audio and video, while you are anywhere in the United States. You may be abroad if the deed concerns property in the United States and signing is not prohibited where you are. The notary identifies you by personal knowledge, by a credible witness, or by at least two different types of identity proofing, and records the session. For a paper deed, you sign it on camera with a declaration that it is the record the notary acted on, and send it to the notary. Confirm that the town clerk will accept the result before you book. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Work Out the Property Transfer Tax

Vermont's property transfer tax falls on the transfer by deed of title to property in the state, at 1.25 percent of the value of the property transferred, or $1, whichever is greater. A clean water surcharge of 0.22 percent is added. Property that will be the grantee's principal residence is taxed at 0.5 percent on the first $200,000 of value, with no surcharge on that part, and at the full rate above it. A dwelling fit for year-round use that will be neither the grantee's principal residence nor a long-term rental is taxed at 3.4 percent, plus the surcharge. The tax is the liability of the grantee unless the parties agree otherwise, and it is paid to the Commissioner within 30 days of the transfer.

The exemptions cover most family deeds. Exempt are transfers between two spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, and between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse, "without actual consideration therefor," and transfers in trust, or out of a trust, for the benefit of those related persons without consideration. Exempt too are a deed that corrects or confirms an earlier transfer without new consideration, a transfer to secure a debt, a transfer that changes only the form of ownership with no change in who benefits, and a partition. A gift to a sibling, a niece, or a friend is not on the list and is taxed on the property's value. Every transfer, exempt or not, goes to the clerk with the return.

Step 9: Record the Deed and Pay the Fees

Take or mail the acknowledged deed, with the completed transfer tax return and the land use certificate, to the clerk of the town where the property is located, with the fees. The recording fee is set by state statute and is the same in every town: $15 for each page of the deed, and $15 for filing the property transfer tax return. A page is one side of a sheet, with type of at least eight points, so a two-page deed with its return costs $45. The clerk records the deed in the town's land records and returns it to the address you gave. Keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

Vermont has no transfer-on-death deed, and its statutes contained none 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.

Where do I record a Vermont quitclaim deed?

With the clerk of the town or city where the land lies, in its land records; Vermont has no county recording offices. The Secretary of State's list of town clerks gives every clerk's address and hours. A deed that is not acknowledged and recorded holds the land against no one but the grantor and the grantor's heirs, so record promptly.

Does my spouse have to sign a Vermont quitclaim deed?

For the homestead, yes. A married owner may not convey the homestead, or an interest in it, unless the other spouse joins in signing and acknowledging the deed. A deed without that joinder is inoperative as far as the homestead is concerned, whichever name is on the title. Vermont abolished dower and curtesy in 2009, so a spouse who is not an owner need not sign a deed of other property. One spouse may deed the homestead to the other. Where both spouses are on the title, both sign.

Do I owe Vermont's property transfer tax on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not for the relatives the statute lists. Transfers between spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, and between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse, without actual consideration, are exempt, and so are transfers into or out of a trust for their benefit. A gift to a sibling or anyone else is taxed on the property's value, at 1.25 percent plus the 0.22 percent surcharge for most property. Every deed, exempt or not, goes to the clerk with a property transfer tax return, and the clerk may not record it without one.

What is the property transfer tax return?

Form PTT-172, the Vermont Property Transfer Tax Return, which the statute requires to be delivered to the town clerk with every deed transferring title. It states the value of the property and the tax, or the basis for an exemption, with the parties' names and the property's SPAN. A certificate that the transfer complies with or is exempt from Act 250, the state land use law, goes with it. The clerk may not record a deed without it. The Department of Taxes publishes the form, its instructions, and a quick reference guide to the exemption codes.

How do two owners get survivorship on a Vermont deed?

By saying so in the deed. A conveyance to two or more persons creates an estate in common, with separate shares. That changes only if the deed expresses that they take jointly, as joint tenants, or "to them and the survivors of them," or the intent to create a joint tenancy manifestly appears. Write "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship" after the names. The rule does not apply to spouses; Vermont treats a deed to a married couple as creating a tenancy by the entirety, which carries survivorship.

Can I get a Vermont quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. A Vermont notary who holds the special endorsement for remote notarization may take your acknowledgment by live audio-video while the notary is in Vermont and you are anywhere in the United States. You may be abroad if the deed concerns property in the United States. The notary identifies you by personal knowledge, a credible witness, or two types of identity proofing, and records the session. For a paper deed you sign on camera with a declaration and send the original to the notary. Confirm that the town clerk accepts the result before you book.

Where do I get a Vermont quitclaim deed form?

Vermont prints no statutory quitclaim form, so any deed that releases and quitclaims the grantor's right, title, and interest in the described land, signed and acknowledged before a notary, gets the core wording right. A form written for no particular state fails in the pieces around it. It has no chain-of-title recital of the kind Vermont deeds carry, no spouse's line for a homestead deed, and no transfer tax return, without which the clerk will not record it. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.