Warranty Deed

What is a warranty deed?

Meaning and Purpose

A warranty deed is a legally binding document used in real estate transactions to transfer full and clear ownership title of property from one party to another. This document provides a full legal guarantee that a person’s title over a property is free from any defects, liens, or encumbrances. This legal assurance protects the buyer by ensuring that the seller holds a clear and marketable title to the property.

A warranty deed is being used to transfer only immovable property, including farms, land, warehouses, offices, residential houses, apartments, etc. This document does not define the terms and conditions of the sale or transfer, which differentiates a warranty deed from a sale-purchase of real estate agreement.

The parties involved in a warranty deed template are a grantor and a grantee. Both parties could be an individual, married couple, divorced couple, trust, company, or organization. A grantor is an owner of a property who transfers it to another party. The monetary consideration is not a mandatory element of such a transfer. A grantee is a person to whom an ownership of the property is being transferred.

Difference from a Quitclaim Deed

At first look a quitclaim deed and warranty deed template may appear to be quite similar documents, as they both deal with a transfer of a property. However, their legal scope as well as purpose are different as follows:

• Warranty Deed. The grantor states that they are the full legal owner of a property and hold a clear legal title free from any mortgage, third parties, encumbrances, etc. Besides that, a grantor also ensures that if any third party’s lawful legal claims arise in the future, a grantor undertakes to defend their title over a property. All this creates a sort of additional legal guarantee for a grantee who receives the property title. Finally, this type of document is used in conjunction with a sale-purchase agreement of real estate (e.g., warehouse, farm, house). While a general sale purchase contract defines the terms and conditions of the transfer, a warranty deed ensures the clarity of a legal title.
• Quitclaim Deed. The text of this legal document does not contain any legal warranties and representations regarding the clear ownership title. It is possible that the property may have inherited tenancy rights, liens, and other encumbrances. If any third parties’ claims arise in the future, a grantee would be the one who is responsible for defending their own legal title.

How to draft a warranty deed template?

A warranty deed template provides a clear structure for preparing a valid transfer of real estate from one person to another. Failure to include certain elements in the text of a document may result in a legal document being incomplete or legally invalid. Below we made a short summary of the things you have to include:

Property Description

The clause number one every general warranty deed template should have is a property’s description. You shall include as many details as possible, like the property’s location, state, tax parcel number, and legal description. When it comes to drafting a legal description, you can take it from the original deed of purchase.

Oil and Mineral Rights

In a special warranty deed template, a grantor may wish to keep all or a portion of mineral or oil rights over the transferred property. It means that a grantor wants to keep the right for extraction of mineral resources, if discovered, from a land plot on which the transferred property is located. Mineral resources could have various forms, including gas or oil. It is important to understand that at the moment of signing this deed, there might be no discovery of mineral resources on the land plot where a property is located. However, if in the future it happens to be so, a grantor wants to reserve their interest.

Lifelong Possession of the Property

A warranty deed template may incorporate an additional disclaimer allowing a grantor to keep using and possess the property during their life. However, a grantor no longer has any right to dispose of or sell such a property. This is particularly common for elderly people who are transferring their property to their children or grandchildren, but still willing to reside in the same property for a longer time.

Information about Grantor and Grantee

Every general warranty deed template must identify the parties involved in this transaction. Therefore, the text of a document should include:

• full name of grantor and grantee;
• marital status of both parties;
• contact information like email or phone number (optional).

Visit a Notary

To make a legally enforceable document, you must further notarize your warranty deed template. Notarization usually takes place in a state where a grantor is currently based or resides or where a property is located. There is no mandatory rule regarding the state where notarization could take place. It is also possible to proceed with online notarization that is being offered by some notaries across the country.

The purpose of the notarization is to certify the authenticity of a grantor’s signature. The notary does not confirm or affirm that any information or statement given in the text of a warranty deed is true or accurate.

Finally, the process of notarization may slightly vary depending on a state. For instance, the notarization of a warranty deed Florida template should be additionally witnessed by the signature of two witnesses.

How to customize a warranty deed template at FasterDraft?

To get a fully customized legal document, follow the instructions below:

1. Click the “Create Document” button.
2. Answer simple questions in the form.
3. Select a template’s format—warranty deed template Word or PDF.
4. Make a payment.
5. Download, print, sign, and notarize this document.