West Virginia Quitclaim Deed Instructions

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

West Virginia deeds are recorded by the clerk of the county commission of the county where the property is located. The clerk admits a deed to record "as to any person whose name is signed thereto, when it shall have been acknowledged by such person or proved by two witnesses." The Secretary of State publishes a county clerk directory with every clerk's name, address, telephone number, and email, and you can search it by county or city.

Recording is what protects the grantee. Every deed conveying real estate "shall be void, as to creditors, and subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, until and except from the time that it is duly admitted to record" in the county where the property lies. So a quitclaim deed left in a drawer binds the grantor but protects the person it was given to against no one else. Record it promptly.

Step 2: Set Up the Deed, and Add the Preparer's Statement

West Virginia prints an optional form for any deed: "This deed made the ___ day of ___, in the year ___, between (the parties), witnesseth: That in consideration of (the consideration), the said ___ grants unto the said ___ all, etc. (describe the property, and insert covenants or other provisions). Witness the following signature." The statute abolishes the old distinctions between kinds of deeds, and any instrument that "shows on its face a present intent to pass the title to, or any interest ... in real property" takes effect according to that intent. For a quitclaim deed, the operative words are a release. Where a deed says "the said grantor releases to the said grantee all his claims upon the said lands," or words of like import, it is construed as a full remise, release, and quitclaim of "all right, title and interest whatsoever, both at law and in equity." Title the deed "Quitclaim Deed" at the top. No seal is needed, and a deed does not fail for want of consideration or of a recital of it.

Two things the clerk looks for belong on the form. The deed must end with the name of the person who prepared it, printed, typed, stamped, or signed legibly; the statute's own wording is "This instrument was prepared by (name)." The clerk may not record a deed without it, though a deed recorded without it is still valid. And the clerk may refuse an instrument printed on both sides of the paper or in type smaller than 10 points, or accept it at one and a half times the fee. Give the name and address the clerk 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, 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.

West Virginia abolished dower and curtesy, and no statute requires a spouse who is not an owner to join a deed. The statute puts a different duty on a married grantor: to notify the spouse "prior to or within thirty days" of conveying an interest in real estate to which dower would once have attached, and the grantor carries the burden of proving the notice was given. The statute names one way to prove it, "the signature of the spouse of the conveying party on the conveyance instrument," which is why West Virginia deeds from a married grantor commonly carry the spouse's signature. If the notice is not given and the couple divorces within five years, the value of the property conveyed counts as the grantor's marital property in the divorce. The rule creates no lien or claim against the property itself. 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 assessor's land book, 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 record.

Two or more grantees need one more phrase saying how they hold title. When a joint tenant dies, the statute says, "his share shall descend or be disposed of as if he had been a tenant in common," so the survivor takes a share, not the whole. Survivorship is preserved only where "it manifestly appears from the tenor of the instrument that it was intended that the part of the one dying should then belong to the others." So write "as joint tenants with the right of survivorship" after the names if that is what you mean. The statute adds a shortcut: where the deed links the owners with the word "or," they hold "as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, unless expressly stated otherwise." Spouses who want the survivor to take the whole use the same words, and the deed may name them tenants by the entirety.

Step 5: Add the Legal Description

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed. West Virginia descriptions run by metes and bounds, or by lot and block on a recorded plat, and identify the district and county, usually followed by a recital of the deed by which the grantor took title, with its deed book and page. A street address is not a legal description. Add the tax map and parcel number and the district, which the sales listing form asks for. Where a survey plat is attached, it must carry the licensed surveyor's signature and seal. Do not put a Social Security number on the deed; it becomes a public record.

Step 6: Declare the Consideration or the Value, and Complete the Sales Listing Form

Every deed that is subject to the transfer tax must carry, on its face or at its end, a declaration of consideration or value signed by the grantor, the grantee, or another responsible party who knows the transaction. The statute prints the wording, which declares either "the total consideration paid for the property conveyed" or "the true and actual value of the property transferred." For a sale, declare the price, including any lien the grantee takes over. For a gift, declare the property's actual monetary value, because that is what the tax is measured on where any tax is due. The clerk uses the declaration to compute the tax and the stamps.

The clerk also "may not record any document, with or without stamps affixed," unless a completed and verified sales listing form for the State Tax Commissioner comes with it. The form asks for the names of the grantor and grantee and the deed book and page of the last deed in the chain of title, the tax map and parcel number, the district, the property's address, and the consideration or value with any financing arrangements. The Tax Division prints it as the Sales Listing Form, and a deed that carries the same information can satisfy the requirement. Step 8 covers the tax and the exemptions.

Step 7: Sign Before a Notary, and Have the Grantee Sign Where the Statute Requires It

The grantor appears before a notary public and acknowledges the deed. No witnesses are required. The notary identifies the grantor by personal knowledge or by satisfactory evidence. That means a passport, driver's license, or government-issued nondriver ID card, current or expired within the last three years, another government ID with a signature or photograph that satisfies the notary, or the oath of a credible witness the notary knows or can identify. The notary may ask for more. The certificate states the date, the state and county, the notary's title and commission expiration, and carries the official stamp. The statute prints a short form that reads "This record was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name)."

One West Virginia rule has no counterpart in most states. The clerk "shall not admit to record any quitclaim deed without consideration," or any deed of property worth $100 or less, on which no transfer tax is paid, "unless the instrument has been signed by the grantee thereon and acknowledged by the grantee." The exceptions are a transfer on death deed and transfers between spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, and between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse, without consideration or for less than $2,000. Outside those, the grantee signs the deed and acknowledges it before a notary too. The statute says a deed recorded in violation of the rule "is void and no interest transfers to grantee." A gift quitclaim deed to a sibling, a niece, or a friend, on which no tax is paid, therefore carries two acknowledged signatures.

West Virginia allows remote notarization. A notary public located in the state may take your acknowledgment by communication technology, live sight and sound, while you are somewhere else, identifying you by personal knowledge, by a credible witness, or by at least two different types of identity proofing, and recording the session. The certificate must say the act was performed using communication technology. The Secretary of State's e-Notarization page explains electronic and remote notarization. Confirm that the clerk will accept the result before you book. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 8: Work Out the Transfer Tax

West Virginia's excise tax on the privilege of transferring real estate is $1.10 for each $500 of value, or fraction of $500, plus an additional county tax of 55 cents for each $500, which a county commission may raise to as much as $1.65. Since July 1, 2025, the whole tax is a county tax, kept by the county where the deed is first recorded, and it is paid with stamps on the deed. The grantor pays it unless the grantee accepts the deed without the tax having been paid, in which case the grantee pays. A transfer for consideration also carries a $20 fee for the state's Affordable Housing Fund, collected by the clerk before recording. "Value" means the full consideration paid or to be paid, including any lien the grantee assumes, and, for a deed without consideration, "the actual monetary value of the property conveyed."

The tax reaches only a "document" as the statute defines it, and the definition leaves out most family deeds. Outside the tax are transfers without consideration between spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse, and between siblings, including step and adopted relations. Also outside it are corrective or confirmatory deeds without consideration, deeds of partition, a deed without consideration between a person and a limited liability company the person wholly owns, a mortgage or deed of trust, and any transfer of property worth $1,000 or less. A gift to anyone outside that list is measured on the property's value. The recording statute in Step 7 speaks of a quitclaim deed without consideration on which no tax is paid, but the tax statute's own list of transfers outside the tax does not name quitclaim deeds. How the clerk treats a no-consideration quitclaim deed to someone outside the family list is a question for the clerk of that county.

Step 9: Record the Deed and Pay the Fees

Take or mail the acknowledged deed, with the declaration of value, the sales listing form, and the fees, to the clerk of the county commission for the county where the property is located. The recording fee is set by state statute and is the same in every county: $30 for a deed of conveyance of up to five pages, and $1 for each additional page. A transfer for consideration adds the $20 Affordable Housing Fund fee and the transfer tax stamps. The clerk records the deed, indexes it under the grantor's and the grantee's names, and returns it to the party entitled to it. Keep the recorded deed with the property's papers.

West Virginia also has a transfer on death deed. Under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, an owner may record a revocable deed that names a beneficiary and takes effect only at the owner's death. It must meet the formalities of an ordinary deed, state that the transfer occurs at the owner's death, and be recorded before the owner dies in the clerk's office of the county where the property is located. It is exempt from the transfer tax, and it may be recorded without the beneficiary's signature. That deed, not a quitclaim deed, is the one West Virginia provides for passing property at death outside a will, and an attorney can say whether it suits the estate plan.

Where do I record a West Virginia quitclaim deed?

With the clerk of the county commission of the county where the property is located. The Secretary of State's county clerk directory lists every clerk's name, address, telephone number, and email. A deed is void as to creditors and later purchasers for value without notice until it is admitted to record, so record it promptly.

Does the grantee have to sign a West Virginia quitclaim deed?

Sometimes, and it is a rule few states have. The county clerk may not record a quitclaim deed without consideration, or a deed of property worth $100 or less, on which no transfer tax is paid, unless the grantee has signed it and acknowledged it before a notary. The exceptions are a transfer on death deed and transfers without consideration, or for less than $2,000, between spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, and between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse. A deed recorded in violation of the rule is void, and no interest passes to the grantee.

Does my spouse have to sign a West Virginia quitclaim deed?

Not to convey the property, unless your spouse is an owner. West Virginia abolished dower and curtesy. What the statute requires of a married grantor is notice to the spouse before or within thirty days of conveying real estate to which dower would once have attached, and the grantor must be able to prove it. The spouse's signature on the deed is the proof the statute names, which is why the spouse commonly signs. Without notice, a divorce within five years counts the property's value as the grantor's marital property. Where both spouses are on the title, both sign.

Do I owe West Virginia transfer tax on a quitclaim deed to a family member?

Not on a transfer without consideration between spouses, between parent and child or the child's spouse, between grandparent and grandchild or the grandchild's spouse, or between siblings. The tax statute leaves those out of its definition of a taxable document, along with corrective deeds without consideration and transfers of property worth $1,000 or less. A sale to a relative is taxed on the price, including any mortgage the relative takes over, at $1.10 per $500 plus the county's 55 cents to $1.65, and pays the $20 housing fee. Every deed still needs the declaration of value and the sales listing form.

How do two owners get survivorship on a West Virginia deed?

By making it manifest in the deed. When a joint tenant dies, the statute passes their share as if they had been a tenant in common, unless it manifestly appears from the deed that the part of the one dying was meant to belong to the others. Write "as joint tenants with the right of survivorship" after the names. The statute also treats owners whose names are linked with "or" as joint tenants with the right of survivorship unless the deed says otherwise.

Can I get a West Virginia quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. A West Virginia notary public located in the state may take your acknowledgment by live audio-video while you are somewhere else, identifying you by personal knowledge, a credible witness, or two types of identity proofing, and recording the session. The notary's certificate has to state that communication technology was used. For a signer outside the United States the notary must hold an out-of-state commission and the deed must concern West Virginia property. Confirm that the county clerk accepts the result before you book.

Where do I get a West Virginia quitclaim deed form?

West Virginia prints a general statutory deed form, and a deed in that frame that releases and quitclaims the grantor's right, title, and interest, signed and acknowledged, does the job. A form written for no particular state fails in the pieces around it. It has no preparer's statement, without which the clerk will not record it, no declaration of value, no sales listing form, no line for the grantee's acknowledgment where the statute requires it, and no line for the spouse's signature. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.