50-State Surveys › Deed Execution and Recording Formalities by State
Deed Execution and Recording Formalities by State
What signatures, witnesses, acknowledgment, spousal joinder, and recording formalities apply to an ordinary deed conveying real property?
51 of 51 jurisdictions verified
every entry statute-checked, oldest 2026-07-15
What this survey covers
Signing a deed, qualifying it for the land records, and protecting the transfer against later claimants are three different legal questions. A deed may transfer an interest between the grantor and grantee even though the recorder cannot accept it, or it may be recordable yet remain open to a challenge that recordation cannot cure.
This survey compares those layers for an ordinary present transfer by an individual owner. It covers the deed's writing and signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, marital joinder, agent execution, statewide recording items, and the effect of leaving the deed unrecorded. It does not replace a title examination or the local recorder's current submission instructions.
How to read the table
Start with the writing, witness, and acknowledgment columns. They show whether a rule goes to basic execution or only to recordability. Florida, for example, makes two subscribing witnesses part of the conveyance itself, while Idaho's ordinary-conveyance statute requires a signed writing and places acknowledgment in the separate recording chapter.
Then check spouse and agent execution before relying on a single grantor signature. A deed signed correctly by the titled owner can still fail as to a protected homestead or marital interest, and a deed signed under a power of attorney may require the authority to appear in the land records too.
Finally, read recording location and nonrecording effect together. Recording commonly creates constructive notice or priority rather than the first moment of validity between the original parties. The last column also identifies statewide cure statutes, but a recorder's acceptance is not a universal validation stamp.
Patterns across all 51 jurisdictions
Florida shows a witness-heavy common-law model. Section 689.01 requires a written instrument signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, including a statutory route for audio-video witnessing. Section 695.03 separately requires acknowledgment, subscribing-witness proof, legalization, or authentication to record. Official current § 689.01 and § 695.03.
Idaho separates execution from recordability more cleanly. Idaho Code § 55-601 permits a written conveyance subscribed by the owner or an agent authorized in writing and also requires the grantee's complete mailing address. Section 55-805 then makes acknowledgment or certified proof the gateway to recording. Official current § 55-601 and § 55-805.
Louisiana is the civil-law stress test. Civil Code art. 1839 allows an immovable transfer by authentic act or act under private signature and says third-party effect begins only when the instrument is filed in the parish where the property is located. An authentic act under art. 1833 is signed before a notary or authorized officer and two witnesses; art. 1836 supplies a distinct acknowledgment route for a private act. Official current art. 1839, art. 1833, and art. 1836.
Minnesota proves that marital joinder needs its own column. Section 507.02 says a married owner generally cannot validly convey the homestead without both spouses' signatures, while allowing a spouse's duly appointed attorney-in-fact to sign. Official current § 507.02.
The completed table shows that execution witnesses are the exception, not the national baseline. Florida and South Carolina require two witnesses as part of the ordinary conveyance, Connecticut requires two disinterested witnesses, and Louisiana's two-witness rule belongs to its authentic-act route. In several other states, including Tennessee, witnesses are only an alternative way to prove execution for recording. Most states likewise place acknowledgment in the recording layer, while a smaller group—including Ohio, Washington, Arizona, and Maryland—build it more directly into the conveyance or title rule.
Marital signatures do not follow one national formula. Community-property states require joinder for community real estate; many other states protect a homestead; Ohio, Kentucky, and Arkansas retain dower or comparable statutory interests; and many states rely instead on an elective share that does not require deed joinder. The consequence of omission ranges from a void deed to a conveyance that remains effective subject to the spouse's interest, so the table states both the trigger and the legal effect rather than using a generic "spouse must sign" label.
Recording priority also divides into distinct systems. North Carolina, Louisiana, and Delaware use race rules; many states use race-notice; and another large group, including Tennessee, protects a later purchaser without notice without separately requiring that purchaser to record first. Hawaii adds a structural outlier: a single statewide Bureau of Conveyances administers both the regular recording system and Torrens Land Court registration. Across all of these systems, the recurring lesson is the same: valid execution, recordability, constructive notice, and priority are related but separate questions.
Get this answered for your state
This survey compares every state side by side. Ezel applies your state's law to your specific situation and answers with citations to the statutes.
Scroll sideways in the table to see all columns →
| State | Governing law and deed scope | Writing and grantor signature | Witnesses | Acknowledgment or notarization | Spouse, homestead, and marital joinder | Signing through an agent or representative | Recording office and statewide content | Nonrecording effect and defect cures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified 2026-07-16 | Alabama conveyancing runs on Title 35, Chapter 4 (Conveyances and Creation of Estates): Article 2 covers execution, attestation, and acknowledgment (§§ 35-4-20 to -34), and Article 3 covers recordation (§§ 35-4-50 to -127). A common-law title state, not community property; dower and curtesy are gone, and the live marital constraint is the homestead-signature rule (§ 6-10-3). Deeds are recorded with the county judge of probate (§ 35-4-50). Scope here is an ordinary warranty, statutory-warranty, or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; mortgages, and judicial, tax, and fiduciary deeds, run on separate rules |
Signed writing, attested and delivered. 'Conveyances for the alienation of lands must be written or printed ... and must be signed at their foot by the contracting party or his agent having a written authority; or, if he is not able to sign his name, then his name must be written for him, with the words "his mark"' (§ 35-4-20). No seal is required (§ 35-4-21), and a deed is not invalid merely because it recites no consideration (§ 35-4-34). The execution must also be attested (see the witness column). So the core package is a signed writing, one witness or a notary acknowledgment, and delivery to the grantee |
One witness — and a notary counts instead. Section 35-4-20 requires the execution to be 'attested by one witness or, where the party cannot write, by two witnesses,' and 'if he can write his name but does not do so and his name is written for him by another, then ... two witnesses.' Crucially, § 35-4-23 provides that a notarial 'acknowledgment ... operates as a compliance with the requisitions of section 35-4-20 upon the subject of witnesses' — so an acknowledged deed needs no separate attesting witness. This is the least demanding execution standard of any state: one witness OR a notary acknowledgment |
Not required for validity, but the standard route and the usual substitute for the witness. A signed, attested, delivered deed already conveys; acknowledgment before a notary or other authorized officer simply supplies the attestation in place of a witness (§ 35-4-23). Alabama also has a savings statute: recording 'operates as a notice of the contents of such conveyance or instrument without any acknowledgment or probate thereof as required by law' (§ 35-4-63) — so even an unacknowledged, unprobated deed, once recorded, gives constructive notice. Title companies and most modern deeds still use a notary acknowledgment |
No joinder for an ordinary deed, but a strict rule for the homestead. Dower and curtesy are abolished and Alabama is not a community-property state, so a nonowner spouse has no interest in solely owned, non-homestead land. But 'no mortgage, deed or other conveyance of the homestead by a married person shall be valid without the voluntary signature and assent of the husband or wife, which must be shown by his or her examination before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments of deeds, and the certificate of such officer' (§ 6-10-3). So conveying the family homestead needs BOTH spouses to sign, plus the non-titled spouse's separate examination and certificate — even if that spouse is not on the deed. A deed must also recite the grantor's marital status to be recorded (§ 35-4-73) |
An agent may sign 'having a written authority' (§ 35-4-20). A power of attorney used to convey Alabama land is an instrument affecting title, so it is acknowledged and recorded with the judge of probate the same way a deed is, and it must be recorded to give notice against later purchasers (§§ 35-4-63, 35-4-90). Alabama's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (Title 26, Chapter 1A) governs the authority itself; only the principal's signature is needed to make the power. Entity, trustee, and personal-representative execution follow their own rules |
Record with the judge of probate of the county where the land is situated (§ 35-4-50). Two statewide content items gate acceptance: the instrument must have 'endorsed on it a printed, typewritten, or stamped statement showing the name and address of the individual who prepared the instrument' (§ 35-4-110), and it must recite 'the marital status of an individual grantor or vendor' (§ 35-4-73). A deed recording (privilege) tax of $0.50 per $500 of value (§ 40-22-1) and the Department of Revenue's Real Estate Sales Validation Form (RT-1) are separate steps — confirm current amounts and any county formatting rules with the probate office |
Notice priority. 'All conveyances of real property ... are inoperative and void as to purchasers for a valuable consideration, mortgagees, and judgment creditors without notice, unless the same have been recorded before the accrual of the right of such purchasers, mortgagees, or judgment creditors' (§ 35-4-90). So an unrecorded deed still passes title between the grantor and grantee, but it is void against a later purchaser, mortgagee, or judgment creditor who gives value, lacks notice, and whose right accrues before the deed is recorded — record promptly. Savings rules: recording gives notice even without acknowledgment or probate (§ 35-4-63), and a notary acknowledgment supplies any missing witness (§ 35-4-23). None cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Alaska verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not a community-property state. Deed execution sits in AS Title 34, ch. 15 (Conveyances of Land); recording sits in AS Title 40, ch. 17 (Recording in Public Records). A conveyance of land 'may be made by deed, signed and sealed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass ... or by the lawful agent or attorney of the person, and acknowledged or proved, and recorded as directed in this chapter' (§ 34.15.010(a)). Recording is with the state recorder's office (Department of Natural Resources) for the recording district where the land lies — Alaska has no county recorders. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate, fiduciary, tax, and mortgage deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed). 'A conveyance of land, or of an estate or interest in land, may be made by deed, signed and sealed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, who is of lawful age, or by the lawful agent or attorney of the person, and acknowledged or proved, and recorded as directed in this chapter, without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 34.15.010(a)). So the grantor — or a lawful agent or attorney — signs the deed. Alaska supplies statutory warranty-deed (§ 34.15.030) and quitclaim-deed (§ 34.15.040) forms; a quitclaim conveys only the interest the grantor holds |
None. Alaska requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses for an ordinary deed. Section 34.15.150 makes acknowledgment (or proof) the execution formality, and it separately validated pre-1953 conveyances made 'without two witnesses' (§ 34.15.150(b)) — confirming that two witnesses are no longer required. A notarized deed needs no witnesses; there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's |
Required to execute a recordable conveyance; an unrecorded deed is still valid between the parties. 'A conveyance executed in the state of land or an interest in land in the state shall be acknowledged before a person authorized to take acknowledgments ... or proved in accordance with AS 34.15.210 or 34.15.220' (§ 34.15.150(a)), and the officer endorses a certificate of acknowledgment. Acknowledgment is the gate to recording — an unrecorded conveyance 'is valid as between the parties to it and as against one who has actual notice of it' (§ 40.17.080(b)). An acknowledged and recorded deed also raises statutory presumptions of genuineness, capacity, delivery, and authority (§ 40.17.080) |
Family-home / homestead joinder, but a soft one. Alaska is not a community-property state and has no dower or curtesy, but 'in a deed or conveyance of the family home or homestead by a married man or a married woman, the husband and wife shall join in the deed or conveyance' (§ 34.15.010(b)). The joinder requirement 'does not create a proprietary right ... in the spouse not otherwise vested' (§ 34.15.010(c)), and 'failure of the spouse to join ... does not affect the validity of the deed or conveyance, unless the spouse appears on the title' — and even then the non-joining spouse must sue or record a notice of interest within one year (§ 34.15.010(d)). Property that is not the family home or homestead may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
An agent signs under written authority. Section 34.15.010(a) authorizes a deed 'by the lawful agent or attorney of the person' — the attorney-in-fact signs the owner's name and the agent's own name as attorney-in-fact and takes the acknowledgment (§ 34.15.150). Recording the power of attorney is customary and carries an added benefit: an acknowledged, recorded document raises the presumption that a person acting 'as an agent, attorney-in-fact under a recorded power of attorney ... held the position ... and acted within the scope of the person's authority' (§ 40.17.080(b)(6)). No statute makes recording the power a condition of a valid agent deed |
Record with the state recorder's office (Department of Natural Resources) for the recording district where the land lies — Alaska records by recording district, not by county. A conveyance eligible for recording 'may be offered for recording only in the recording district in which land affected by the conveyance is located' (§ 40.17.020(a)). Before recording, the conveyance must be acknowledged or proved (§ 34.15.150). Alaska imposes no state real-estate transfer tax; a municipality may impose a local transfer tax or recording charge. Confirm current fees and formatting with the district recorder |
Race-notice recording act. From recording, a document is constructive notice to later purchasers and secured parties (§ 40.17.080(a)), and 'a conveyance of real property in the state, other than a lease for a term of less than one year, is void as against a subsequent innocent purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration ... whose conveyance is first recorded. An unrecorded conveyance is valid as between the parties to it and as against one who has actual notice of it' (§ 40.17.080(b)). So a later buyer defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer takes in good faith, pays value, and records first — a race-notice rule. An acknowledged, recorded deed also raises statutory presumptions of genuineness, capacity, delivery, and authority (§ 40.17.080(b)), but recording cures no forgery, incapacity, defective description, or lack of title |
| Arizona verified 2026-07-16 | Arizona conveyancing is in Title 33 (Property): execution formalities in A.R.S. § 33-401, the recording/priority rule in § 33-412, and community-property conveyance in § 33-452, with statewide recording-form requirements in § 11-480. Arizona is a community-property state, so marital joinder is central (§ 25-214). Deeds are recorded with the county recorder of the county where the property is located, and priority runs on a notice rule. Arizona did not adopt the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, but an owner may still convey through an agent authorized in writing. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; deeds of trust (Arizona's common mortgage substitute), trustee, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
A written, signed, delivered deed is required. 'No estate of inheritance, freehold, or for a term of more than one year ... shall be conveyed unless the conveyance is by an instrument in writing, subscribed and delivered by the party disposing of the estate, or by his agent thereunto authorized by writing' (A.R.S. § 33-401(A)), and 'Every deed or conveyance of real property must be signed by the grantor and must be duly acknowledged' (§ 33-401(B)). Delivery is a statutory element, not just a common-law idea. No seal or attesting witness is required for validity |
None. Arizona requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed. The deed statute calls only for the grantor's signature and a notarial acknowledgment (A.R.S. § 33-401(B)); Arizona uses the acknowledgment route rather than witness proof |
Required, and built into the deed statute. 'Every deed or conveyance of real property must be signed by the grantor and must be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments' (A.R.S. § 33-401(B)). Acknowledgment is also the condition for recording and for priority against later buyers and creditors — an unrecorded, unacknowledged conveyance is 'void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration without notice' (§ 33-412(A)). A curative rule softens paperwork slips: a deed with a defect in the acknowledgment certificate that is nonetheless recorded 'shall be deemed to have been duly acknowledged on and after the date of its recording' (§ 33-401(D)) |
Community-property joinder, and a strict one. 'A conveyance or incumbrance of community property is not valid unless executed and acknowledged by both husband and wife,' except unpatented mining claims (A.R.S. § 33-452). The management statute agrees: although either spouse may usually act alone, 'joinder of both spouses is required' for 'any transaction for the acquisition, disposition or encumbrance of an interest in real property' other than an unpatented mining claim or a lease under one year (§ 25-214(C)(1)). So a deed of community real estate needs both spouses to sign and acknowledge; a spouse's own separate property may be conveyed by that spouse alone (§ 25-214(A)) |
An owner may convey through an agent, but the agent's authority must be in writing: the conveyance may be 'subscribed and delivered by ... his agent thereunto authorized by writing' (A.R.S. § 33-401(A)). The agent signs the deed on the owner's behalf and the deed is acknowledged in the usual way (§ 33-401(B)). Because an unrecorded instrument is void as to later good-faith purchasers (§ 33-412), the written authority — typically a power of attorney — is recorded with the county recorder along with the deed so the agent's authority appears in the land records |
Record with the county recorder of the county where the property is located (A.R.S. § 33-412). Arizona's recording-form statute lets the recorder reject an instrument at presentation only if it lacks a caption stating the nature of the instrument (such as 'warranty deed' or 'quitclaim deed'), is not an original and legible, lacks original signatures, or exceeds 8½ by 14 inches or uses type smaller than ten point (§ 11-480(A)). The first page must reserve a two-inch top margin for recording information, with the left three and one-half inches available for the requester's name and the return name and address (§ 11-480(C)); all pages need a half-inch margin (§ 11-480(B)). An affidavit of property value, recording fees, and any local requirements are separate steps — confirm them with the county recorder |
Notice priority. All conveyances 'shall be void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, unless they are acknowledged and recorded' (A.R.S. § 33-412(A)); but 'as between the parties and their heirs, and as to all subsequent purchasers with notice thereof, or without valuable consideration,' an unrecorded deed is 'valid and binding' (§ 33-412(B)). A later buyer prevails only by paying value and taking without notice — Arizona does not additionally require that buyer to record first. Cures: a recorded deed with an acknowledgment defect is 'deemed to have been duly acknowledged on and after the date of its recording' (§ 33-401(D)), and an instrument accepted for recording 'is not subject to a later claim of invalidity for failure to comply with' the form rules (§ 11-480(E)). None of this cures fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Arkansas verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state that still recognizes dower and curtesy. The signed-writing rule is the statute of frauds (Ark. Code § 4-59-101); deed execution and covenants are in Title 18, Chapter 12 (§§ 18-12-102, 18-12-104), the recording and priority rule is in Title 14 (§ 14-15-404), and marital rights sit in the homestead-joinder statute (§ 18-12-403) and the dower/curtesy statute (§ 28-11-301). Recording is with the county circuit clerk as ex officio recorder. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; trustee, mortgage, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing required. Under the statute of frauds, no action lies on a 'contract for the sale of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning them' unless it is 'made in writing and signed by the party to be charged ... or signed by some other person properly authorized' (Ark. Code § 4-59-101(a)(4)). Land 'may be aliened and possession thereof transferred by deed without livery of seizin' (§ 18-12-102(a)), and the words 'grant, bargain and sell' carry statutory warranty covenants unless the deed limits them (§ 18-12-102(b)). No seal is required |
Two disinterested witnesses or acknowledgment — an Arkansas peculiarity. The execution statute says a deed 'shall be executed in the presence of two (2) disinterested witnesses or, in default thereof, shall be acknowledged by the grantor in the presence of two (2) such witnesses, who shall then subscribe' it (§ 18-12-104). In modern practice the deed is acknowledged before a notary rather than witnessed, and acknowledgment (or proof) is what the recording statute requires (§ 14-15-404); a signed, delivered deed is still good between the parties under the statute of frauds even if neither witnessed nor acknowledged |
Not required between the parties; required to record and to bind third parties. A deed is valid between grantor and grantee once signed and delivered, but to record it and defeat later buyers the instrument must be 'duly executed and acknowledged or proved as required by law' and filed (§ 14-15-404(b)). Since April 8, 2013 'a valid jurat may act as a substitute for a certificate of acknowledgment' (§ 18-12-208(e)), and § 18-12-208 validates many technical acknowledgment defects. The acknowledgment is taken before a notary public or other authorized officer |
Strong marital joinder — Arkansas keeps dower and curtesy. A married owner's homestead deed is void unless the spouse joins: 'No conveyance, mortgage, or other instrument affecting the homestead of any married person shall be of any validity, except for taxes, laborers' and mechanics' liens, and purchase money, unless his or her spouse joins in the execution of the instrument, or conveys by separate document, and acknowledges it' (§ 18-12-403). Beyond the homestead, a spouse keeps 'a dower or curtesy right in lands sold in the lifetime of his or her spouse without consent of the spouse in legal form' (§ 28-11-301(b)) — a life interest in one-third of the lands unless the right is 'relinquished in legal form' (§ 28-11-301(a)). So a married grantor's spouse usually signs to release dower or curtesy even on non-homestead land |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. The statute of frauds lets a land contract be 'signed by some other person properly authorized by the person sought to be charged' (§ 4-59-101(a)), so an agent under a written power of attorney may execute the deed. To record an agent-signed deed it must be acknowledged or proved like any other (§ 14-15-404), and in practice the power of attorney is acknowledged and recorded so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. A spouse's homestead, dower, or curtesy release may likewise be given through a duly authorized instrument (§§ 18-12-403, 28-11-301) |
Record with the county circuit clerk, who serves as ex officio recorder, in the county where the real estate is situated (§ 14-15-404). To be recordable and give constructive notice, a deed must be 'acknowledged or proved and recorded' (§ 14-15-404(a)) — that is, 'duly executed and acknowledged or proved as required by law' (§ 14-15-404(b)). Arkansas also requires, by other statutes and local rules, items such as a preparer's name and address, a real-property transfer-tax certification, and page-formatting margins; confirm the current content, fees, and transfer-tax steps with the county recorder |
Notice recording act. A recorded deed 'shall be constructive notice to all persons from the time the instrument is filed for record' (§ 14-15-404(a)(1)), but an unrecorded deed shall not 'be good or valid against a subsequent purchaser of the real estate for a valuable consideration without actual notice thereof or against any creditor ... obtaining a judgment' unless it is recorded (§ 14-15-404(b)). Arkansas protects a later buyer who takes 'without actual notice' — a notice rule, with no first-to-record requirement. Cures: a recorded deed with a technical acknowledgment defect still 'provide[s] constructive notice ... to all parties' (§ 18-12-208(d)), and § 18-12-208 validates a list of certificate defects. Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| California verified 2026-07-15 | California conveyancing sits in Civil Code Title 4: execution in the 'Transfer of Real Property' chapter (§§ 1091–1134) and recording in the 'Recording Transfers' chapter (§§ 1169–1220), with county recorder duties in Gov. Code §§ 27201–27399. A common-law title state with community property and county-level recording. Scope here is an ordinary grant or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, fiduciary, tax, and foreclosure deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing, nothing more, for validity. An estate in real property (other than a lease of one year or less) 'can be transferred only by operation of law, or by an instrument in writing, subscribed by the party disposing of the same, or by his agent thereunto authorized by writing' (Civ. Code § 1091). Section 1092 supplies an optional statutory grant-deed form. No seal, consideration recital, or attesting witness is needed to pass title between the parties |
None. No subscribing or attesting witness is required to execute a California deed — § 1091 asks only for the grantor's (or authorized agent's) signature, and the § 1092 grant form shows only the grantor's own signature line. Witness proof is not even an alternative for recording: proof of a grant or quitclaim deed 'by subscribing witness' is expressly not permitted (Gov. Code § 27287; Civ. Code § 1195(b)), which leaves notary acknowledgment as the only recording route |
Not required for validity; required to record. A signed writing passes title without a notary (§ 1091), but 'before an instrument can be recorded its execution shall be acknowledged by the person executing it' (Gov. Code § 27287). Because witness-proof is unavailable for a grant or quitclaim deed, acknowledgment before a notary or other authorized officer is the sole path to recording. The officer endorses or attaches a certificate (Civ. Code § 1188) in the all-purpose form set by § 1189 |
Community-property joinder, not a general homestead-signature rule. For community real property, 'both spouses, either personally or by a duly authorized agent, are required to join in executing an instrument by which that community real property or an interest therein is ... sold, conveyed, or encumbered' (Fam. Code § 1102(a)). A spouse's own separate property may be conveyed alone. A one-spouse deed of record-title community property is presumed valid as to a good-faith buyer without knowledge of the marriage, and any action to void it must be filed within one year of recording (§ 1102(c)–(d)) |
An attorney-in-fact signs by subscribing 'the name of his principal to it, and his own name as attorney in fact' (Civ. Code § 1095); the authority must be in writing (§ 1091). A power of attorney used to convey real property is itself made 'in writing, subscribed, acknowledged, or proved, certified, and recorded' — the standard § 2933 applies to mortgages 'in like manner as powers of attorney for grants of real property' — so the power is generally acknowledged and recorded in the county land records along with the deed |
Record with the County Recorder of the county where the land sits (Civ. Code § 1169). The recorder must accept any authorized real-property instrument that carries enough information to be indexed, meets statute, and is photographically reproducible, and 'shall not refuse to record ... on the basis of its lack of legal sufficiency' (Gov. Code § 27201(a)). Statewide items: an original signature (§ 27201(b)); legibly signed, typed, or printed party names (§ 27280.5); a notary acknowledgment (§ 27287); and a first-page space reserving the return name and address with side margins (§ 27361.6). Documentary transfer tax and a change-of-ownership report are separate tax steps set by other law — confirm fees and local formatting with the recorder |
Race-notice priority. An 'unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof' (Civ. Code § 1217), but an unrecorded conveyance is 'void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee ... in good faith and for a valuable consideration, whose conveyance is first duly recorded,' and against an intervening judgment (§ 1214). Cures: after 90 days on record a deed imparts notice 'notwithstanding any defect, omission, or informality in the execution ... or in the certificate of acknowledgment ... or the absence of any such certificate' (§ 1207), and a defective acknowledgment certificate can be corrected by court action (§ 1202). Recording does not cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Colorado verified 2026-07-16 | Colorado conveyancing runs on title 38. The statutory deed forms and their effect are in article 30 (§§ 38-30-101, 38-30-113); recording, acknowledgment, and priority are in article 35 (§§ 38-35-101 to -127); the land statute of frauds is § 38-10-106. A common-law, lien-theory title state (§ 38-35-117), not community property, with no dower or curtesy. Ordinary land is recorded with the county clerk and recorder; registered 'Torrens' land (article 36) goes to the registrar of titles. Scope here is an ordinary warranty, special-warranty, bargain-and-sale, or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; beneficiary (transfer-on-death) deeds (§ 38-30-113.5), mortgages and deeds of trust, and fiduciary or public-trustee deeds run on separate rules |
Signed writing, delivered. Any person entitled to hold real estate 'shall be authorized to convey the same ... by deed' (§ 38-30-101), and no interest in land beyond a one-year lease is created 'unless by act or operation of law, or by deed or conveyance in writing' (§ 38-10-106). Section 38-30-113 supplies statutory warranty, special-warranty, bargain-and-sale, and quitclaim forms, each ending in a single grantor signature line ('Signed this ... day of ...'); a deed 'when properly executed, is a conveyance to the grantee' (§ 38-30-113(3)). Consideration need not be recited or given, and 'failure to state the address or the county or state of residence of the grantor or grantee does not affect the validity of the deed' (§ 38-30-113(2)) |
None. An ordinary Colorado deed needs no subscribing or attesting witness. The statutory deed forms in § 38-30-113 carry only a grantor signature line and no witness line, and neither the recording statute (§ 38-35-109) nor the acknowledgment statute (§ 38-35-101) requires witnessing. Witnessing is neither a validity rule nor a recording route in Colorado |
Not required for validity, and the statutes do not even make it a recording gate — but it is the practical norm. A signed, delivered deed already conveys (§§ 38-30-101, 38-30-113(3)), and a deed 'may be acknowledged in accordance with section 38-35-101 or 24-21-515' (§ 38-30-113(2)). Colorado is unusual: an instrument 'whether acknowledged, unacknowledged, or defectively acknowledged,' once recorded, 'shall be notice to all persons' (§ 38-35-106(1)), and an unacknowledged recorded instrument is deemed properly acknowledged after ten years (§ 38-35-106(2)). Acknowledgment's real role is to make the deed 'prima facie evidence of the proper execution thereof' (§ 38-35-101(2); § 38-30-114); recorders and title companies require it in practice |
No general spouse-signature rule; joinder turns on a RECORDED homestead. Colorado's homestead exemption arises automatically, and 'property homesteaded solely by operation of the automatic provisions ... may be conveyed or encumbered by the owner of the property free and clear of all homestead rights, and no signature other than that of the owner shall be required' (§ 38-41-202(3)) — so an owner ordinarily conveys the family home alone. But once the owner or spouse records a written instrument 'stating that the owner or the owner's spouse is homesteading the property,' 'then the signature of both spouses to convey or encumber the property is required' (§ 38-41-202(4)); and for such homesteaded property both 'husband and wife, if the owner thereof is married, shall execute the conveyance or encumbrance' (§ 38-35-118(1)). Not a community-property state; no dower or curtesy |
An attorney-in-fact may sign. A power of attorney 'for the conveying, leasing, or releasing of any lands ... may be acknowledged or proved in the same manner as deeds' (§ 38-30-124), and 'the power of attorney of the attorney-in-fact, duly proved or acknowledged, shall be recorded in the same office in which the conveyances themselves are required to be recorded' (§ 38-30-123) — so the recorded POA sits in the same county land records as the deed. Colorado's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (title 15, article 14, part 7) governs the authority itself; only the principal's signature is needed to make the power. Entity, trustee, personal-representative, and sheriff execution run on their own rules |
Record with the county clerk and recorder of the county where the land is situated (§ 38-35-109(1)); registered Torrens land goes to that county's registrar of titles (article 36). The one universal statutory content item is the grantee's legal address: every deed dated after January 1, 1977 'shall include a notation of the legal address of the grantee ... including road or street address if applicable,' and a deed lacking it 'shall not be recorded and shall be returned to the person requesting the recordation' (§ 38-35-109(2)) — though acceptance without it 'shall not make such deed invalid,' and the notation may be added by someone other than the grantee. A documentary fee (§ 39-13-102) and county recording fees are separate steps |
Race-notice priority — the statute says so in as many words. An unrecorded instrument is not valid 'against any person with any kind of rights in or to such real property who first records ..., except between the parties thereto and against those having notice thereof prior to acquisition of such rights. This is a race-notice recording statute' (§ 38-35-109(1)). So an unrecorded deed still passes title between grantor and grantee; it loses only to a later good-faith purchaser who records first without notice. Cures: a recorded deed gives notice even if unacknowledged or defectively acknowledged (§ 38-35-106(1)); an unacknowledged instrument on record ten years is deemed properly acknowledged (§ 38-35-106(2)); recorded recitals become prima facie evidence of the facts recited after twenty years (§ 38-35-107). None cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Connecticut verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state, town-recording system. The core rules are in Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 821 (Land Titles): execution requirements (§ 47-5), who may take an acknowledgment (§ 47-5a), and recording (§ 47-10). Connecticut has no county land records — deeds are recorded with the TOWN clerk of the town where the land lies (§ 47-10). Statutory deed forms live in Chapter 821a (§ 47-36c et seq.), and the surviving-spouse statutory share is in § 45a-436. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate and association deeds (§ 47-6) and special conveyances are outside this survey |
Signed writing required. 'All conveyances of land shall be: (1) In writing; (2) if the grantor is (A) a natural person, subscribed, with or without a seal, by the grantor with his own hand or with his mark with his name annexed to it or by his agent authorized for that purpose by a power ...' (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a)). A seal is optional. The deed must also carry the grantee's current mailing address: 'A document conveying land shall also include the current mailing address of the grantee' (§ 47-5(b)). Connecticut's statutory warranty, quitclaim, and other deed forms (Chapter 821a) are available but not mandatory |
TWO witnesses required — Connecticut's defining formality. A conveyance must be '(4) attested to by two witnesses with their own hands' (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a)). The witnesses must be disinterested: a grantor or grantee cannot serve as one of the two attesting witnesses. Courts have voided deeds signed by only one witness, though a formality defect is generally treated as making a deed voidable rather than automatically void, and the notary who takes the acknowledgment may also act as one of the two witnesses |
Acknowledgment required as part of execution. The deed must be '(3) acknowledged by the grantor, his agent or such duly authorized person (A) to be his free act and deed, or (B) in any manner permitted under chapter 6 or chapter 8' (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a)). The acknowledgment is taken before an authorized officer — a Connecticut notary public, judge, town clerk, justice of the peace, or Superior Court commissioner (attorney), and out-of-state before an officer authorized there (§ 47-5a). Acknowledgment is one of the four listed execution requirements, alongside the writing, signature, and two witnesses |
No spousal joinder to convey. Connecticut recognizes no dower, curtesy, or community property, and § 47-5's execution list contains no spouse-signature requirement — so an owner whose name alone is on title may convey without the other spouse joining. The surviving spouse's protection is instead a probate right: the statutory (elective) share, 'a life estate of one-third in value of all the property passing under the will, real and personal, ... owned by the deceased spouse at the time of his or her death' (§ 45a-436(a)). Because that share reaches property passing under the will at death, a lifetime deed by the owner is generally not defeated by it; the spouse claims the share against the estate in probate, not by signing the deed |
An attorney-in-fact may sign; the power is recorded with the deed. The grantor may sign 'by his agent authorized for that purpose by a power (i) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the manner provided for conveyances, or (ii) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the same manner provided for in section 1-350d, and subsection (a) of section 1-350r' (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-5(a)(2)(A)) — so the power of attorney itself must meet deed formalities (or the Uniform Power of Attorney Act's execution rules). 'When a conveyance is executed by a power of attorney, the power of attorney shall be recorded with the deed, unless it has already been recorded in the records of the town in which the land lies and reference to the power of attorney is made in the deed' (§ 47-10(a)). The underlying authority runs under Connecticut's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (§ 1-350 et seq.) |
Record with the TOWN clerk of the town where the land lies (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-10(a)) — Connecticut has no county recording office. The deed must be acknowledged and attested by two witnesses (§ 47-5(a)) and must state the grantee's current mailing address (§ 47-5(b)); if signed by an agent, the power of attorney is recorded with the deed unless already of record (§ 47-10(a)). Connecticut imposes a state and often municipal real estate conveyance tax (a separate return), and each town sets its own recording fees and formatting — check with the specific town clerk |
Recording is required to bind third parties. 'No conveyance shall be effectual to hold any land against any other person but the grantor and his heirs, unless recorded on the records of the town in which the land lies' (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-10(a)). So an unrecorded deed is valid between grantor and grantee but not against a later purchaser or creditor; Connecticut courts have applied this so that a bona fide later purchaser without notice of an unrecorded deed prevails. Long-standing title defects can be cleared under the Marketable Record Title Act: 'Chain of title for not less than forty years creates marketable record title' (§ 47-33c). Recording and the passage of time cure no forgery, incapacity, or lack of ownership |
| Delaware verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not a community-property state. Deed execution and recording sit in 25 Del. C. ch. 1 (Deeds): 'Lands, tenements and hereditaments may be aliened, and possession thereof transferred by deed, without livery of seisin' (§ 101). Subchapter II covers form, acknowledgment, and proof (§§ 121-134); Subchapter III recording (§§ 151-158); Subchapter IV powers of attorney (§§ 171-174). Recording is with the recorder of deeds for the county. Marital protection is the elective share in 12 Del. C. ch. 9. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate, fiduciary, tax, and mortgage deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed), no seal required. Land passes 'by deed' (§ 101), and a deed 'duly executed and acknowledged ... shall be construed to pass and convey to the grantee therein and to the grantee's heirs and assigns the fee simple title' (§ 121(b)). An instrument signed and acknowledged by the owner conveys title 'notwithstanding that the instrument is not under the seals of the owners and notwithstanding that the instrument does not contain ... the word "grant" and/or the words "bargain and sell"' (§ 131). Delaware supplies a statutory deed form (§ 121(a)) but a deed 'made in the form heretofore in common use within this State shall be valid and effectual.' The grantee's address must be attached when the deed is left for record (§ 133) |
None for validity. Delaware requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid; the statutory form (§ 121(a)) shows witness lines, but that is a customary form, not a validity rule, and § 131 confirms an instrument the owner signs and acknowledges conveys title. Subscribing witnesses matter only as an alternative route to prove a deed the grantor did not personally acknowledge: a deed 'may be proved in the Court by 1 or more of the subscribing witnesses' (§ 122). A notarized deed needs no witnesses; there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. A deed 'may be acknowledged ... before any judge of this State, or notary public, or before 2 justices of the peace for the same county, or before the Mayor of the City of Wilmington,' or 'proved in the Court by 1 or more of the subscribing witnesses' (§ 122); an out-of-state deed may be acknowledged before a notary of any state (§ 129). Acknowledgment or proof, certified, is the gate into the land records (§ 151), not a condition of the transfer between grantor and grantee. A curative statute makes the record of an instrument that was not properly acknowledged 'as valid and effective in law as if each instrument had been correctly acknowledged' (§ 132) |
No homestead or community-property joinder. Delaware has no homestead-signature statute and is not a community-property state, so the titled owner alone can convey. A spouse's statutory protection is the post-death elective share: a surviving spouse 'has a right of election to take an elective share of an amount equal to one third of the elective estate' (12 Del. C. § 901(a)), asserted against the decedent's estate at death, not a lien that requires a spouse to sign a lifetime deed. A good-faith purchaser of real property for value is not liable to the surviving spouse unless a certified copy of a Court of Chancery elective-share judgment 'has been recorded in the office for the recording of deeds ... prior to the recordation of the deed' (12 Del. C. § 906(g)). Older dower and curtesy language survives in 25 Del. C. § 131 (a dower or curtesy right 'shall be barred or released' only when that spouse signs and acknowledges the instrument), but the elective share is the operative protection |
An agent signs under a recorded letter of attorney. A 'letter of attorney to sell or dispose of lands ... or to acknowledge a deed' is acknowledged or proved and certified the same way a deed is (§ 171). Distinctively, the power must be recorded before the agent's deed can be acknowledged: 'When a letter of attorney to sell and dispose of lands is acknowledged or proved and the acknowledgment or proof is certified and it is recorded as required by law, a deed may be acknowledged by the attorney' (§ 172), and 'An authority to sell or dispose of premises, if not restrained, shall extend to authorize the acknowledgment of a deed.' A married person 'may make a letter of attorney the same as though ... a femme sole' (§ 173) |
Record with the recorder of deeds for the county where the land sits. A deed 'acknowledged or proved and the acknowledgment or proof certified as provided in this chapter ... shall ... be recorded in the recorder's office for the county wherein such lands or tenements ... are situated' (§ 151), and recording in one county reaches only land in that county (§ 152). The person leaving a deed for record must attach 'the address of the grantee' (§ 133). Delaware imposes a state realty transfer tax collected at recording, and the recorder applies statewide formatting requirements; confirm current fees, forms, and the transfer-tax affidavit with the county recorder |
Race recording act. Delaware fixes priority solely by recording order: 'A deed concerning lands or tenements shall have priority from the time that it is recorded in the proper office without respect to the time that it was signed, sealed and delivered' (§ 153). That is a pure race rule — a later deed recorded first can take priority even over an earlier unrecorded deed — so a signed, delivered deed binds the grantor and grantee but must be recorded promptly to protect priority against others. Deeds may be recorded at any time after sealing and delivery (§ 154). A defective-acknowledgment cure (§ 132) and a notary-seal cure (§ 110) validate the record, but recording cures no forgery, incapacity, defective description, or lack of title |
| District of Columbia verified 2026-07-16 | Federal district, not a community-property jurisdiction. Deed execution and recording sit in D.C. Official Code Title 42 (Real Property): the signed-and-sealed-deed requirement is § 42-306, statutory deed forms are in § 42-601, the recording/effective-date rule is § 42-401, and the power-of-attorney rule is § 42-101. Recording is done by the single Office of the Recorder of Deeds for the District — there are no counties. Dower and curtesy are abolished (§ 19-102). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate, fiduciary, trustee, tax, and mortgage/deed-of-trust deeds follow separate rules |
Signed-and-sealed writing. 'No estate of inheritance, or for life, or for a longer term than 1 year, in any real property ... shall be created or take effect, except by deed signed and sealed by the grantor, lessor, or declarant, in person or by power of attorney or by will' (§ 42-306(b)). So a deed conveying a fee must be a written instrument the owner signs and seals (the statutory forms in § 42-601 close with 'Witness my hand and seal ... [Seal.]'). The forms show no consideration-recital or granting-word trap beyond the plain 'do grant unto' language, and an attorney-in-fact may sign in place of the owner |
None. The District requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses for an ordinary deed. The statutory deed forms in § 42-601 are completed by the grantor's signature and seal with no witness lines, and the recording rule (§ 42-401) turns on acknowledgment, not on witnesses. A notarized deed needs no witnesses; there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's |
Required to record and to protect the deed against third parties; the deed still takes effect between the parties on delivery. A deed 'executed and acknowledged and certified as provided in §§ 42-602 and 42-306, and Chapter 12A of Title 1 [the District's notary law], and delivered ... shall be held to take effect from the date of the delivery,' but 'as to creditors and subsequent bona fide purchasers and mortgagees without notice ... it shall only take effect from the time of its delivery to the Recorder of Deeds for record' (§ 42-401). So acknowledgment before a District notary is the gate to recording and to priority, not a condition of the transfer between grantor and grantee |
No spousal joinder for an ordinary deed. 'The estates of dower and curtesy are abolished' (§ 19-102), the District is not a community-property jurisdiction, and there is no homestead-signature statute — so the titled owner alone can convey, and a spouse's signature is not required for validity. The District supplies an optional joint 'Deed by Spouse or Domestic Partner' form (§ 42-601) for when spouses convey together, but it is a form, not a mandate. A surviving spouse's protection is a post-death elective share under Title 19, asserted against the decedent's estate, not a lien requiring a signature on a lifetime deed |
An attorney-in-fact signs under a power that must itself be recorded. 'A general or specific power of attorney ... authorizing an attorney-in-fact to sell, grant, or release any interest in real property shall be executed in the same manner as a deed and shall be recorded with or prior to the deed executed pursuant to the power of attorney' (§ 42-101(a)); the power must carry a bold, capital-letter notice of the authority it grants, and 'a person with a ... power of attorney executing a deed for another shall sign and acknowledge the deed as attorney-in-fact' (§ 42-101(b)). A revocation is effective when it is itself recorded with the Recorder of Deeds (§ 42-101(c)) |
Record with the single Office of the Recorder of Deeds for the District — there are no county offices. The deed must be executed, acknowledged, and certified (§ 42-401) before it can be recorded, and a recorded power of attorney must be referenced by recording date and instrument number when a deed is signed under it (§ 42-101(a)). The District charges transfer and recordation taxes collected at recording and requires a tax intake sheet; a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) step can apply to certain residential transfers. Confirm current forms, taxes, and formatting with the Recorder of Deeds |
Notice recording act. Between the grantor and grantee a delivered deed takes effect on delivery (§ 42-401). But 'as to creditors and subsequent bona fide purchasers and mortgagees without notice of said deed, and others interested in the property, it shall only take effect from the time of its delivery to the Recorder of Deeds for record' (§ 42-401). So an unrecorded deed is defeated only by a later purchaser, mortgagee, or creditor who takes without notice of it — a pure notice rule, with no requirement that the later party record first. Recording gives that notice, but it cures no forgery, incapacity, defective description, or lack of title |
| Florida verified 2026-07-15 | Florida conveyancing runs through Chapter 689 of the Florida Statutes (how real estate is conveyed) and Chapter 695 (recording), with the homestead-joinder rule set by the Florida Constitution, art. X, § 4(c). A common-law title state (not community property) that records deeds with the clerk of the circuit court. Scope here is an ordinary warranty or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, tax, fiduciary, and foreclosure deeds follow separate rules |
Written instrument, signed before two witnesses. No freehold estate 'shall be created, made, granted, transferred, or released in any manner other than by instrument in writing, signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses by the party ... or by the party's lawfully authorized agent' (§ 689.01(1)). 'No seal shall be necessary.' Section 689.025 supplies an optional statutory quitclaim-deed form (and § 689.02 a warranty form), and § 689.025 also asks for a blank space for the parcel identification number — though omitting the number 'does not affect the validity of the conveyance or the recordability of the deed' |
Two subscribing witnesses — a validity rule, not just a recording rule. A Florida deed must be 'signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses' (§ 689.01(1)); this is what makes the conveyance effective, so it is stricter than the notary-only states. A 2020 update lets those witnesses be 'present and electronically signing by means of audio-video communication technology' under § 689.01(2)(a). No witnesses are needed for a lease. (Separately, a subscribing witness can also be used to prove a deed up for recording under § 695.03 — but the two execution witnesses are the load-bearing requirement) |
Required to record, on top of the two witnesses. Execution before the notary is not what validates the deed, but 'to entitle any instrument concerning real property to be recorded, the execution must be acknowledged by the party executing it, proved by a subscribing witness to it, or legalized or authenticated' (§ 695.03). Deeds are 'executed and acknowledged as ... provided by the law regulating conveyances of realty by deed' (§ 689.04). In practice a Florida deed carries both two subscribing witnesses and a notary acknowledgment |
Homestead joinder is constitutional. 'The owner of homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale or gift' (Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(c)). So if the property is the owner's homestead and the owner is married, the spouse must join in the deed even if the spouse is not on title — a deed of homestead signed by one spouse alone is ineffective to convey it. Florida is not a community-property state, so non-homestead property titled in one spouse's name may be conveyed by that spouse alone; the joinder rule is tied to homestead status |
An 'authorized agent' may sign the deed (§ 689.01(1)), but the deed still needs its two subscribing witnesses. If the agent acts under a power of attorney, the power itself must meet deed-grade formalities and be recorded: a Florida power of attorney 'must be signed by the principal and by two subscribing witnesses and be acknowledged by the principal before a notary public' (§ 709.2105(2)), and an instrument 'made or executed by virtue of any power of attorney' is not good against creditors or subsequent purchasers 'unless the power of attorney be recorded before the accruing of the right of such creditor or subsequent purchaser' (§ 695.01(1)) |
Record with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the land lies. Section 695.26 conditions recording on several items: each signer's name legibly printed beneath the signature plus a post-office address (§ 695.26(1)(a)); the preparer's name and address (§ 695.26(1)(b)); each witness's name printed beneath the witness signature plus address (§ 695.26(1)(c)); the notary's name printed beneath the notary signature (§ 695.26(1)(d)); a 3-inch by 3-inch clerk space at the top right of the first page (§ 695.26(1)(e)); and, for a non-mortgage deed, each grantee's name and post-office address (§ 695.26(1)(f)). Recording fees and any e-recording rules are set at the county level |
Notice state. A conveyance is not 'good and effectual in law or equity against creditors or subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration and without notice, unless the same be recorded' (§ 695.01(1)); an unrecorded deed still binds the parties themselves. A recorded instrument is 'notice to all persons' from the time of filing, and the sequence of the clerk's official register numbers 'shall determine the priority of recordation' (§ 695.11). Unusually, 'grantees by quitclaim ... shall be deemed and held to be bona fide purchasers without notice' (§ 695.01(2)) — the opposite of the rule in some states. A narrow curative statute fixes a single scrivener's error in a deed's legal description (§ 689.041); it does not cure fraud, forgery, or lack of title |
| Georgia verified 2026-07-16 | Georgia keeps execution and recording in Title 44 ('Property'). The requisites of a deed to lands are in O.C.G.A. § 44-5-30; recording is in Chapter 2 of Title 44, with the clerk of the superior court as the recording officer (§ 44-2-2) and the officers who may attest listed in § 44-2-15. A common-law title state, not community property, with county-level recording. Scope here is an ordinary present fee-simple deed by an individual owner; security deeds, foreclosure, tax, and fiduciary instruments run on separate rules |
A deed to lands must be 'an original document, in writing, signed by the maker,' and 'delivered to the purchaser or his or her representative' for a 'good or valuable consideration' (§ 44-5-30). No particular form or wording is required. Delivery is part of passing title. The maker's signature plus delivery is the core of validity between grantor and grantee; the attestation below is what makes the deed recordable |
One witness plus an officer, and this goes to recording. Since a 2015 amendment (HB 322), § 44-5-30 requires a deed to be 'attested by an officer as provided in Code Section 44-2-15, and attested by one other witness' — replacing the old 'at least two witnesses' rule. The officer (typically a notary) and one additional witness watch the maker sign and sign as attesting witnesses. A deed the parties signed without proper attestation still passes title between them (§ 44-2-2), but it cannot be recorded (§ 44-2-14) |
Officer attestation or acknowledgment is required to record, and § 44-5-30 now writes the officer's attestation into the deed's own requisites. Before recording, a deed 'must be attested or acknowledged as provided by law' (§ 44-2-14). The authorized officers (§ 44-2-15) are 'a judge of a court of record, including a judge of a municipal court, or ... a magistrate, a notary public, or a clerk or deputy clerk of a superior court or of a city court.' A deed acknowledged after signing may still be recorded once the officer certifies that fact (§ 44-2-16) |
No spousal-joinder requirement. Section 44-5-30 lists the requisites of an ordinary deed — a signed, delivered, attested writing by the maker — and does not require a nonowner spouse to sign. Georgia is not a community-property state, so an owner who holds title alone may convey without a spouse's signature. There is no dower or curtesy joinder that conditions an ordinary conveyance on a spouse joining the deed |
An attorney-in-fact may execute the deed by signing the owner's name as agent; § 44-5-30 requires the deed to be 'signed by the maker,' which an authorized agent satisfies by signing for the principal, and the deed is attested the same way as any other. In practice the power of attorney is put in writing and recorded with the deed so the clerk and later purchasers can see the agent's authority, though recording the power is not itself what makes the deed valid |
Record the deed with the clerk of the superior court, filing in the county where the land lies (§ 44-2-2). The clerk 'shall file, index ... and permanently record' deeds, mortgages, and liens (§ 44-2-2(b)); a recordable deed must first be attested or acknowledged (§ 44-2-14). Since January 1, 2025, a 'self-filer' — a party who is not a lawyer, title agent, or similar professional — must submit real-estate documents by electronic filing (§ 44-2-2(d)). County fees, page formatting, and the PT-61 transfer-tax declaration are set separately; confirm them with the clerk |
Recording protects priority; it does not create the transfer. A deed is valid between grantor and grantee without recording — 'nothing in this Code section shall be construed to affect the validity, enforceability, or priority of any deed ... between the parties thereto' (§ 44-2-2(g)). But against a later transferee or lienholder 'acting in good faith and without notice,' the deed 'shall take effect only from the time [it is] filed for record' (§ 44-2-2(c)), which rewards prompt recording. Cures: a deed not properly attested may still be recorded on a subscribing witness's affidavit (§ 44-2-18), and one acknowledged after signing becomes recordable once the officer certifies it (§ 44-2-16). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Hawaii verified 2026-07-16 | Dual land system with a single statewide recording office. Regular-system land is governed by Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 502 (Bureau of Conveyances; Recording) — deeds are recorded not at a county office but at one centralized statewide Bureau of Conveyances in the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Land Court (Torrens) 'registered land' is governed by ch. 501, where the act of registration by the assistant registrar, not recording, is the operative conveyance act (§ 501-101). The writing requirement rests on the statute of frauds (§ 656-1); Hawaii has no separate 'must be by deed' statute. Dower and curtesy are abolished (§ 560:2-112). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, foreclosure, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed). Hawaii's statute of frauds bars an action 'upon any contract for the sale of lands ... or of any interest in or concerning them' unless it 'is in writing, and is signed by the party to be charged' (§ 656-1). A recordable conveyance must carry the grantor's original signature with the signer's name printed beneath it (§ 502-31), and the deed must contain or have endorsed on it the grantee's address (§ 502-34). No seal is required (long settled under § 656-1: 'Seal not essential to validity of instrument for conveyance of land'), and Hawaii imposes no statewide date or consideration validity rule |
None. Hawaii requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to sign or record a deed. Chapters 501 and 502 make a conveyance recordable on the grantor's acknowledgment alone (§ 502-41); no witness signature is called for. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Ohio's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. As Hawaii courts have long held under § 502-41, 'as between parties acknowledgment and registry of conveyance [are] not necessary' and 'title to land is conveyed by delivery of deed without registry.' But 'to entitle any conveyance or other instrument to be recorded, there shall be endorsed, subjoined, or attached thereto an acknowledgment' in the statutory form (§ 502-41) — the notary acknowledgment is the gate into the land records and into Land Court registration |
No spousal joinder to convey. 'The estates of dower and curtesy are abolished' (§ 560:2-112), so a married owner may convey solely owned real property without the other spouse's signature. The surviving spouse's (or reciprocal beneficiary's) protection is a post-death 'right of election ... to take an elective-share amount equal to fifty per cent of the value of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate' (§ 560:2-202) — a claim against the estate at death, not a signature on a lifetime deed. Property the spouses actually co-own (for example as tenants by the entirety) must be conveyed by both, but that is co-ownership, not a marital veto over one spouse's separate property, and Hawaii has no homestead conveyance-joinder rule |
An agent signs under a power of attorney, and Hawaii makes recording that authority effectively mandatory for third-party effect. 'All articles of marriage settlement and powers of attorney for the transfer of real property within the State shall be recorded in the bureau of conveyances, in default of which no such instrument shall be binding to the detriment of third parties or conclusive upon their rights and interests' (§ 502-84). The deed is valid between the parties, but the agent's power of attorney must be recorded to bind third parties — stronger than most states' permissive rule. Section 502-41 supplies the acknowledgment form for a 'natural person[] acting by attorney.' Hawaii's Uniform Power of Attorney Act is ch. 551E |
Record at the single statewide Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu — Hawaii has no county recorders. Regular-system deeds are recorded there (§ 502-31); Land Court (registered) land instead goes to the assistant registrar in the Bureau for registration (§ 501-101). A recordable deed must bear the grantor's original signature with the name printed beneath (§ 502-31), the grantee's address (§ 502-34), and a notarial acknowledgment (§ 502-41); the first page must reserve space for recording data and identify the grantor and grantee names, grantee addresses, document type, and tax map key number, on 8.5-by-11-inch paper (§ 502-31). Hawaii authorizes electronic recording under its Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (§§ 502-121 to 502-125). Conveyance tax and forms are handled at recording |
Race-notice for regular-system land; registration controls for Land Court land. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but every unrecorded conveyance of regular-system land 'is void as against any subsequent purchaser, lessee, or mortgagee, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, not having actual notice of the conveyance ... whose conveyance is first duly recorded' (§ 502-83) — a race-notice rule: the later taker must be a good-faith purchaser for value without notice AND record first. For Land Court land the rule is starker: an unregistered deed 'shall operate only as a contract between the parties,' and 'the act of registration shall be the operative act to convey or affect the land' (§ 501-101). Defect cures are narrow — § 502-95 validates only certain pre-1943 records with defective acknowledgment certificates — and recording or registration cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Idaho verified 2026-07-16 | Community-property state. Deed execution sits in Idaho Code Title 55, Chapter 6 (Transfer of Real Property): a conveyance is a signed writing naming the grantee and the grantee's complete mailing address (§ 55-601). Recording sits in Title 55, Chapter 8 (Recording Transfers): acknowledgment as the recording gate (§ 55-805), recording as constructive notice (§ 55-811), and the recording act (§ 55-812). The marital-joinder rule is the community-property control statute, Idaho Code § 32-912. Recording is at the county-recorder level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing with the grantee's address. 'A conveyance of an estate in real property may be made by an instrument in writing, subscribed by the party disposing of the same, or by his agent thereunto authorized by writing. The name of the grantee and his complete mailing address must appear on such instrument' (§ 55-601). So the owner (or a written-authorized agent) signs a written deed, and Idaho adds a validity-level content rule most states leave to recording: the grantee's name and complete mailing address must be on the instrument itself. Idaho requires no seal |
None. Section 55-601 calls for only the subscription of the owner (or the owner's written-authorized agent) — no subscribing or attesting witness is required to execute an Idaho deed. The route into the land records is a notarial acknowledgment, and § 55-805 offers proof of execution as an alternative to acknowledgment (a witness-proof route), but neither is a witnessing requirement for the deed's validity. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. A signed, delivered deed passes title between grantor and grantee without a notary, but 'before an instrument may be recorded ... its execution must be acknowledged by the person executing it ... or the execution must be proved and the acknowledgment or proof, certified in substantially the manner prescribed by chapter 1, title 51, Idaho Code' (§ 55-805(1)) — Idaho's notarial-acts law. The notary (or witness proof) is what lets you record. Idaho also protects title from stale notary slips: the validity of an instrument recorded before July 1, 2017 'shall not be affected by the failure of a notary public to perform a duty' (§ 55-805(2)) |
Community-property joinder. Either spouse may manage the community, but 'neither the husband nor wife may sell, convey or encumber the community real estate unless the other joins in executing the sale agreement, deed or other instrument of conveyance by which the real estate is sold, conveyed or encumbered' (§ 32-912). Both spouses must join to convey community real estate — this reaches all community realty, not just a homestead. A spouse's own separate real property may be conveyed alone. The statute lets one spouse give the other 'by express power of attorney ... the complete power to sell, convey or encumber community property,' and it validates prior deeds that were made in conformity with the rule |
An agent may sign under written authority. Section 55-601 lets a conveyance be subscribed by the owner 'or by his agent thereunto authorized by writing' — the agent's authority must be in writing. For community real estate, § 32-912 lets one spouse give the other 'express power of attorney' with complete power to convey. Idaho does not by statute make recording the power of attorney a condition of a valid agent conveyance (contrast New Mexico), but because a recorded conveyance is constructive notice to later purchasers (§ 55-811), the power of attorney is customarily recorded with or near the deed so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title |
Record with the recorder of the county where the real estate is situated. The deed must name the grantee and the grantee's complete mailing address (§ 55-601), and its execution must be acknowledged (or proved) and certified under Idaho's notarial-acts law before it can be recorded (§ 55-805). A recorded conveyance is 'constructive notice of the contents thereof to subsequent purchasers and mortgagees' from the time it is filed (§ 55-811). County recording fees and page-format requirements apply, and Idaho imposes no state real-estate transfer tax — confirm fees and formatting with the county recorder |
Race-notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but 'every conveyance of real property ... is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee of the same property ... in good faith and for a valuable consideration, whose conveyance is first duly recorded' (§ 55-812). Recording is constructive notice from the time of filing (§ 55-811). So a later buyer defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer takes in good faith, for value, and records first — a race-notice rule, stricter than a pure notice state, and a strong reason to record promptly. Cures: a deed the grantor cannot personally acknowledge may still be recorded by witness proof (§ 55-805(1)), and a pre-July 1, 2017 recorded instrument is protected from a notary's defect (§ 55-805(2)). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Illinois verified 2026-07-15 | Illinois conveyancing runs on the Conveyances Act (765 ILCS 5/): execution in § 1, statutory deed forms in §§ 9–10, acknowledgment officers in § 20, and recording effect in §§ 28–31, with recorder duties in the Counties Code (55 ILCS 5/3-5010 et seq.). A common-law title state — no community property, and dower and curtesy long abolished — with a homestead exemption (735 ILCS 5/12-901 et seq.), county-level recording, and a notice priority rule. Scope here is an ordinary warranty or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, tax, and judicial deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing, nothing more, for validity. 'Livery of seizin shall in no case be necessary'; every 'deed, mortgage or other conveyance in writing, not procured by duress, and signed by the party making the same, the maker or makers being of full age and sound mind, shall be sufficient' to vest the estate (765 ILCS 5/1). Sections 9 (warranty) and 10 (quitclaim) give optional statutory forms showing only the grantor's signature line; typing the parties' names below the signatures and leaving a 3½-inch recorder space are requested but 'shall not affect the validity and effect' of the deed |
None. No subscribing or attesting witness is required to execute an Illinois deed — § 1 asks only for the grantor's signature, and the § 9/§ 10 statutory forms show a single grantor signature line. Witnessing is neither a validity rule nor a recording route for an ordinary deed |
Not required for validity, and — unusually — not strictly required to record. A signed deed passes title without a notary (§ 1), and a recorded deed is 'notice to subsequent purchasers and creditors, though not acknowledged or proven according to law' (765 ILCS 5/31). Acknowledgment before a notary or other § 20 officer is evidentiary: an acknowledged, recorded deed 'may be read in evidence without any further proof of the execution' (§ 35). Recorders and title companies require notarization in practice, so treat it as standard |
Homestead release, not a general spousal-signature rule. Illinois has no community property and no dower or curtesy. But 'no release, waiver or conveyance of the [homestead] estate ... shall be valid, unless the same is in writing, signed by the individual and his or her spouse, if he or she have one,' or possession is abandoned (735 ILCS 5/12-904). A married owner conveying the homestead therefore needs the spouse to sign to release the homestead estate (up to $50,000, or $100,000 for two or more owners); a conveyance from a grantor directly to his or her spouse passes title without the spouse joining. A deed missing the spouse's release still passes title but leaves the homestead estate attached |
An agent may sign: § 1 accepts a deed 'signed by the party making the same,' which covers an attorney-in-fact acting under written authority, signing as '(Principal's Name) by (Your Name) as Agent' (755 ILCS 45, Notice to Agent). The authority is a property power of attorney under the Illinois Power of Attorney Act; a nonstatutory property power 'must be signed by at least one witness ... and must indicate that the principal has acknowledged his or her signature before a notary public' (755 ILCS 45/3-3(b)). Because a 'power of attorney ... relating to or affecting the title to real estate ... shall be recorded in the county in which such real estate is situated' (765 ILCS 5/28), record the power with or before the deed |
Record with the recorder — or, in a county with none, the county clerk — of the county where the land lies (765 ILCS 5/28). Two statewide content items apply to an ordinary deed: the 'name and address of the grantee for tax billing purposes' (55 ILCS 5/3-5020(a)) and the 'name and address of the person who prepared and drafted' the instrument printed on its face (55 ILCS 5/3-5022), though a missing preparer statement does not impair the record. The § 9/§ 10 forms request a 3½ × 3½-inch recorder space and typed party names. In a county of 3,000,000+ (Cook), a deed exempt from a transfer declaration also needs grantor and grantee statements on the grantee's legal status (§ 3-5020(b)). A Real Estate Transfer Declaration and transfer tax are separate steps; confirm fees, margins, and formatting with the recorder |
Notice jurisdiction. A deed takes effect 'from and after the time of filing the same for record ... as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers, without notice; and all such deeds ... shall be adjudged void as to all such creditors and subsequent purchasers, without notice, until the same shall be filed for record' (765 ILCS 5/30) — a later purchaser who pays value without notice of the earlier deed prevails, so recording promptly protects the grantee. Once filed, a deed gives notice from that time 'though not acknowledged or proven' (§ 31). Cures are narrow: a recorded instrument reciting a seal is presumed properly sealed even if the record omits it (§ 35). Recording cures none of fraud, forgery, incapacity, a defective description, or lack of title |
| Indiana verified 2026-07-16 | Indiana's conveyance rules are in IC 32-21: the signed-writing rule at § 32-21-1-13, acknowledgment-or-proof and recording content at §§ 32-21-2-1.7 to -16, effect of nonrecording at § 32-21-3-3, and priority at § 32-21-4-1. County-recorder requirements are in IC 36-2-11; agent execution is in IC 30-5-3-3 and 30-5-8-8; marital interests are addressed by IC 29-1-2-3.1 and -11. County recording; race-notice priority. Scope is an ordinary present fee-simple deed by an individual owner |
A deed of land or an interest in land must '(1) be in writing; (2) be executed or signed by the ... grantor; and (3) have an acknowledgment ... or a proof' (Ind. Code § 32-21-1-13). Thus acknowledgment or witness-proof is part of the statutory conveyance formula, not merely a recording add-on. Section 32-21-1-15 separately supplies sufficient quitclaim wording that identifies the parties, describes the premises, and states consideration |
No witness if the grantor uses acknowledgment. Indiana instead permits witness 'proof' as an alternative: one witness must personally observe the grantor sign, sign the same record, be neither a party nor beneficiary, appear before a notarial officer, identify the grantor, and testify under oath or affirmation (Ind. Code § 32-21-2-1.7). So the practical choice is acknowledgment with zero witnesses or proof with one qualified subscribing witness |
Required as one of two alternatives for both execution and recording. A deed must have acknowledgment or permitted proof (§ 32-21-1-13), and every recorded instrument likewise must have one of those two notarial acts (§ 32-21-2-3(a)). Acknowledgment may be taken by a notarial officer or remote notary (§ 32-21-2-3(b)); the certificate must be contemporaneously completed, signed, dated, and carry the required jurisdiction, title, commission information, and seal (Ind. Code § 33-42-9-12) |
No general nonowner-spouse joinder. Indiana has abolished dower and curtesy (Ind. Code § 29-1-2-11), and § 29-1-2-3.1 expressly says a married man's conveyance without his wife's joinder has the same effect as if she joined and extinguishes marital rights arising from the marriage. A spouse who co-owns the property must still sign to convey that spouse's own interest because each grantor's execution is required; Indiana is not a community-property state |
The power of attorney must itself be signed by the principal and acknowledged or proved before the agent's land conveyance is effective (Ind. Code § 32-21-1-14). The agent's signature block must identify the principal and show that the signer acts as agent, POA, or attorney-in-fact (§ 30-5-8-8). If the deed will be recorded, record the power first; the recorder may not accept an agent-executed deed under an unrecorded power, and the deed must reference the power's book/page or instrument number (§ 30-5-3-3) |
Record with the county recorder where the land lies (Ind. Code § 32-21-4-1(b)), after the proper county auditor endorses the deed as entered for taxation or not taxable (§ 36-2-11-14). Include tax-statement and grantee street/rural-route mailing addresses (§ 32-21-2-3(e)); the preparer's name plus the statutory Social Security-number-redaction affirmation (§ 36-2-11-15); and legibly printed or typed executor, witness (if any), and notarial-officer names, with the executor's name matching throughout (§ 36-2-11-16). A legal description supports indexing (§ 32-21-2-10); confirm local format, fee, and sales-disclosure steps |
Race-notice. An unrecorded deed is ineffective against outsiders except those with notice, but remains effective against the grantor, the grantor's heirs/devisees, and people with notice (Ind. Code § 32-21-3-3). A later purchaser, lessee, or mortgagee in good faith for value wins if that later instrument is recorded first (§ 32-21-4-1(c)). Once recorded, an instrument provides constructive notice despite specified acknowledgment/proof or technical recording defects (§ 32-21-4-1(d)), and recorder acceptance conclusively establishes compliance with § 36-2-11-16; those cures address recording and notice, not whether the grantor owned or authorized the transfer |
| Iowa verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Execution and recording sit in Iowa Code chapter 558 (Conveyances): the recording act (§ 558.41), acknowledgment as a condition of recording (§ 558.42, tied to the notarial-acts chapter 9B), and the statutory short deed forms (§ 558.19). The signed-writing requirement is the Statute of Frauds (§ 622.32(3)); homestead joinder is in chapter 561 (§ 561.13). Recording is at the county-recorder level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, installment contracts, and trustee, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing required. Under the Statute of Frauds, no evidence of a contract 'for the creation or transfer of any interest in lands, except leases for a term not exceeding one year' is competent 'unless it be in writing and signed by the party charged or by the party's authorized agent' (§ 622.32). Iowa supplies optional statutory short forms — a quitclaim deed and a fee-simple deed with or without warranty — each essentially 'I hereby quitclaim/convey to ... the following tract of real estate,' signed by the grantor (§ 558.19). No seal is required |
None. Chapter 558 requires no subscribing or attesting witness to execute or record a deed — the statutory forms in § 558.19 show only the grantor's signature, and the gateway to the land records is acknowledgment (§ 558.42), not witness proof. There is no two-witness rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Not required for validity; required to record. A signed, delivered deed passes title between the parties without a notary, but 'a document shall not be deemed lawfully recorded, unless it has been previously acknowledged or proved in the manner prescribed in chapter 9B' (§ 558.42). The acknowledgment of a deed 'shall comply with the provisions of chapter 9B' — Iowa's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (§ 558.20) — taken before a notary or other authorized officer |
Homestead joinder, not a general spouse-signature rule. Iowa has no dower or curtesy, so an owner may convey non-homestead property alone. But if the property is the homestead and the owner is married, 'a conveyance or encumbrance of, or contract to convey or encumber the homestead ... is not valid, unless and until the spouse of the owner executes the same or a like instrument, or a power of attorney for the execution of the same' (§ 561.13(1)). Exceptions include a dissolution decree, a claim barred by § 614.15, a purchase-money mortgage, and an equitable unjust-enrichment ruling (§ 561.13(3)). A surviving spouse's protection off the homestead is the statutory distributive share in probate |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. The Statute of Frauds lets 'the party's authorized agent' sign (§ 622.32), and 'the execution of any deed, mortgage, or other instrument in writing, executed by any attorney in fact, may be acknowledged by the attorney executing the same' (§ 558.36). A power of attorney containing a power to convey is itself an 'instrument affecting real estate' (§ 558.1); because an unrecorded instrument has 'no validity against subsequent purchasers ... without notice' (§ 558.41(1)), the power is generally recorded in the same county land records so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. For a homestead, § 561.13(1) expressly allows a spouse to act through a power of attorney |
Record with the recorder of the county where the real estate is situated (§§ 558.11, 558.41). The deed must first be acknowledged under chapter 9B (§ 558.42), and the grantor and grantee names are indexed (§§ 558.1B, 558.11). With the declaration of value filed under chapter 428A, the submitter must also file a groundwater hazard statement covering wells, burial sites, disposal sites, storage tanks, hazardous waste, and private sewage systems (§ 558.69). County recording fees, page formatting, and the real-estate transfer tax are separate steps — confirm with the recorder |
Notice recording act. An unrecorded deed is valid between the grantor and grantee, but 'an instrument affecting real estate is of no validity against subsequent purchasers for a valuable consideration, without notice ... unless the instrument is filed and recorded in the county in which the real estate is located' (§ 558.41(1)); recording is 'constructive notice to all persons' (§ 558.11). Iowa protects a later buyer who takes without notice even if that buyer has not yet recorded — a notice rule, not race-notice. Cure: an affidavit explaining a defect in the chain of title, filed by the owner in possession, raises a presumption the stated facts are true, conclusive after three years (§ 558.8). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Kansas verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Execution and recording sit in K.S.A. Chapter 58, Article 22 (Conveyances of Real Estate): a deed may be executed 'without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 58-2205) and must be subscribed by the grantor or a lawful agent (§ 58-2209); acknowledgment before a notary (§ 58-2211); and the recording act (§§ 58-2221 to 58-2223). Homestead joinder is constitutional — Kan. Const. art. 15, § 9. Old title defects are cleared by the Marketable Record Title Act (§§ 58-3401 to 58-3411). Recording is at the county register of deeds. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed (subscribed) written deed. A conveyance of land 'may be made by deed, executed by any person having authority to convey the same, or by that person's agent or attorney, and may be acknowledged and recorded as herein directed, without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 58-2205), and 'all deeds or other conveyances of lands ... shall be subscribed by the party granting the same, or by the party's lawful agent or attorney' (§ 58-2209). Kansas supplies an optional statutory warranty form — 'A.B. conveys and warrants to C.D. ...' — which, 'duly signed and acknowledged by the grantor,' passes a fee simple with warranties (§ 58-2203). No seal is required |
None to execute a deed. Nothing in Article 22 calls for a subscribing or attesting witness — § 58-2205 lets a deed be executed and recorded 'without any other act or ceremony whatever,' and the route into the land records is acknowledgment (§ 58-2211), not witness proof. Witnesses appear only as a fallback way to record when the grantor cannot acknowledge: if the grantor is dead, cannot be found, or refuses, the deed may be 'proved' by the subscribing witnesses and a certificate stating that proof endorsed on it (§ 58-2216). There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record and to give notice. A deed 'may be acknowledged or proved' (§ 58-2209), so a signed, delivered but unacknowledged deed still passes title between grantor and grantee — but only an acknowledged (or proved) and certified instrument may be recorded and thereby 'impart notice to all persons' (§§ 58-2221, 58-2222); recording an unacknowledged deed imparts no notice. Acknowledgment is taken 'before a person authorized by the revised uniform law on notarial acts ... or, if acknowledged within this state, by a county clerk, register of deeds or mayor or clerk of an incorporated city' (§ 58-2211) |
Homestead joint-consent rule, not a general spouse-signature rule. Kansas abolished dower and curtesy, so an owner whose name alone is on title may convey non-homestead property alone. The homestead is different: under the state constitution a homestead — up to 160 acres of farmland or one acre in a town or city, occupied as a residence by the family — 'shall not be alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife, when that relation exists' (Kan. Const. art. 15, § 9). A homestead deed signed by only one spouse does not alienate it. The section itself excepts a lien 'given by the consent of both husband and wife' (such as a purchase-money mortgage) and purchase- or improvement-money and tax obligations; a guardian may join for an adjudicated-incapacitated spouse (K.S.A. 59-2314 et seq.), and a spouse may consent through an attorney-in-fact |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. A deed may be executed by the grantor's 'agent or attorney' (§ 58-2205) and subscribed by 'the party's lawful agent or attorney' (§ 58-2209). The power of attorney 'does not have to be recorded to be valid and binding between the principal and attorney in fact or between the principal and third persons,' but it 'may be recorded in the same manner as a conveyance of land' (§ 58-652(c)). Because a recorded instrument imparts notice to later purchasers (§ 58-2222), the power of attorney is customarily recorded with or near the deed so the agent's authority shows in the chain of title. A spouse may likewise consent to a homestead conveyance through an attorney-in-fact |
Record with the register of deeds of the county where the real estate is situated (§ 58-2221). The deed must first be acknowledged (or proved) and certified (§§ 58-2211, 58-2221) so that recording will 'impart notice to all persons' (§ 58-2222). On recording, the party 'shall furnish the register of deeds the full name and last known post-office address of the person to whom the property is conveyed' for tax-statement mailing, and the register compares the instrument against the last record of transfer and withholds recording of an instrument with apparent errors until the grantee is notified (§ 58-2221). A legal description identifying the land is needed. A Kansas real estate sales validation questionnaire (or a stated exemption) and county recording fees are separate steps — confirm with the register of deeds |
Notice recording act. An unrecorded deed is valid between the parties: 'no such instrument in writing shall be valid, except between the parties thereto, and such as have actual notice thereof, until the same shall be deposited with the register of deeds for record' (§ 58-2223). Once recorded it 'impart[s] notice to all persons,' and 'all subsequent purchasers and mortgagees shall be deemed to purchase with notice' (§ 58-2222). So a later buyer who pays value without actual or constructive notice takes free of an earlier unrecorded deed — a notice rule, with no first-to-record requirement. Cures: a deed the grantor cannot acknowledge may still reach the record by witness proof (§ 58-2216); the Marketable Record Title Act declares interests depending on acts before the root of title 'null and void' (§ 58-3405). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, defective acknowledgment for notice, or lack of title |
| Kentucky verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in KRS Chapter 382 (Conveyances and Encumbrances) — signature and deed requirement (§ 382.010), recording and content (§§ 382.110, 382.130, 382.135), priority (§ 382.270), and agent authority (§ 382.370). Kentucky is one of a handful of states that still recognizes dower and curtesy (KRS Chapter 392), so the marital column matters. Recording is at the county-clerk level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; commissioner, sheriff, and other court-officer deeds are carved out of parts of § 382.110 |
Signed deed required for any freehold. 'No estate of inheritance or freehold, or for a term of more than one (1) year, in real property shall be conveyed, except by deed or will' (§ 382.010). A deed is a written instrument signed (and delivered) by the owner. Kentucky imposes no statutory seal, consideration recital, or granting-word formula for the transfer to be valid between the parties; the extra content the recording statutes demand (below) goes to recordability, not to whether title passes |
No subscribing witnesses needed to convey, and none needed if the deed is notarized. Witnesses appear only as a backup way to prove a deed for recording when it was not acknowledged: a deed may be admitted to record 'on the acknowledgment, before the proper clerk,' or 'by the proof of two (2) subscribing witnesses' (§ 382.130). In practice deeds are acknowledged before a notary, so witnesses are rarely used. Kentucky has no attesting-witness validity rule like Florida's or Ohio's |
Not required to pass title; required to record and to beat later claimants. A signed, delivered deed transfers title between grantor and grantee even unacknowledged, but 'no deed ... shall be lodged for record and, thus, valid against a purchaser for a valuable consideration, without notice thereof, or against creditors, until such deed ... is acknowledged or proved according to law' (§ 382.270(1)). Acknowledgment is taken before a notary public or the county clerk (§ 382.130(1),(5)). Proof by subscribing witnesses is the only alternative |
Dower and curtesy — Kentucky still has them. A surviving spouse takes 'an estate for his or her life in one-third (1/3) of any real estate of which the other spouse ... was seized ... during the coverture but not at the time of death, unless the survivor's right ... has been barred, forfeited, or relinquished' (§ 392.020). So a married owner's real estate carries the other spouse's inchoate dower or curtesy even if only one spouse is on title. A deed signed by the owner alone passes the owner's title but leaves that life-estate interest attached; the spouse must join the deed to release it. Kentucky has no community property, and the homestead exemption is a debtor-protection rule, not a signature rule |
An attorney-in-fact signs under a recorded power. A 'power of attorney to convey or release real ... property ... may be acknowledged, proved and recorded ... in the manner prescribed for recording conveyances,' and 'if the conveyance made under a power is required by law to be recorded ... to make the same valid against creditors and purchasers, then the power must be lodged or recorded in like manner' (§ 382.370). A recorded revocation is required to revoke it. The underlying authority is governed by Kentucky's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (KRS Chapter 457); the power is recorded in the same county clerk's office as the deed |
Record with the county clerk of the county where the property, or its greater part, is located (§ 382.110(1)). The deed 'shall plainly specif[y] and refer to the immediate source from which the grantor derived title' — the prior deed's book, page, and date, or how title was inherited (§ 382.110(2),(4)). It must also carry the full names and mailing addresses of grantor and grantee, a consideration statement, an in-care-of address for the tax bill, and a sworn, notarized consideration certificate (§ 382.135(1)). The clerk 'shall not' record a deed missing these items (§§ 382.110(6), 382.135(5)), but a noncompliant deed that does get recorded still gives notice and stays admissible (§ 382.135(7)) |
Notice recording act. A delivered deed is good between the parties unrecorded, but until it is acknowledged or proved and lodged, it is not 'valid against a purchaser for a valuable consideration, without notice ..., or against creditors' (§ 382.270(1)) — a later buyer who pays value without notice of the earlier deed can prevail. Cures: a deed 'not so acknowledged or proved ... but ... otherwise lodged for record' is deemed validly lodged and puts 'all interested parties ... on constructive notice' (§ 382.270(1)); a recorded deed missing § 382.135 content still imparts notice and is admissible (§ 382.135(7)). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Louisiana verified 2026-07-16 | Civil law, not common law. A deed is a 'transfer of immovable property' under the Louisiana Civil Code. The spine is art. 1839 (transfer by authentic act or act under private signature; registry for third-party effect), the form rules for those two instruments (arts. 1833, 1836), community-property concurrence (arts. 2347, 2353), the mandate (agency) articles (arts. 2989–3034, esp. 2993, 2996), and the Title XXII-A registry articles (arts. 3338–3368). Scope here is an ordinary voluntary transfer of a present ownership interest in an immovable by an individual owner; judicial, tax-sale, succession, and donation transfers run on other rules |
Signed writing, by the transferor. 'A transfer of immovable property must be made by authentic act or by act under private signature' (art. 1839). The only exception is a purely oral transfer, 'valid between the parties when the property has been actually delivered and the transferor recognizes the transfer when interrogated on oath' — useless for recording. No statutory seal, consideration recital, or set granting-word formula is required for validity |
Two witnesses for an authentic act; none for a private act. An authentic act is executed 'in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party ..., by each witness, and by each notary public' (art. 1833). A deed made as an act under private signature is valid between the parties with no witnesses at all; two witnesses reappear only when that private act is acknowledged before a notary (art. 1836). Because Louisiana deeds are customarily done as authentic acts, the practical norm is a notary plus two witnesses |
Turns on which route you use, and goes to proof — not to a recording gate. An authentic act is self-proving because it is already signed before a notary and two witnesses (art. 1833). An act under private signature is valid without a notary but is only 'regarded prima facie as the true and genuine act' once its signature is acknowledged before a court, notary, or other authorized officer in the presence of two witnesses (art. 1836); an acknowledged private act 'cannot substitute for an authentic act when the law prescribes such an act.' Third-party effect depends on filing, not on notarization |
Community-property concurrence, not a homestead-signature rule. 'The concurrence of both spouses is required for the alienation, encumbrance, or lease of community immovables' and of furniture or furnishings in the family home (art. 2347). A spouse acting alone on a community immovable makes the transfer 'relatively null unless the other spouse has renounced the right to concur' (art. 2353). A spouse's own separate immovable may be conveyed alone. Louisiana has no dower or curtesy, and there is no general homestead-joinder signature requirement |
An agent acts under a 'mandate' (procuration). Because the law prescribes a form for transferring an immovable, 'a mandate authorizing the act must be in that form' (art. 2993) — so a power to sell land is itself an authentic act or an acknowledged private act, not a bare writing. The 'authority to alienate ... must be given expressly,' though 'neither the property nor its location need be specifically described' (art. 2996). The mandate is customarily filed in the conveyance records with the deed so the agent's authority appears of record |
File in the parish where the land lies with the clerk of the district court, who 'shall be ex officio notary public and parish recorder of conveyances' (La. Const. art. V, § 28); in Orleans Parish the recorder is the Clerk of the Civil District Court. A recorded conveyance 'shall designate the name of the person responsible for all property taxes ... and include the address where ... notices are to be mailed' (La. R.S. 9:2721(A)). Art. 3352 lists items an instrument should carry — full name, domicile, and mailing address of the parties, marital status, the property's municipal number, and the notary's ID or bar number — but 'the recorder shall not refuse to record an instrument because it does not contain' them, and omission 'does not impair the validity ... or the effect given to its recordation' |
Pure race, keyed to filing not knowledge. A deed is fully valid between grantor and grantee once executed, but 'an instrument involving immovable property shall have effect against third persons only from the time it is filed for registry' (art. 1839; accord art. 3338, rights 'without effect as to a third person unless the instrument is registered'). Louisiana's public-records doctrine makes recordation decisive — an unrecorded transfer is generally without effect as to a third person even one who knew of it. Recording is no cure: it 'does not create a presumption that the instrument is valid or genuine' or as to capacity (art. 3341), and fixes no forgery, incapacity, or lack of ownership; but a party to a recorded instrument 'may not contradict' its terms to the prejudice of a later third person (art. 3342) |
| Maine verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, ch. 7 (Conveyance of Real Estate): a person 'may convey [real estate] ... by a deed to be acknowledged and recorded' (§ 151); the writing-and-signature rule (§ 162); recording and priority (§ 201); acknowledgment for recording (§ 203). The nonowner-spouse rule is § 480. Recording is done at the county registry of deeds. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and fiduciary, foreclosure, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
Signed written deed. Real estate is conveyed 'by a deed to be acknowledged and recorded' (§ 151), and 'there can be no estate created in lands greater than a tenancy at will, and no estate in them can be granted, assigned or surrendered unless by some writing signed by the grantor or maker or his attorney' (§ 162). So the grantor — or the grantor's attorney — signs a written deed. The deed must also state the grantee's address, including street and number, municipality, and state (§ 456). No seal is required, and a deed that omits a consideration recital or a seal is still valid (§ 353-A) |
None. Maine requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid. Execution under §§ 151, 162, and 203 calls for the grantor's signature and a notarial acknowledgment, not witnesses; the only statutory role for a subscribing witness is to help prove a deed if the grantor later refuses to acknowledge it. There is no two-witness execution rule like the ones in Connecticut or Ohio |
Required to record and to bind later purchasers; not required for validity between the parties. A conveyance is 'not ... effectual against any person except the grantor, his heirs and devisees, and persons having actual notice thereof unless the deed ... is acknowledged and recorded' (§ 201) — so between the parties and their heirs an unacknowledged deed still passes title. To record, the deed 'must be acknowledged by the grantors ... before a notary public in the State, or before an attorney-at-law' (§ 203), and an acknowledgment conforming to the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts must be accepted for recording (§ 203) |
No mandatory spousal joinder. Maine has no homestead- or dower-based rule forcing a nonowner spouse to sign: 'An owner of real estate may convey that real estate, or any interest in it free from any claim to the real estate by his nonowner spouse ... without signature of his nonowner spouse, unless' the transfer requires a signature under the elective-share rule, Title 18-C § 2-208(1), or the nonowner spouse has filed a divorce claim under Title 19-A § 953 (§ 480). After a conveyance, the nonowner spouse's claim runs 'against the proceeds ... and not against the real estate' (§ 480). Because a below-value transfer can still be reached for the surviving spouse's elective share, Maine's statutory deed forms include a 'spouse of the grantor, releases all rights in the premises being conveyed' line (§ 775), and title practice commonly adds it |
An agent signs under written authority, and the agent's deed is the principal's. 'Deeds and contracts executed by an authorized agent of a person or corporation in the name of his principal, or in his own name for his principal, are in law the deeds and contracts of such principal' (§ 452). The power of attorney is acknowledged like a deed and may be executed by 'their attorney' (§ 203), and § 353-A validates an agent-executed conveyance on record 20 years even if no power of attorney appears of record. Recording the power of attorney is customary but not a statutory validity condition. Maine's Uniform Power of Attorney Act is 18-C §§ 5-901 to 5-964 |
Record with the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies; if the land lies in two or more counties or registry districts, record in each (§ 201). The deed must be acknowledged (§ 203) and must state the grantee's address — street and number, municipality, and state (§ 456). The Maine real-estate transfer tax is collected at recording. County recording fees and formatting are set locally — confirm with the registry of deeds |
Notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but 'no conveyance ... is effectual against any person except the grantor, his heirs and devisees, and persons having actual notice thereof unless the deed ... is acknowledged and recorded' (§ 201). So a later purchaser who takes without actual notice of an earlier unrecorded deed can defeat it — record promptly. Cures: a deed that omits a consideration recital or a seal is valid (§ 353-A(1)), and an agent-executed conveyance on record 20 years is valid even without a recorded power of attorney (§ 353-A(4)). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Maryland verified 2026-07-16 | Maryland deed law sits in the Real Property Article: the statute of frauds in Title 5, deed formalities in Title 4, and recording in Title 3. A distinctive feature runs through it — under § 3-101, 'no estate of inheritance or freehold ... or deed may pass or take effect unless the deed granting it is executed and recorded,' so recording is part of passing legal title, not just protecting it. A common-law title state (no community property); dower and curtesy are abolished (Est. & Trusts § 3-202). Deeds are recorded in the land records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the county (or Baltimore City). Scope here is an ordinary quitclaim or warranty deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; mortgages, deeds of trust, and fiduciary or tax deeds run on separate rules |
Signed writing required. An interest in land 'created by parol and not in writing and signed by the party creating it, or his agent lawfully authorized by writing, has the force and effect of an estate ... at will only' (§ 5-101). A deed is 'sufficient, if executed, acknowledged, and, where required, recorded' when it contains 'the names of the grantor and grantee, a description of the property sufficient to identify it with reasonable certainty, and the interest or estate intended to be granted' (§ 4-101(a)). No consideration recital is needed to make the deed sufficient, and a corporate seal is not required |
None. Maryland requires no subscribing or attesting witness for an ordinary deed. Section 4-101(b) provides that if a deed 'is signed by the grantor in accordance with the requirements of Title 5 of this article, the absence of a seal or attestation does not affect the validity of the deed.' 'Attestation' is the old witnessing formality; its absence is expressly harmless. (Section 4-109 separately treats a defective witness attestation on a power of attorney as a curable defect, confirming witnessing is not a validity gate for the deed itself.) |
Required. A sufficient deed must be 'acknowledged' (§ 4-101(a)), and the deed's effective date is pegged to it — 'the date of delivery is presumed to be the date of the last acknowledgment' (§ 3-201). Acknowledgment is taken before a notary public or other authorized officer, who certifies it. A defect in the acknowledgment does not doom the deed permanently: under § 4-109 a 'defective acknowledgment,' a missing clerk's certificate, or an omitted seal 'has no effect' unless challenged in a judicial proceeding within six months after recording |
No marital joinder for a lifetime deed. Maryland abolished the estates of dower and curtesy (Est. & Trusts § 3-202), and it is not a community-property state, so a married owner who holds title alone may convey without the other spouse's signature. There is no homestead-joinder statute for deeds. Co-owners must all sign because they are owners — for example, spouses who hold as tenants by the entireties both sign to convey the whole — but that is co-ownership, not a spousal-consent rule. A surviving spouse's protection in Maryland is a death-time elective share against the estate, not a veto over lifetime conveyances |
A power of attorney 'authorizing an agent or attorney to sell and grant any property shall be executed in the same manner as a deed and recorded' — before the deed, on the same day, or (with a dated-and-acknowledged power plus a non-revocation affidavit in the deed) after (§ 4-107(a)-(b)). The agent 'shall describe himself in and sign the deed as agent or attorney' (§ 4-107(c)). A power of attorney is revoked, as to the land records, 'when the instrument containing the revocation is recorded in the office where the deed should be recorded' (§ 4-107(c)) |
Record in the land records of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the county (or Baltimore City) where the property lies. Statewide items the clerk requires: the collector of taxes' certificate that public taxes, assessments, and charges are paid, endorsed on the deed (§ 3-104(b)); a complete intake sheet on the Administrative Office of the Courts form (§ 3-104(g)); for a deed, a certification that it 'has been prepared by [an] attorney [admitted in Maryland] or under the attorney's supervision,' or by a named party (§ 3-104(f)); each party's name typed or printed by the signature (§ 3-104(d)); and format — printing 'in not less than 8 point type and in black letters ... on white paper,' with 'at least a 3-inch margin at the top of the first page and 1-inch margins on the left and right sides' (§ 3-104(e)). Recordation and transfer taxes under the Tax-Property Article, and county fees, are separate steps paid at recording |
Recording carries unusual weight here. Under § 3-101 a freehold deed does not 'pass or take effect' as legal title 'unless the deed ... is executed and recorded'; between the original parties a delivered deed still binds the grantor from its effective date (§ 3-201), and a grantee in possession under an unrecorded deed gives constructive notice of it (§ 3-202). Priority is race-notice: a recorded deed takes effect from its effective date against a later grantee unless that later grantee accepted the deed 'in good faith,' 'without constructive notice,' 'for a good and valuable consideration,' and 'recorded the deed first' (§ 3-203). Cures: § 4-109 makes a defective acknowledgment, missing clerk's certificate, omitted seal or attestation, or defective power-of-attorney witness attestation of 'no effect' unless challenged within six months of recording. None of this cures fraud, forgery, incapacity, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Massachusetts verified 2026-07-16 | Deed execution and recording are in G.L. c. 183 (Alienation of Land); curative rules in c. 184 (§ 24); the estate of homestead in c. 188; and registered (Torrens) land in c. 185. A common-law title state — no community property, and dower and curtesy are abolished (former c. 189 is '[Repealed, 2008, 521, Sec. 6.]'). Deeds are recorded at the registry of deeds for the county or district where the land lies (§ 4). Massachusetts also maintains a parallel registered-land system: for a parcel with a Land Court certificate of title, the act of registration, not recording, is what conveys (c. 185, § 57). Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee; mortgages, trustee, fiduciary, tax, and Land Court registration procedures run on their own rules |
A signed, delivered writing passes title. An interest in land created 'without an instrument in writing signed by the grantor or by his attorney' has 'the force and effect of an estate at will only' (§ 3), and 'no estate or interest in land shall be assigned, granted or surrendered unless by such writing.' A deed 'executed and delivered by the person, or by the attorney of the person, having authority therefor ... shall ... be sufficient, without any other act or ceremony, to convey land' (§ 1). Delivery is thus part of effectiveness. No seal, date, or consideration recital is required for validity. The statutory short-form deeds in the chapter appendix 'may be used and shall be sufficient' (§ 8) |
None. Massachusetts requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed. Section 1 makes a delivered deed sufficient to convey 'without any other act or ceremony,' and the recording gate in § 29 asks only for a certificate of acknowledgment or proof of due execution — not witnesses. Witnessing is not a validity or recording requirement (the curative statute, c. 184 § 24, even lists 'witnesses' and 'attestation' among defects it cures, confirming they are not essential) |
Required to record, not to pass title. Title passes on the signed, delivered deed itself (§ 1); acknowledgment is the recording gate: 'No deed shall be recorded unless a certificate of its acknowledgment or of the proof of its due execution ... is endorsed upon or annexed to it' (§ 29). The acknowledgment is made by one or more grantors, 'or by any attorneys or representatives executing it on behalf of the grantors,' before — if within the commonwealth — 'a justice of the peace or notary public,' who endorses or annexes a certificate (§ 30). A deed that is signed and delivered but not acknowledged still conveys between the parties; it simply cannot be recorded |
No dower, curtesy, or community-property joinder — those marital interests are abolished (former c. 189, repealed). The live marital-signature rule is the estate of homestead. Every home has an automatic homestead of $125,000 with no filing (c. 188, § 4), and a recorded declaration raises it to $1,000,000 (§ 3; amounts defined in § 1). To convey the home free of that estate, a 'deed to a non-family member conveying the home' must be 'signed by the owner and, if any, a non-owner spouse or former spouse who resides in the home as a principal residence as of the date of the deed' (§ 10(a)(1)). So a solely-titled owner passes title alone, but if a non-owner spouse lives there and does not sign, the homestead estate survives the sale and the buyer takes subject to it. A surviving spouse is otherwise protected by the elective share at death (c. 190B), not by joining every deed |
An owner may convey through an attorney-in-fact: § 1 lets 'the attorney of the person, having authority therefor' execute and deliver the deed, and § 30 lets 'attorneys or representatives executing it on behalf of the grantors' make the acknowledgment. The authority is a written power of attorney, and it must clear the same recording formalities as the deed: 'The law relative to the acknowledgment and recording of deeds shall apply to letters of attorney for the conveyance of real estate' (§ 32). In practice the power of attorney is acknowledged and recorded in the same registry as the deed so the agent's authority is in the chain of title. Massachusetts has not adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act; durable-POA validity is governed by c. 190B, Article V, Part 5 |
Record with the registry of deeds for the county or district where the land is located (§ 4). The one statewide recording condition in the conveyancing chapter is the acknowledgment: a certificate of acknowledgment or of proof of due execution must be endorsed on or annexed to the deed and 'recorded at length with the deed' (§ 29). For registered land, the instrument is presented instead to the assistant recorder for the Land Court district, and registration — not mere recording — is the operative act (c. 185, § 57). County recording fees, the state deeds excise, municipal-lien and formatting/indexing standards are separate from these execution rules; confirm current requirements with the registry of deeds |
Notice priority. A conveyance of a fee, fee tail, or life estate 'shall not be valid as against any person, except the grantor ... his heirs and devisees and persons having actual notice of it, unless it ... is recorded in the registry of deeds' (§ 4). A later purchaser who takes without actual notice prevails over an earlier unrecorded deed — and Massachusetts does not additionally require that purchaser to record first, so this is a notice rule, not race-notice. An unrecorded deed still binds the original parties. Cure: after a recorded instrument has been on record ten years, defects in 'seals ... the validity of acknowledgment ... certificate of acknowledgment, witnesses, attestation, proof of execution' are cured and the instrument is 'effective for all purposes,' unless a challenge proceeding was recorded within the ten years (c. 184, § 24). Registered land follows the c. 185 system instead. No cure reaches fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of ownership |
| Michigan verified 2026-07-16 | Michigan conveyancing is in the Revised Statutes of 1846, Chapter 65 — MCL Chapter 565, 'Of Alienation by Deed, and the Proof and Recording of Conveyances.' A deed 'may be made by deed, signed and sealed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, being of lawful age, or by his lawful agent or attorney, and acknowledged or proved and recorded' (MCL 565.1). 'Conveyance' covers every writing that transfers an interest in land except wills, short leases, and land contracts (MCL 565.35). A common-law title state with no community property; recording is by county register of deeds and priority is race-notice (MCL 565.29). Scope here is an ordinary warranty or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; tax, foreclosure, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing for validity; no seal. A deed must be 'signed ... by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, being of lawful age, or by his lawful agent or attorney' (MCL 565.1). The historic seal is gone: affixing 'an actual seal, a scroll or device used as a seal, the word "seal" or letters "L.S." ... shall be unnecessary,' and an unsealed deed is 'valid and effectual to convey the legal estate' (MCL 565.241). The statutory short-form warranty and quitclaim deeds each show a single grantor signature (MCL 565.151, 565.152) |
None. Michigan dropped its two-witness rule in 2002. MCL 565.8 now requires only that a deed 'be acknowledged before any judge, clerk of a court of record, or notary public,' with no subscribing witnesses, and a recorded deed 'that lacks 1 or more witnesses' becomes fully valid once it has been 'of record for a period of 10 years or more.' No witness is needed to execute or to record an ordinary deed |
Required to record, not to pass title. A deed executed in Michigan 'shall be acknowledged before any judge, clerk of a court of record, or notary public,' who endorses a dated certificate (MCL 565.8), and the register 'shall not' record a deed 'unless [it] is acknowledged or proved as provided by this chapter' (MCL 565.47). But an unacknowledged deed still binds the parties: only recording affects later purchasers (MCL 565.29), and a good-faith deed for value is not void for a defect 'in ... the ... acknowledgment' (MCL 565.604) |
No spousal signature for a sole owner. Michigan is not a community-property state, and dower is abolished — 'a wife's dower right is abolished and unenforceable either through statute or at common law' (MCL 558.30, effective April 6, 2017). The old requirement to state a male grantor's marital status now applies only to instruments 'offered for record before April 6, 2017' (MCL 565.221). A non-owner spouse generally need not join a deed of the marital home. Both spouses sign only where both hold title — for example, property owned as a tenancy by the entirety — because each is then a co-owner |
An owner's 'lawful agent or attorney' may sign the deed (MCL 565.1). A 'letter of attorney, or other instrument containing a power to convey lands as agent or attorney for the owner ... when acknowledged or proved ... may be recorded in the registry of deeds of any county in which the lands ... may be situated,' and that record is read in evidence like a conveyance (MCL 565.36). In practice the power of attorney is acknowledged and recorded with, or just before, the agent-signed deed |
Record with the register of deeds of the county where the land lies. A register 'shall not receive for recording an instrument' unless each signer's name is 'legibly printed, typewritten, or stamped beneath the original signature ... in black or dark blue ink,' with no discrepancy against the acknowledgment, the notary's name printed near the notary signature, 'the address of each of the grantees,' compliant margins and 10-point type, redacted Social Security numbers, an English translation if needed, and 'the name and business address of the person who drafted the instrument' (MCL 565.201). County fees, transfer-tax declarations, and page details are set locally — confirm them with the register |
Race-notice priority. An unrecorded conveyance 'shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance shall be first duly recorded,' and taking a quitclaim does not by itself destroy good faith (MCL 565.29). A later buyer wins only by taking without notice and recording first. Cures: a good-faith deed for value is not 'wholly void by reason of any defect in ... the sealing, signing, attestation, acknowledgment, or certificate of acknowledgment,' and once recorded it 'operate[s] as legal notice' (MCL 565.604); a recorded witnessless deed is validated after 10 years (MCL 565.8). Recording does not cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Minnesota verified 2026-07-16 | Minnesota conveyancing lives in Minn. Stat. ch. 507 ('Recording and Filing Conveyances'), with the writing requirement in the statute of frauds (§ 513.04) and marital joinder in § 507.02. A common-law title state (no community property); ordinary land goes on record with the county recorder, and registered 'Torrens' land (ch. 508) with the registrar of titles. Scope here is an ordinary warranty or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; transfer-on-death deeds (§ 507.071), mortgages, and fiduciary or probate deeds run on separate rules |
Signed writing, nothing more, for validity. No interest in land (beyond a lease of one year or less) can be granted 'unless by act or operation of law, or by deed or conveyance in writing, subscribed by the parties creating, granting, assigning, surrendering, or declaring the same, or by their lawful agent thereunto authorized by writing' (§ 513.04). Section 507.07 supplies optional statutory warranty- and quitclaim-deed forms; § 507.061 makes words of inheritance unnecessary. No seal or consideration recital is needed to pass title |
None. An ordinary Minnesota deed needs no subscribing or attesting witness. The statutory warranty and quitclaim forms in § 507.07 carry a single '(Signature)' line for the grantor and no witness line, and § 507.24 conditions recording on the deed being 'executed, acknowledged ... and the acknowledgment certified' — not on any witnessing. Witnessing is neither a validity rule nor a recording route in Minnesota |
Not required for validity; required to record. A signed written conveyance already passes title (§ 513.04), but to be recorded an instrument 'shall be legible and archivable, it shall be executed, acknowledged by the parties executing the same, and the acknowledgment certified, as required by law' (§ 507.24, subd. 1). The recorded deed must carry 'the original signatures of the parties who execute it and of the notary public or other officer taking an acknowledgment' (§ 507.24, subd. 2(a)); the acknowledgment form comes from ch. 358. A deed executed out of state may be recorded if valid where signed |
Homestead joinder, not a general spouse-signature rule. 'If the owner is married, no conveyance of the homestead ... shall be valid without the signatures of both spouses,' except a purchase-money mortgage (§ 507.03), an interspousal conveyance (§ 500.19, subd. 4), or a joint-tenancy severance (§ 500.19, subd. 5) (§ 507.02). Non-homestead property of either spouse may be conveyed by that spouse alone, subject to the other spouse's rights, and a spouse's signature 'may be made by the spouse's duly appointed attorney-in-fact.' Minnesota is not a community-property state, so only the homestead triggers mandatory joinder |
An agent may sign if 'authorized by writing' (§ 513.04), and a spouse's 'duly appointed attorney-in-fact' may sign or join a homestead conveyance (§ 507.02). A power of attorney is itself an 'instrument affecting real estate' that § 507.24 lists alongside conveyances as recordable only when executed, acknowledged, and certified — so in practice the power is acknowledged and recorded in the same county land records as the deed. Minnesota's own Powers of Attorney chapter (ch. 523) governs the authority; a representative-capacity acknowledgment for a corporation, partnership, LLC, or trust records under § 507.24, subd. 2(a) without further inquiry into authority |
Record with the county recorder of the county where the land is situated (§ 507.34; § 507.24 permits recording 'in every county where any of the lands lie'); registered Torrens land goes to that county's registrar of titles. Statewide items: original signatures of the parties and the notary (§ 507.24, subd. 2(a)); a certified acknowledgment (§ 507.24, subd. 1); the drafter's name and address — 'This instrument was drafted by ...' (§ 507.091); and the name and address of the person to receive tax statements — 'Tax statements ... should be sent to ...' (§ 507.092). Documents must meet the § 507.093 format standards (sheets no larger than 8.5 by 14 inches, black ink at least 8-point, white paper at least 20-pound, half-inch borders, and a three-inch top blank on the first page split between recording and tax certification). A Certificate of Real Estate Value (eCRV) is filed with the county auditor when the sale price exceeds $3,000 (§ 272.115); deed tax under ch. 287 and county fees are separate steps |
Race-notice priority. An unrecorded conveyance is 'void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance is first duly recorded,' and against an intervening attachment or judgment (§ 507.34) — but it is not void between the grantor and grantee, so a signed, delivered, unrecorded deed still passes title. A quitclaim in the chain does not by itself defeat a later buyer's good faith (§ 507.34). Cures: after 15 years on record, an instrument that does not show the grantor's marital status is 'prima facie evidence that such grantor ... was an unmarried person' (§ 507.021), and a missing drafter name or address does not impair the record's 'validity and effect' (§ 507.091, subd. 3). None of these cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Mississippi verified 2026-07-17 | Mississippi’s ordinary deed rules are spread across Title 89: § 89-1-3 requires a written, signed, delivered conveyance; § 89-1-29 protects a married owner’s homestead; §§ 89-3-1 and 89-3-7 govern acknowledgment or proof for recording; and §§ 89-5-1, 89-5-3, 89-5-8, and 89-5-24 govern recording, priority, affidavits, and format. Record in the chancery clerk’s office for the county where the land lies. Scope here is an individual owner’s present fee-simple conveyance, not a mortgage, fiduciary deed, tax sale, or transfer-on-death instrument |
Written, signed, and delivered, with a present conveyance. Section 89-1-3 provides that an estate in land cannot be conveyed unless the conveyance is declared by a writing that is signed and delivered. The Mississippi Supreme Court adds that, to operate as a deed rather than a testamentary writing, the instrument must specifically and unambiguously convey a present interest upon delivery. For recording, a paper document must contain original signatures; an electronic document must use signatures compliant with Mississippi’s Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (§ 89-3-1) |
No subscribing witness is required to execute an ordinary Mississippi deed. Section 89-1-3 states the general execution package—writing, signature, and delivery—without a witness requirement. A subscribing witness is instead an alternative proof route for recording: § 89-3-7(1)(g) supplies a form in which one subscribing witness swears that the grantor signed and delivered, or acknowledged signing and delivering, the instrument and that the witness signed in the grantor’s presence |
Not a between-parties validity requirement; normally a recording qualification. Under § 89-3-1, a conforming real-property document may be recorded if it is acknowledged or proved and the acknowledgment or proof is duly certified; the chancery clerk may refuse a document that does not satisfy that section. But an unrecorded conveyance remains valid and binding between the parties and their heirs (§ 89-5-3). If a nonqualifying document is nevertheless recorded, § 89-3-1 gives constructive notice of its contents |
Strict homestead joinder. A conveyance of a homestead exempt from execution is not valid or binding unless signed by the owner’s spouse when the owner is married and living with that spouse, or by an attorney-in-fact for the spouse (§ 89-1-29); Mississippi decisions call a deed missing that joinder absolutely void. Section 89-5-8(3) permits the nontitled spouse, instead of joining, to file a verified nonhomestead affidavit after the spouses jointly abandon the old homestead for a new one or after a separation with no intent to return and a separate residence |
A power of attorney need only express the granted authority plainly (§ 87-3-7), and an attorney-in-fact may sign documents within that authority, subject to the agent’s fiduciary limits. For recording, § 89-3-7(1)(f) supplies an acknowledgment form stating that the signer acted in a named representative capacity and was duly authorized. The general deed provisions cited here do not make separate recording of the power of attorney a condition of deed validity, but the deed and acknowledgment should identify the representative capacity clearly |
Record with the chancery clerk of the county where the land is situated (§§ 89-5-1, 89-5-24). A paper document needs original signatures, while an electronic document must comply with the electronic-recording act; acknowledgment or certified proof qualifies it for recording (§ 89-3-1). Section 89-5-24 requires reproducible black or blue signatures with typed, printed, or stamped names beneath them and a three-inch top margin across the first page. If the instrument contains preparer and party contacts, a return address, title, statutory tax-contact data, or the legal description/indexing instruction, that information belongs on the first page below the margin. A substantially nonconforming document must still be recorded for an added $10 fee, and format noncompliance does not affect validity |
Race-notice. Under § 89-5-1, a conveyance is not good against a purchaser for value without notice or a creditor unless lodged with the county chancery clerk, and filing time determines priority among competing filed conveyances. Section 89-5-3 preserves an unrecorded conveyance as valid and binding between the parties and their heirs. Cures are limited: a document recorded despite a § 89-3-1 acknowledgment or proof defect still gives constructive notice; § 89-5-8 allows a Mississippi attorney who prepared a chain-of-title document to record a verified scrivener-error affidavit for a typographical or other minor error; and § 89-5-24 says format failure does not affect validity. These provisions do not cure forgery, lack of authority, or missing homestead joinder |
| Missouri verified 2026-07-16 | Missouri deed law is in RSMo Chapter 442 (Titles and Conveyance of Real Estate, Title XXIX): execution and acknowledgment in §§ 442.020-442.150, and recording and priority in §§ 442.380-442.400. Homestead conveyance is in § 513.475, and dower and curtesy are abolished by § 474.110. A common-law title state with no community property; tenancy by the entirety is recognized. Deeds are recorded with the recorder of deeds of the county where the land lies (§ 442.380). Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee; deeds of trust (Missouri's mortgage substitute), trustee, fiduciary, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
A written, signed deed passes title. Conveyances 'may be made by deed executed by any person having authority to convey the same, or by his agent or attorney, and acknowledged and recorded as herein directed, without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 442.020). Deeds 'shall be subscribed by the party granting the same, or by his lawful agent' (§ 442.130.1) — the grantor's signature is the whole execution requirement. 'Subscribed' means signed. No seal is required (the deed conveys 'without any other act or ceremony'), and no date or consideration recital is needed for validity. One statewide content rule added in 2022: every instrument conveying real estate 'shall state whether any natural person acting as grantors ... are married or unmarried' (§ 442.130.2) |
None. Missouri requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed. A deed conveys 'without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 442.020), and § 442.130.1 requires only that the deed be acknowledged 'or proved and certified.' Proof by witnesses is an alternative route to recording when the grantor does not personally acknowledge — not a validity witness requirement — so the ordinary deed uses the grantor's acknowledgment and needs no witnesses |
Required to record and to bind third parties, not to pass title between the parties. A deed 'shall be acknowledged or proved and certified in the manner herein prescribed' (§ 442.130.1), and only an acknowledged-or-proved, certified instrument may be recorded (§ 442.380). Between the grantor and grantee the deed is valid even without recording or acknowledgment (§ 442.400 makes an unrecorded instrument valid 'between the parties thereto'). The acknowledgment or proof is 'taken by' a court or officer listed in § 442.150 (which includes notaries public); it is what makes the deed recordable and lets recording impart constructive notice |
No dower or curtesy — 'The estates of curtesy and dower are hereby abolished' (§ 474.110) — and no community property. But Missouri has a strong homestead-joinder rule: 'Either spouse separately shall be debarred from and incapable of selling, mortgaging or alienating the homestead in any manner whatever, and every such sale, mortgage or alienation is hereby declared null and void,' though nothing prevents 'the husband and wife from jointly conveying' it (§ 513.475.2). So a married owner cannot convey the family homestead alone — a one-spouse deed of the homestead is void, and both spouses must sign (§ 442.030 confirms spouses 'may convey ... by their joint deed'). The 2022 marital-status statement (§ 442.130.2) exists to surface this. Outside the homestead there is no general spousal-joinder rule for solely titled property; entirety property requires both to sign because neither owner holds a severable share |
An owner may convey through an agent or attorney-in-fact. A deed may be 'executed by any person having authority to convey the same, or by his agent or attorney' (§ 442.020), and it must be 'subscribed by the party granting the same, or by his lawful agent' (§ 442.130.1). The agent's signature is acknowledged or proved before an authorized officer the same as the owner's (§ 442.150). The authority is a written power of attorney; in practice it is acknowledged and recorded with the deed so the agent's authority appears in the land records. Separate entity, trustee, and personal-representative execution regimes are outside this survey |
Record the deed with the recorder of deeds of the county where the land is located: 'Every instrument in writing that conveys any real estate ... proved or acknowledged and certified in the manner herein prescribed, shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which such real estate is situated' (§ 442.380). The statewide recording conditions are the acknowledgment or proof and certification (§§ 442.130, 442.150) and the marital-status statement for each natural-person grantor (§ 442.130.2). Recording imparts constructive notice from the moment of filing (§ 442.390). County recording fees (Chapter 59), page-formatting standards, and any deeds-affidavit requirements are separate from these execution rules; confirm them with the county recorder |
Notice priority. An unrecorded deed is fully valid 'between the parties thereto, and such as have actual notice thereof,' but is not valid against anyone else 'until the same shall be deposited with the recorder for record' (§ 442.400). Once recorded, the deed 'impart[s] notice to all persons of the contents thereof and all subsequent purchasers and mortgagees shall be deemed ... to purchase with notice' (§ 442.390). A later buyer who takes without actual notice of an earlier unrecorded deed prevails, and Missouri does not additionally require that buyer to record first, so this is a notice rule, not race-notice. Cure: a recorded instrument that was 'not certified or is defectively certified' still imparts notice one year after it is filed (§ 490.340). No cure statute reaches fraud, forgery, incapacity, a bad description, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Montana verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not a community-property state. Deed execution rests on the statute of frauds, Mont. Code Ann. § 70-20-101 (Title 70, Property). Recording sits in Title 70, ch. 21 (Recording Transfers): unrecorded instruments are valid between the parties (§ 70-21-102), acknowledgment is required to record (§ 70-21-203), and the recording-priority rules run through §§ 70-21-301 to 70-21-304. The one marital-signature rule is the homestead statute, § 70-32-301. Recording is done by the county clerk and recorder. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed). 'An estate or interest in real property, other than an estate at will or for a term not exceeding 1 year, may not be created, granted, assigned, surrendered, or declared otherwise than by operation of law or a conveyance or other instrument in writing, subscribed by the party ... or by the party's lawful agent authorized by writing' (§ 70-20-101). So the owner — or a written-authorized agent — must sign (subscribe) a written deed. Montana requires no seal and does not make a consideration recital a condition of validity; statewide formatting and content requirements are applied by the county clerk and recorder at recording |
None. Montana requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid. Section 70-21-203 lets the execution of a deed be 'proved by a subscribing witness' as an alternative to a notarial acknowledgment, but that is only a route to record a deed the grantor did not personally acknowledge — not a witnessing requirement for validity. A notarized deed needs no witnesses. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Ohio's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. 'An unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties and those who have notice thereof' (§ 70-21-102), so a signed, delivered deed passes title without a notary. But 'before the instrument can be recorded, its execution must be acknowledged ... by the person executing it' — acknowledgment as defined in Montana's notarial-acts law, § 1-5-602 — or 'proved by a subscribing witness' (§ 70-21-203). The acknowledgment is the ordinary gate into the land records |
Homestead joinder. Montana is not a community-property state and has no dower or curtesy, but its homestead statute requires both spouses to sign: 'The homestead of a married person cannot be conveyed or encumbered unless the instrument by which it is conveyed or encumbered is executed and acknowledged by both husband and wife' (§ 70-32-301). So a deed of a married person's homestead — the protected principal residence under Title 70, ch. 32 — needs both spouses' signatures and acknowledgments, even if only one spouse holds title. Property that is not the homestead may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
An agent signs under written authority. The statute of frauds itself authorizes a conveyance 'by the party's lawful agent authorized by writing' (§ 70-20-101), and the acknowledgment is taken from 'the person executing' the deed (§ 70-21-203) — the attorney-in-fact signs the owner's name and the agent's own name as attorney-in-fact. Recording the power of attorney is customary so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title, but Montana does not by statute make recording the power of attorney a condition of a valid agent conveyance |
Record with the clerk and recorder of the county where the land lies. The deed's execution must be acknowledged, or proved by a subscribing witness, before it can be recorded (§ 70-21-203), and once recorded a conveyance operates under the recording act (§§ 70-21-301 to 70-21-304). Montana imposes no state real-estate transfer tax, but the county clerk and recorder applies statewide formatting and content requirements (such as paper size, margins, and a return address) — confirm current fees, formatting, and the county's realty transfer certificate requirements with the clerk and recorder |
Race-notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded (§ 70-21-102), but 'every conveyance of real property, other than a lease for a term not exceeding 1 year, is void against any subsequent purchaser or encumbrancer ... in good faith and for a valuable consideration whose conveyance is first duly recorded' (§ 70-21-304). So a later buyer defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer takes in good faith, pays value, and records first — a race-notice rule — and recording gives constructive notice against later claimants. A deed the grantor cannot personally acknowledge may still be recorded on a subscribing witness's proof (§ 70-21-203). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Nebraska verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Execution and recording sit in Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 76, Article 2 (Conveyances): the execution rule (§ 76-211), acknowledgment (§ 76-216, using the acknowledgment defined in § 64-205), and the recording act (§§ 76-237, 76-238). The one marital-signature rule is the homestead statute, § 40-104 (Chapter 40, Homesteads). A power of attorney to convey land is recognized by § 76-204, and old title defects are cleared by the Marketable Record Title Act (§§ 76-288 to 76-298). Recording is at the county register of deeds. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed written deed by a grantor of lawful age. 'Deeds of real estate, or any interest therein, in this state, except leases for one year or for a less time, if executed in this state, must be signed by the grantor or grantors, being of lawful age, and be acknowledged or proved and recorded as directed in sections 76-216 to 76-237' (§ 76-211). So the grantor signs a written deed; delivery makes it operative. Nebraska requires no seal, and under the state's Uniform Property Act no special words of inheritance are needed to pass a fee simple |
None. Section 76-211 calls for only the grantor's signature plus an acknowledgment (or proof) for recording — no subscribing or attesting witness is required to execute a Nebraska deed. The 'or proved' alternative in § 76-211 is a route to record a deed by witness proof when the grantor does not personally acknowledge it, not a witnessing requirement. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Required to record; for a homestead, required for validity. A signed, delivered deed of non-homestead land passes title between the parties even without a notary (settled Nebraska law), but 'the grantor must acknowledge the instrument with an acknowledgment as defined in section 64-205' (§ 76-216) to record it, and § 76-211 ties acknowledgment (or proof) to recordability. The exception is the homestead: an instrument conveying or encumbering a married person's homestead is void unless it 'is executed and acknowledged by both spouses' (§ 40-104), so for the homestead the acknowledgment is essential to validity, not just to recording |
Homestead joinder, not a general spouse-signature rule. An owner may convey non-homestead property alone, but 'the homestead of a married person cannot be conveyed or encumbered unless the instrument by which it is conveyed or encumbered is executed and acknowledged by both spouses' (§ 40-104) — a deed of the homestead missing one spouse's signature or acknowledgment is void. Section 40-104 supplies the exceptions: a conveyance directly from one spouse to the other; a conservator acting under the Nebraska Probate Code; an attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney that grants authority to sell and convey real property; and a purchase agreement signed by both spouses, which needs no acknowledgment to be enforceable. A purchase-money mortgage does not require the non-owner spouse to sign, and a claim that a homestead deed is invalid for noncompliance must be asserted within the § 76-288 to § 76-298 period |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under a power of attorney to convey land. Section 76-204 recognizes 'a letter of attorney or other instrument containing a power to convey lands as agent or attorney for the owner,' which 'when proved or acknowledged in the manner prescribed by statute, may be recorded' with the register of deeds. Recording the power of attorney is permissive, not a validity requirement (a Nebraska power of attorney 'is valid though not acknowledged, except to [the] extent of conveying a homestead') — but it is customarily recorded so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. For a homestead, § 40-104 expressly lets an attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney granting authority to sell and convey real property convey either spouse's interest, and the homestead instrument must be acknowledged |
Record with the register of deeds of the county where the real estate is situated; a deed is 'considered recorded from the time of' delivery to the register of deeds (§ 76-237), which is also when it takes effect against third parties (§ 76-238). The deed must first be acknowledged (or proved) to be recordable (§§ 76-211, 76-216). The deed needs a legal description identifying the land. Nebraska collects a documentary stamp tax and requires a real estate transfer statement to accompany the deed at recording, and county recording fees apply — separate steps to confirm with the register of deeds |
Race-notice recording act. A deed is 'valid between the parties' even unrecorded, but recorded instruments 'take effect and be in force from and after the time of delivering such instruments to the register of deeds for recording, and not before, as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers in good faith without notice,' and an unrecorded instrument is 'void as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers without notice whose deeds, mortgages, or other instruments are recorded prior to such instruments' (§ 76-238). So a later good-faith buyer without notice defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer records first — a race-notice rule, stricter than a pure notice state. Cures: an unbroken chain of record title for 22 years plus possession gives a marketable record title free of most older claims (§ 76-288); a homestead-defect claim is time-barred after the § 76-288 to § 76-298 period (§ 40-104). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Nevada verified 2026-07-16 | Community-property title state. The signed-writing rule sits in NRS 111.205 (statute of frauds) and NRS 111.105 (conveyances by deed); acknowledgment and recording are in NRS 111.240, 111.312, and 111.315–111.325, with marital-property rights in NRS chapter 123. Recording is at the county-recorder level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner using a grant, bargain and sale, quitclaim, or warranty deed; trustee, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds and deeds upon death (NRS 111.655–111.699) follow separate rules |
Signed writing required. 'No estate or interest in lands ... shall be created, granted, assigned, surrendered or declared ... unless by act or operation of law, or by deed or conveyance, in writing, subscribed by the party ... or by the party's lawful agent thereunto authorized in writing' (NRS 111.205(1)). And a conveyance by deed is 'signed by the person from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, being of lawful age, or by the person's lawful agent or attorney, and acknowledged or proved, and recorded' (NRS 111.105). No seal is required |
No witnesses required to execute. A Nevada deed passes title on the grantor's signature (NRS 111.105, 111.205); no attesting or subscribing witness is needed for validity. Witnessing appears only as an optional route to the land records: a conveyance 'must be acknowledged or proved and certified' (NRS 111.240), and 'proof' by a subscribing witness is the alternative to a notarial acknowledgment. In everyday practice a deed is acknowledged before a notary, not proved by witnesses |
Not required for validity; required to record. A conveyance 'shall be valid and binding between the parties thereto without such record' (NRS 111.315), so a signed deed passes title without a notary. To record, though, 'every conveyance in writing whereby any real property is conveyed or may be affected must be acknowledged or proved and certified in the manner provided in this chapter and in NRS 240.161 to 240.169' (NRS 111.240). The acknowledgment is taken before a Nevada notary public or other authorized officer |
Community-property joinder for community real property. Nevada is a community-property state. 'Neither spouse may sell, convey or encumber the community real property unless both join in the execution of the deed or other instrument ... and the deed or other instrument must be acknowledged by both' (NRS 123.230(3)) — so a deed of community real property needs both spouses' signatures and both acknowledgments. Separate property is different: 'either spouse may, without the consent of the other spouse, convey, charge, encumber or otherwise in any manner dispose of his or her separate property' (NRS 123.170). A spouse may also give the other a written power of attorney to convey community property (NRS 123.230) |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. A deed may be signed by 'the person's lawful agent or attorney' (NRS 111.105), and 'every instrument required by any of the provisions of this chapter to be subscribed by any party, may be subscribed by the lawful agent of such party' (NRS 111.020); the authority must be 'in writing' (NRS 111.205). To record an agent-signed deed it must be acknowledged or proved like any other (NRS 111.240), and in practice the power of attorney is acknowledged and recorded so the authority appears in the chain of title. A spouse may convey community property through a written power of attorney given to the other spouse (NRS 123.230) |
Record with the recorder of the county where the real property is situated (NRS 111.315). The deed must be acknowledged or proved (NRS 111.240) and, under NRS 111.312, must contain the mailing address of the grantee (or the person requesting recording), the assessor's parcel number at the top left of the first page, and — for a grant, bargain and sale, quitclaim, warranty, or trustee's deed — 'the name and address of the person to whom a statement of the taxes assessed on the real property is to be mailed.' The assessor's parcel number 'shall not be deemed to be a complete legal description' (NRS 111.312(4)), and a metes-and-bounds description must name its preparer (NRS 111.312(5)). A Declaration of Value and the real property transfer tax under NRS chapter 375 are separate steps — confirm fees and formatting with the recorder |
Race-notice recording act. A deed is 'valid and binding between the parties thereto without such record' (NRS 111.315), but 'every conveyance of real property ... which shall not be recorded as provided in this chapter, shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser, in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... where his or her own conveyance shall be first duly recorded' (NRS 111.325). A recorded conveyance imparts notice from the time of filing, so later 'purchasers and mortgagees shall be deemed to purchase and take with notice' (NRS 111.320). Cure: after three years on record, an instrument 'imparts notice of its contents to subsequent purchasers ... notwithstanding any defect, omission or informality in the execution ... or in the certificate of acknowledgment ... or the absence of any such certificate' (NRS 111.347). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| New Hampshire verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. (RSA) Title XLVIII, ch. 477 (Conveyances of Realty): real estate 'may be conveyed by deed executed by any person or by his attorney, acknowledged and recorded' (§ 477:1); execution formalities (§ 477:3); recording and priority (§§ 477:3-a, 477:7). The one marital-signature rule is the homestead statute, RSA Title XLIX, ch. 480, § 480:5-a. Recording is at the county registry of deeds. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and fiduciary, foreclosure, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
Signed written deed. 'Real estate may be conveyed by deed executed by any person or by his attorney, acknowledged and recorded as directed in this chapter, without any other act or ceremony whatever' (§ 477:1), and 'every deed or other conveyance of real estate shall be signed by the party granting the same ... and shall show the mailing address of the grantee' (§ 477:3). So the grantor — or the grantor's attorney — signs a written deed that carries the grantee's mailing address. No seal is required: 'any conveyance not executed under seal shall be as effectual as though sealed' (§ 477:1), and there is no statewide consideration-recital validity rule |
None. New Hampshire requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses. A 1988 amendment removed the old attestation requirement, and § 477:7 provides that deeds 'acknowledged and recorded ... but which were not attested to, shall be considered valid,' while the curative statute lists want of witnessing among the defects it cures (§ 477:16). There is no two-witness execution rule like the ones in neighboring Vermont and Connecticut |
Required to bind third parties and to record; not required for validity between the parties. Section 477:3 directs that a deed be 'acknowledged by the grantor before a justice, notary public or commissioner,' but § 477:7 keeps an unacknowledged, unrecorded deed 'valid to hold the same against any person but the grantor and his heirs only' — that is, valid between the parties. To hold against anyone else, the deed must be 'acknowledged and recorded' (§ 477:7). An unacknowledged but otherwise duly executed deed may even be recorded and is 'as effectual as if duly acknowledged' for 60 days (§ 477:10) |
Homestead joinder. New Hampshire's marital-signature rule is its homestead statute: 'No deed shall convey or encumber the homestead right, except a mortgage made at the time of purchase to secure payment of the purchase money, unless it is executed by the owner and wife or husband, if any, with the formalities required for the conveyance of land' (§ 480:5-a). So if the property is the couple's homestead, both spouses must sign the deed — the statutory quitclaim form even has the spouse 'release to said grantee all rights of homestead' (§ 477:28). The homestead right is $400,000 of value, up to $550,000 for a couple (§ 480:1). Property that is not the homestead may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
An agent signs under a written, acknowledged power of attorney. Section 477:1 lets a deed be 'executed by any person or by his attorney,' and 'every power of attorney to convey real estate must be signed and acknowledged, and may be recorded as required for a deed' (§ 477:9). Recording the power of attorney is permissive ('may be recorded'), not a validity condition, but is customary so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. New Hampshire's Uniform Power of Attorney Act is RSA 564-E |
Record with the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies. 'Every deed or other conveyance of real estate ... shall be recorded at length in the registry of deeds for the county or counties in which the real estate lies' (§ 477:3-a); the deed must be acknowledged and show the grantee's mailing address (§ 477:3); and if the homestead is conveyed, both spouses must have executed it (§ 480:5-a). County recording fees and the state real-estate transfer tax (RSA 78-B, with a Declaration of Consideration filed with the Department of Revenue Administration) are handled at recording — confirm current requirements with the registry |
Notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but a deed 'shall not be effective as against bona fide purchasers for value until so recorded' (§ 477:3-a), and § 477:7 makes an unrecorded, unacknowledged deed 'valid to hold the same against any person but the grantor and his heirs only.' So a later good-faith purchaser for value can defeat an earlier unrecorded deed — record promptly. Cures: an unacknowledged but duly executed deed may be recorded and is effectual for 60 days as if acknowledged (§ 477:10); and after 10 years on record, a deed defective for want of a consideration recital, acknowledgment, witnessing, or seal 'shall ... be valid' (§ 477:16), though that cure does not disturb rights others acquired in the meantime. Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| New Jersey verified 2026-07-16 | New Jersey deed law spans two titles: execution rests on the Statute of Frauds (N.J.S.A. 25:1-11) and Title 46's conveyancing sections, while recording and priority are in the 2011 recording act, N.J.S.A. 46:26A-1 et seq. A common-law title state with no community property; deeds are recorded with the county recording office (county clerk or register of deeds) and priority runs on a race-notice rule (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-12). Scope here is an ordinary bargain-and-sale or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; sheriff's, fiduciary, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
A signed writing passes title, and nothing more. A transfer of an interest in real estate 'shall not be effective ... unless ... a description of the real estate sufficient to identify it, the nature of the interest, the fact of the transfer and the identity of the transferor and the transferee are established in a writing signed by or on behalf of the transferor' (N.J.S.A. 25:1-11(a)(1)). No seal is needed — a recordable document 'is not required to be executed under seal' (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-3(b)). The grantor's signature (or a signature made on the grantor's behalf) is the whole execution requirement between the parties |
None. New Jersey requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed. The maker simply acknowledges the deed before an authorized officer; a subscribing witness appears only as the alternative way to 'prove' a deed that the maker did not personally acknowledge — 'to prove a deed ... a subscribing witness shall appear before an officer ... and swear that he or she witnessed the maker' (N.J.S.A. 46:14-2.1(a)-(b)). Because the maker's own acknowledgment satisfies recording, a witness is optional, not required |
Required to record, not to pass title. To be recordable a deed must be 'acknowledged or proved as provided by Title 46' (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-3(a)(3)); the maker appears before a notary, New Jersey attorney, county clerk, or other authorized officer and acknowledges 'that it was executed as the maker's own act,' and the officer signs a dated certificate (N.J.S.A. 46:14-2.1). Appearance by communication technology (remote notarization) is allowed. Title still passes between grantor and grantee on the signed writing without acknowledgment (N.J.S.A. 25:1-11); acknowledgment is the gateway to the land records and to priority |
Joint-possession consent for the marital home; no dower or community property. New Jersey abolished dower and curtesy for property acquired on or after May 28, 1980, and replaced them with a right of joint possession: 'during life every married individual shall be entitled to joint possession with his spouse of any real property which they occupy jointly as their principal matrimonial residence,' and a buyer 'does so subject to such right of possession' unless the spouse released it (N.J.S.A. 3B:28-3). So a deed of the occupied marital home needs both spouses to sign or release, even if only one is on title. Where spouses hold title as tenants by the entirety, 'neither spouse may sever, alienate, or otherwise affect their interest ... without the written consent of both spouses' (N.J.S.A. 46:3-17.4). Other property a spouse owns alone may be conveyed alone |
An owner may convey through an attorney-in-fact; the writing that transfers the interest may be 'signed by or on behalf of the transferor' (N.J.S.A. 25:1-11(a)(1)). The power of attorney itself 'must be in writing, duly signed and acknowledged in the manner set forth in R.S.46:14-2.1' (N.J.S.A. 46:2B-8.9) — the same acknowledgment a deed needs. In practice the power of attorney is acknowledged and recorded in the county land records so the agent's authority appears of record alongside the deed |
Record with the county recording office where the land lies. A deed 'satisfies the prerequisites for recording' when it is in English (or translated), 'bears a signature,' is 'acknowledged or proved,' has 'the names ... printed beneath all signatures,' 'fulfills the requirements of section 2 of P.L.1968, c.49 (C.46:15-6)' on consideration, 'includes a reference to the lot and block number ... or the account number,' 'includes the name of the person who prepared the deed,' and 'includes the mailing address of the grantee' (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-3(a)). Realty transfer fees, county recording fees, and page formatting are separate tax and local steps — confirm them with the county recording office |
Race-notice priority. A recorded document is, 'from the time of recording, notice to all subsequent purchasers, mortgagees and judgment creditors' (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-12(a)), and a deed 'shall be of no effect against ... subsequent bona fide purchasers and mortgagees for valuable consideration without notice and whose conveyance or mortgage is recorded, unless that conveyance is evidenced by a document that is first recorded' (N.J.S.A. 46:26A-12(c)). A later buyer wins only by paying value, taking without notice, and recording first. An unrecorded deed still binds the original parties — title passed on the signed writing (N.J.S.A. 25:1-11) — and fails only against a protected later claimant. Recording does not cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| New Mexico verified 2026-07-16 | Community-property state. Deed execution sits in N.M. Stat. Ann. Chapter 47, Article 1 (Conveyances): who may convey (§ 47-1-4), the signing requirement (§ 47-1-5), the statutory conveyancing forms (§ 47-1-44), the quitclaim's fee-simple effect (§ 47-1-30), and agent execution through a recorded power of attorney (§ 47-1-7). Recording sits in Chapter 14: acknowledgment as the recording gate (§ 14-8-4), recording with the county clerk (§ 14-9-1), constructive notice (§ 14-9-2), and the recording act (§ 14-9-3). The marital-joinder rule is the Community Property Act's § 40-3-13. Recording is at the county-clerk level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed (subscribed) written deed. 'All conveyances of real estate shall be subscribed by the person transferring his title or interest in said real estate, or by his legal agent or attorney' (§ 47-1-5), and any person holding a right or title to New Mexico real estate 'may convey the same in the manner and subject to the restrictions prescribed in this chapter' (§ 47-1-4). New Mexico gives optional statutory forms (§ 47-1-44): a warranty deed ('..., for consideration paid, grant ... to ..., whose address is ..., the following described real estate ... with warranty covenants') and a quitclaim deed. A deed following the quitclaim form, 'when duly executed, [has] the force and effect of a deed in fee simple to the grantee ... of any interest the grantor owns in the premises, without warranty' (§ 47-1-30). The forms call for the grantee's address and a legal description |
None. Nothing in the conveyancing statutes requires a subscribing or attesting witness — § 47-1-5 calls for only the transferor's (or the agent's) signature, and the route into the land records is a notarial acknowledgment (§ 14-8-4), not witness proof. The statutory forms' 'Witness ... hand ... and seal' line (§ 47-1-44) is the grantor's own signing language, not a call for separate witnesses. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. Section 47-1-5 asks only for the transferor's signature, so a signed, delivered but unacknowledged deed still passes title between grantor and grantee (New Mexico courts hold acknowledgment is not essential to validity as between the parties). But to reach the land records, 'any instrument of writing not duly acknowledged may not be filed and recorded or considered of record' (§ 14-8-4(A)), and '"acknowledged" means notarized by a person empowered to perform notarial acts pursuant to the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts' (§ 14-8-4(B)). So the notary is what lets you record — and only a recorded instrument gives notice to later buyers |
Community-property joinder, and it is strict. New Mexico is a community-property state: 'the spouses must join in all transfers, conveyances or mortgages ... [of] any interest in community real property and separate real property owned by the spouses as cotenants in joint tenancy or tenancy in common,' and a conveyance 'attempted to be made by either spouse alone in violation of the provisions of this section shall be void and of no effect,' except a spouse may convey directly to the other (§ 40-3-13(A)). This reaches all community real property, not just a homestead. A spouse's sole separate real property may be conveyed without the other's joinder; purchase-money mortgages are excepted; a spouse may act through 'a validly executed and recorded power of attorney' (§ 47-1-7); and the non-joining spouse may 'validate an instrument at any time by a ratification in writing' (§ 40-3-13(B)) |
An attorney-in-fact may sign, but the power of attorney must be recorded. Section 47-1-5 lets a 'legal agent or attorney' subscribe the deed. Unlike states where recording the authority is optional, New Mexico requires it: 'all powers of attorney or other writings containing authority to convey real estate ... shall be acknowledged, certified, filed and recorded, as other writings conveying or affecting real estate are required to be acknowledged' (§ 47-1-7). A recorded power of attorney also is what lets one spouse convey community real property for the other under § 40-3-13(B). Once recorded, the power of attorney is not treated as revoked by the principal's later act until a recorded revocation is filed (§ 47-1-7) |
Record with the clerk of the county where the real estate is situated: 'all deeds, mortgages ... and other writings affecting the title to real estate shall be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county or counties in which the real estate affected thereby is situated' (§ 14-9-1). The deed must first be 'duly acknowledged' — notarized under the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts — to be recordable (§ 14-8-4). The statutory forms supply the grantee's address and a legal description (§ 47-1-44). New Mexico imposes no state real-estate transfer or documentary-stamp tax; a real property transfer declaration is filed with the county assessor and the county clerk charges a recording fee — separate steps to confirm with the clerk and assessor |
Notice recording act. An unrecorded deed is valid between the parties but does not bind a later good-faith taker: 'no deed, mortgage or other instrument in writing not recorded in accordance with Section 14-9-1 ... shall affect the title or rights ... of any purchaser, mortgagee in good faith or judgment lien creditor, without knowledge of the existence of such unrecorded instruments' (§ 14-9-3). Recorded instruments are 'notice to all the world of the existence and contents of the instruments so recorded from the time of recording' (§ 14-9-2). So a later buyer who takes without knowledge — with no first-to-record requirement — prevails; New Mexico courts even resolve a clash between the § 40-3-13 joinder rule and § 14-9-3 in favor of an innocent purchaser without notice. Cures: the non-joining spouse may ratify in writing (§ 40-3-13(B)); a lost original may be recorded by a sworn duplicate-and-affidavit route (§ 14-8-4(D)). Recording a void deed does not validate it, and recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| New York verified 2026-07-15 | New York conveyancing sits in the Real Property Law (RPP): execution in Article 8 (§§ 240–245, chiefly § 243 for a grant of a fee or freehold and § 244 for delivery) and recording in Article 9 (§§ 290–335, chiefly § 291 recording and priority, § 306 certificate, § 309-a acknowledgment form, and § 333 recording content). Dower and curtesy sit in Article 6 (§§ 189–190) but are abolished for modern property. A common-law title state using race-notice recording. Deeds are recorded with the county clerk, or in New York City (except Staten Island) with the City Register. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; fiduciary, tax, and court deeds follow separate rules |
Writing, signature, and delivery. A grant of a fee or freehold 'must be subscribed by the person from whom the estate or interest conveyed is intended to pass, or by his lawful agent thereunto authorized in writing' (RPP § 243). Delivery is required to pass title: 'A grant takes effect, so as to vest the estate or interest intended to be conveyed, only from its delivery' (RPP § 244). No seal is needed and there is no mandatory form — § 258 supplies optional statutory short forms (including a quitclaim), but the parties are not required to use them |
None in practice. A New York deed that is acknowledged before delivery — the universal practice — needs no witness. Section 243 offers one attesting witness only as an alternative to that acknowledgment: 'If not duly acknowledged before its delivery ... its execution and delivery must be attested by at least one witness, or, if not so attested, it does not take effect as against a subsequent purchaser or incumbrancer until so acknowledged' (RPP § 243). So a witness matters only for a deed that was not acknowledged, and only for effect against third parties; because virtually every deed is notarized, the one-witness route is essentially never used |
A recording (and third-party-effect) requirement, not a validity requirement. A signed, delivered deed already passes title between grantor and grantee (RPP §§ 243, 244). To be recorded, a conveyance must be 'duly acknowledged by the person executing the same, or proved as required by this chapter' (RPP § 291). The officer taking the acknowledgment must attach a signed certificate (RPP § 306), and that certificate must substantially conform to the uniform form in RPP § 309-a. Acknowledgment (or proof by a subscribing witness) is what makes the deed recordable and, under § 243, what lets an unwitnessed deed take effect against later purchasers |
Generally none. New York abolished the marital interests that once forced a spouse to join: curtesy is abolished for a wife dying after August 31, 1930 (RPP § 189), and no dower attaches to land a husband 'became seized of an estate of inheritance' after August 31, 1930 (RPP § 190). New York also has no homestead-joinder rule for a deed. So a married owner may convey property held in that owner's name alone, and a spouse who is not on title need not sign. A surviving spouse is instead protected by a right of election against the deceased spouse's estate, exercised after death — not by joining a lifetime deed |
A deed may be signed by the owner's 'lawful agent thereunto authorized in writing' (RPP § 243). The authority is a power of attorney, which to be valid in New York must be signed and dated by the principal 'with the signature ... duly acknowledged in the manner prescribed for the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real property and witnessed by two persons who are not named in the instrument as agents,' and must also be signed and acknowledged by the agent (Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-1501B). Unlike Texas, New York's recording statutes do not condition recording the deed on separately recording the power; in practice the acknowledged power is recorded in the same county so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title |
Record with the county clerk of the county where the property is situated — in New York City (except Staten Island) with the City Register (RPP § 291). Statewide items beyond a valid acknowledgment and § 306 certificate: the deed and its certificate must be in English or come with an English translation (RPP § 333(2)); and a recording officer 'shall not record or accept for recording any conveyance of real property affecting land in New York state unless accompanied by' either a Tax Department receipt or 'a transfer report form prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance' — the RP-5217 — 'and the fee' (RPP § 333(1-e)). A combined transfer-tax return (TP-584) is filed as well. Section 333 also requires the deed to state the tax district and the parties' residences. County-set fees, cover pages, and formatting are confirmed with the recorder |
Race-notice. An unrecorded conveyance 'is void as against any person who subsequently purchases ... the same real property ... in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... and whose conveyance ... is first duly recorded' (RPP § 291). A later good-faith buyer for value therefore wins only by both taking without notice and recording first; a buyer with notice, or one who records after the first grantee, does not. Between the original parties the deed is valid though never recorded (RPP §§ 243, 244). Cure: a recorded conveyance 'shall be deemed to have been duly acknowledged or proved and properly authenticated, when ten years have elapsed since such recording,' saving intervening good-faith purchasers (RPP § 306); and under § 243 a later acknowledgment gives an unwitnessed deed effect against third parties. Recording does not cure forgery, fraud, incapacity, or lack of title |
| North Carolina verified 2026-07-15 | North Carolina conveyancing sits in Chapter 47 (Probate and Registration) — execution/acknowledgment for registration (§§ 47-14, 47-17), the Connor Act recording rule (§ 47-18), acknowledgment forms (§ 47-38), and power-of-attorney recording (§ 47-28) — with the writing rule in the Statute of Frauds (§ 22-2), spousal joinder in Chapter 39 (§ 39-7), register-of-deeds recording standards in Chapter 161 (§ 161-14), and the power-of-attorney act in Chapter 32C. A common-law title state: dower and curtesy are abolished (§ 29-4), there is no community property, and — the defining feature — it uses a PURE-RACE recording rule. Recording is with the county register of deeds. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, tax, and foreclosure deeds follow separate rules |
A conveyance of an interest in land must be in a signed writing. Under the Statute of Frauds, contracts and conveyances of 'any interest in or concerning' land 'shall be void unless ... put in writing and signed by the party to be charged' (§ 22-2), and a deed, once executed and registered, passes title 'without livery of seizin, attornment or other ceremony' (§ 47-17). The grantor's signature is the core execution act; North Carolina deeds are customarily signed under seal, but no words of inheritance, consideration recital, or attesting witness is needed to pass title between the parties |
None. No subscribing or attesting witness is required to execute a North Carolina deed. Section 47-17 lets a deed be 'acknowledged by the grantor ... or their signature proven on oath by one or more witnesses' — but that witness route is only an alternative way to prove the signing for registration, not a validity requirement, and notarial acknowledgment (§ 47-38) is the standard route. Witnessing plays no independent role in executing or recording an ordinary deed |
Not required for validity between the parties, but required to register — and registration is what makes the deed good against third parties. Before registration a deed 'shall be acknowledged by the grantor ... or their signature proven on oath by one or more witnesses' (§ 47-17), and the register of deeds 'shall not accept for registration any instrument that requires proof or acknowledgement unless [its execution] appears to have been proved or acknowledged before an officer ... [and] includes the officer's signature, commission expiration date, and official seal, if required' (§ 47-14(a)). Because an unregistered deed loses to a purchaser or creditor (§ 47-18), acknowledgment before a notary is effectively essential; the § 47-38 certificate ('personally appeared before me this day and acknowledged the due execution') is the standard form |
No dower or curtesy (§ 29-4) and no community property — but a spousal-joinder rule protects the elective life estate. 'In order to waive the elective life estate of either husband or wife as provided for in G.S. 29-30, every conveyance or other instrument affecting the estate, right or title of any married person in lands ... must be executed by such husband or wife' (§ 39-7(a)). So a married owner can convey and pass title alone, but a solo deed does not waive the non-owner spouse's § 29-30 elective life estate — the grantee takes subject to the possibility that a surviving spouse later elects a life estate in one-third of the property. Joinder is not required where another statute provides otherwise, such as spouse-to-spouse conveyances (§§ 39-13.3, 52-10) named in § 39-7(c) |
An attorney-in-fact may sign, but the power of attorney has to be recorded. 'Before any transfer of real property executed by an agent empowered by a power of attorney governed by Chapter 32C ..., the power of attorney or a certified copy ... shall be registered in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the principal is domiciled or where the real property lies' (§ 47-28(a)(1)). Failing to record the power 'shall not affect the sufficiency, validity, or enforceability of the instrument but shall constitute an infraction' (§ 47-28(a)(4)); and a power recorded after the deed relates back to the deed's registration (§ 47-28(b)). The deed made through the agent must reference the book, page, and county where the power is recorded (§ 47-28(a)(3)) |
Register the deed with the register of deeds of the county where the land lies (§ 47-18); the register endorses the day and hour of presentation and registers instruments 'in the precise order in which they were presented' (§ 161-14(a)) — the fact that fixes priority. Paper deeds must meet format standards: 8½ × 11 or 8½ × 14 inch pages, a 3-inch top margin on the first page and ½-inch margins elsewhere, black-on-white legible print of at least 9 points, one-sided pages, and the type of instrument stated at the top of the first page (§ 161-14(b)). A nonconforming instrument is still registered on payment of a nonstandard-document fee. Execution must be acknowledged before an officer whose seal and commission-expiration date appear (§ 47-14). Excise tax and local fees are separate; confirm them with the register |
Pure race — the sharpest recording rule in the survey. A conveyance is not 'valid to pass any property interest as against lien creditors or purchasers for a valuable consideration from the donor, bargainor, or lessor but from the time of its registration' (§ 47-18(a)), and priority runs strictly by 'the order of registration as determined by the time of registration.' There is no notice exception: a later purchaser for value who registers first can defeat an earlier unrecorded deed even if the later purchaser knew of it. As between grantor and grantee, though, a delivered deed still passes title — the Connor Act protects only lien creditors and purchasers for value. Cures are narrow: acceptance for registration presumes a valid notarial seal (§ 47-14(f)), but registration 'is not effective with regard to parties who have not executed the instrument or whose execution ... has not been duly proved or acknowledged' (§ 47-14(d)), and recording cures no fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| North Dakota verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not a community-property state. Deed execution sits in N.D.C.C. Title 47 (Property), ch. 47-10 (Real Property Transfers); recording sits in ch. 47-19 (Record Title); the homestead-signature rule is in ch. 47-18 (Homestead). An estate in real property is transferred by a written instrument the owner or a written-authorized agent signs (§ 47-10-01). Recording is with the recorder of the county where the land sits (§ 47-19-07). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate, fiduciary, tax, and mortgage deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed), no seal required. 'An estate in real property, other than an estate at will or for a term not exceeding one year, can be transferred only by operation of law or by an instrument in writing, subscribed by the party disposing of the same or by the party's agent thereunto authorized by writing' (§ 47-10-01). A seal is unnecessary: 'The absence of the seal of any grantor or grantor's agent from any grant of an estate made in real property shall not invalidate or in any manner impair the same' (§ 47-10-05). North Dakota supplies a short statutory grant form (§ 47-10-06), and each deed 'shall contain the post-office address, and any known or existing street address ... of each grantee' (§ 47-10-07) |
None for validity. North Dakota requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid. A subscribing witness matters only as an alternative to a notary for recording: 'The execution of a grant of an estate in real property to entitle the same to be recorded, if it is not acknowledged, must be proved by a subscribing witness or as otherwise provided in sections 47-19-23 and 47-19-24' (§ 47-10-05). A notarized deed needs no witnesses; there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. An unrecorded deed is valid between the parties (§ 47-19-46), but to record it 'its execution must be established: 1. If executed by an individual, by acknowledgment by the person executing the same ... [or] 3. By proof by a subscribing witness' (§ 47-19-03). Acknowledgment may be taken before a notary, a judge, or the clerk of the supreme court (§ 47-19-13). The record of a recorded instrument is then 'notice of the contents of the instrument ... as to all persons' (§ 47-19-19). Acknowledgment is a recording and notice step, not a between-parties validity rule |
Homestead joinder. North Dakota has no dower or curtesy and is not a community-property state, but a married owner cannot convey the homestead alone: 'The homestead of a married person, without regard to the value thereof, cannot be conveyed or encumbered unless the instrument by which it is conveyed or encumbered is executed and acknowledged by both the husband and wife' (§ 47-18-05). So a deed of the married owner's homestead needs both spouses to sign and acknowledge, even if only one holds title. Property that is not the homestead may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
An agent signs under written authority. The transfer statute authorizes a conveyance by the owner's 'agent thereunto authorized by writing' (§ 47-10-01), and the code supplies an attorney-in-fact acknowledgment form in which the agent 'subscribed the name of ______ thereto as principal and that person's own name as attorney in fact' (§ 47-19-29). Recording the power of attorney is customary, and a recorded power to convey is not revoked unless the revocation is also recorded (§ 47-19-44), but the recording act defines 'conveyance' to reach every title-affecting instrument 'except a will or power of attorney' (§ 47-19-42), so the power itself is not a priority-affecting conveyance and no statute makes recording it a condition of a valid agent deed |
Record with the recorder of the county where the land sits (§ 47-19-07). Before recording, the deed's execution must be established by acknowledgment or proof by a subscribing witness (§ 47-19-03). The deed must show 'the post-office address ... of each grantee,' or the recorder will not receive it — though a missing address 'shall not defeat the doctrine of constructive notice' (§ 47-19-05). A deed with a metes-and-bounds description must also name and give the address of the person who drafted the description (§ 47-19-03.1). Confirm current fees and any local requirements with the county recorder |
Race-notice recording act. An unrecorded instrument 'is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof' (§ 47-19-46), but 'an unrecorded conveyance of real estate is void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, of the same real estate ... [whose conveyance] first is recorded' (§ 47-19-41). So a later buyer defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer takes in good faith, pays value, and records first — a race-notice rule — and depositing an instrument for record is constructive notice to later purchasers and encumbrancers (§ 47-19-45). A defectively certified acknowledgment can be corrected by court action (§ 47-19-38), but recording cures no forgery, incapacity, defective description, or lack of title |
| Ohio verified 2026-07-15 | Ohio conveyancing sits in the Revised Code's real-property title: execution and acknowledgment at R.C. 5301.01, recording at 5301.25, curative presumptions at 5301.07, and statutory deed forms in Chapter 5302 (the quit-claim form is 5302.11). Recorder duties are in Chapter 317; the county auditor's mandatory pre-recording transfer-and-fee step is in 319.20/319.202; power-of-attorney recording is 1337.04. A common-law title state that still recognizes dower (R.C. 2103.02), records at the county level, and uses a notice priority rule. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing — and Ohio folds acknowledgment into execution. A deed 'shall be signed by the grantor,' and 'the signing shall be acknowledged by the grantor ... before a judge or clerk of a court of record in this state, or a county auditor, county engineer, notary public, or mayor, who shall certify the acknowledgement' (R.C. 5301.01(A)). So unlike states where a bare signature passes title, Ohio's execution formula is the grantor's signature plus a notarial (or equivalent) acknowledgment. The statutory quit-claim form shows a single grantor signature line and directs 'Execution in accordance with Chapter 5301' (R.C. 5302.11) |
None since 2002. Ohio deeds once had to be attested by two witnesses, but that requirement ended February 1, 2002 — R.C. 5301.01(B) now provides that a pre-2002 deed 'not acknowledged in the presence of, or ... not attested by, two witnesses' is nonetheless 'deemed properly executed and is presumed to be valid.' Current § 5301.01(A) requires only the grantor's signature and acknowledgment, and the statutory forms carry no witness lines. No witnesses are needed to execute or record an Ohio deed |
Required as part of execution, but heavily backstopped by cure. R.C. 5301.01(A) makes acknowledgment before a notary (or a judge, court clerk, county auditor, county engineer, or mayor) a formal execution step, not merely a recording gateway. R.C. 5301.07 then softens any slip: once a signed instrument 'is delivered to and accepted by the county recorder,' it carries 'a rebuttable presumption that the instrument is valid ... as if in all respects the instrument was legally made, executed, acknowledged, and recorded' (5301.07(B)) and gives constructive notice 'notwithstanding any defect in the making, execution, or acknowledgment' (5301.07(D)); after four years of record, defects — including 'no certificate of acknowledgment' — 'shall be cured' (5301.07(C)). The presumptions yield only to clear and convincing evidence of fraud, forgery, incapacity, and the like |
Dower — Ohio is one of the last dower states. 'A spouse who has not relinquished or been barred from it shall be endowed of an estate for life in one third of the real property of which the consort was seized as an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage' (R.C. 2103.02). Dower generally ends at the owner-spouse's death, but it survives a conveyance made during the marriage where 'the surviving spouse [was] not having relinquished ... dower therein' (2103.02(A)). So a non-owner spouse should join the deed to release dower — the statutory form has a line: '____, wife (husband) of the grantor, releases all rights of dower therein' (R.C. 5302.11). A deed signed only by the titled owner passes that owner's fee but leaves the spouse's inchoate dower attached, which can ripen into a one-third life estate if the owner dies first. There is no community property in Ohio |
An attorney-in-fact may sign, but Ohio front-loads the timing. Under R.C. 1337.04, a power of attorney 'used for the execution of a real property instrument shall be properly executed and acknowledged by the principal before the execution and acknowledgement of such real property instrument,' and 'shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county in which such property is situated, before the recording' of the deed. A power not recorded first may be placed of record later via a statutory supporting affidavit (1337.04(C)), and a deed executed under a power 'of record for a period of ten years or more ... shall be presumed valid' even if the power itself was never recorded (1337.04(E)). This section was amended effective October 24, 2024 (S.B. 94) |
A two-office process. First the county auditor: before a deed is recorded it is presented to the auditor, who 'shall endorse on the deed ... that the proper transfer ... has been made,' and the deed must bear 'the last known address of the grantee' and 'a reference to the volume and page ... of the next preceding recorded instrument by or through which the grantor claims title' (R.C. 319.20). The grantee first submits a conveyance-fee value statement (form DTE-100) and pays the transfer fee (R.C. 319.202). Then the county recorder records the endorsed deed in the county where the land lies (R.C. 5301.25(A)). If the tract was surveyed, the surveyor's name must appear in the deed (5301.25(B)). Recorders also apply statewide format standards; confirm margins, fees, and forms with the recorder and auditor |
Notice rule. A properly executed deed is good between grantor and grantee on delivery, but 'until so recorded or filed for record, they are fraudulent insofar as they relate to a subsequent bona fide purchaser having, at the time of purchase, no knowledge of the existence of that former deed' (R.C. 5301.25(A)) — a later good-faith buyer without knowledge of the earlier deed takes free of it, so record promptly. Recording also triggers the 5301.07 cures: constructive notice to all third parties 'notwithstanding any defect in the making, execution, or acknowledgment' (5301.07(D)), a rebuttable validity presumption on acceptance (5301.07(B)), and a four-year cure of execution and acknowledgment defects (5301.07(C)). None of this cures fraud, forgery, incompetency, or lack of title |
| Oklahoma verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in Title 16 (Conveyances): who may convey and the writing rule (16 O.S. §§ 16-1, 16-4), witnesses (§ 16-2), the homestead joinder rule (§ 16-4) and its non-homestead counterpart (§ 16-13), acknowledgment for recording (§§ 16-15, 16-26), the recording act (§§ 16-15, 16-16), and agent authority (§§ 16-3, 16-20). Recording is at the county-clerk level. The homestead-joinder rule is Oklahoma's defining feature and is backed by the state constitution (Okla. Const. art. XII). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; sheriff's and other officers' deeds (§ 16-12) and corporate execution (§§ 16-91 to 16-95) are outside this survey |
Signed writing required for validity. 'No deed, mortgage, or conveyance of real estate or any interest in real estate, other than a lease for a period not to exceed one (1) year, shall be valid unless in writing and subscribed by the grantors' (16 O.S. § 16-4(A)). Any person at least 18 years old, or a legal entity, may own and convey (§ 16-1). A warranty or quitclaim deed 'in substantial compliance' with the statutory forms conveys the grantor's whole interest (§§ 16-19, 16-40, 16-41); Oklahoma imposes no seal and no particular granting-word formula beyond that. The acknowledgment and recording steps below go to recordability and to validity against third persons — not to whether title passes between the parties |
No subscribing witnesses required. 'No subscribing witness shall be necessary to the validity of any deed, mortgage, contract, lease, bond, or other instrument conveying, affecting or relating to real estate' (16 O.S. § 16-2). A deed is executed by the grantor's signature and a notarial acknowledgment; there are no attesting-witness or two-witness rules for an ordinary Oklahoma deed |
Not needed between the parties; required to record. 'Except as hereinafter provided, no acknowledgment or recording shall be necessary to the validity of any deed ... as between the parties thereto' (16 O.S. § 16-15). But the county clerk cannot record an unacknowledged deed: 'No deed, mortgage or other instrument affecting the real estate shall be received for record or recorded unless executed and acknowledged in substantial compliance with this chapter; and the recording of any such instrument not so executed and acknowledged shall not be effective for any purpose' (§ 16-26). The acknowledgment is taken before a notary in the statutory form (§ 16-33). Because an unrecorded deed is not valid against third persons (§ 16-15), acknowledgment is the practical gateway to protecting the buyer |
Homestead deeds require BOTH spouses — Oklahoma's signature feature. 'No deed, mortgage, or contract affecting the homestead exempt by law, except a lease for a period not exceeding one (1) year, shall be valid unless in writing and subscribed by both husband and wife, if both are living and not divorced, or legally separated' (16 O.S. § 16-4(A)). This is a validity rule: a homestead deed signed by only the titled spouse is void, not merely voidable — and because the land records rarely reveal homestead status, title examiners require both spouses to join nearly every residential conveyance. Non-homestead property is different: 'The husband or wife may convey ... any real estate, other than the homestead ... without being joined by the other' (§ 16-13(A)). Narrow exceptions cover a spouse who has abandoned the marriage or left the state for a year (§ 16-6) and an incapacitated joint-tenant spouse (§ 16-7). Oklahoma has no dower, curtesy, or community property; the homestead joinder is the whole story |
An attorney-in-fact may sign; the power must be recorded. 'Any instrument affecting real estate may be made by an attorney-in-fact, duly appointed and empowered' (16 O.S. § 16-3). The power of attorney 'for the conveyance of real estate ... shall be executed, acknowledged and recorded in the manner required by this chapter ... and shall be recorded in the county where the land is situated' (§ 16-20), and a recorded power is not revoked as to third parties unless the revocation is 'also recorded in the same office' (§ 16-21). For a homestead deed signed by an agent, the power must be recorded with the county clerk to be valid (§ 16-4(C)). The underlying authority runs under Oklahoma's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (58 O.S. §§ 3001–3045, adopted 2021) |
Record with the county clerk of the county where the land is located (16 O.S. §§ 16-16, 16-20). The deed must be acknowledged in substantial compliance with Title 16 or the clerk cannot record it (§ 16-26), and it must be legibly printed, typed, or handwritten in English (§ 16-28). A power of attorney used to sign must be recorded in the same county (§ 16-20). Recording is what creates constructive notice: a conveyance 'acknowledged or approved, certified and recorded ... from the time it is filed ... is constructive notice of the contents thereof to subsequent purchasers, mortgagees, encumbrancers or creditors' (§ 16-16). Oklahoma has no statewide statute forcing a consideration figure, tax address, or preparer name onto the face of an ordinary deed; documentary-stamp tax and county fees and formatting are handled locally |
Notice-type recording act. A deed is valid between grantor and grantee without recording (16 O.S. § 16-15), but 'no deed ... relating to real estate ... shall be valid as against third persons unless acknowledged and recorded' (§ 16-15), and a recorded deed 'is constructive notice ... to subsequent purchasers' (§ 16-16) — so a later purchaser for value who takes without notice of an unrecorded deed can defeat it. Cures: a defectively executed instrument that has been of record for five years is valid notwithstanding the listed defects (§ 16-27a), and a recorded signed document 'creates a rebuttable presumption ... that ... [it] is genuine and was executed as the voluntary act of the person purporting to execute it' (§ 16-53). None of this cures a forged signature, a lack of ownership, or a missing homestead spouse's signature |
| Oregon verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in ORS Chapter 93 (Conveyancing and Recording): the conveyance method (ORS 93.010), the writing requirement (ORS 93.020), consideration (ORS 93.030), the land-use statement (ORS 93.040), execution and acknowledgment (ORS 93.410), recordability and evidence (ORS 93.480), the recording act (ORS 93.640), and agent authority (ORS 93.670). Recording duties and first-page content are in ORS Chapter 205 (ORS 205.130, 205.234). Recording is at the county-clerk level. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; transfer-on-death deeds (ORS 93.948–93.979), trustee, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds are outside this survey |
Signed writing required. No interest in real property (other than a lease of a year or less) 'can be created, transferred or declared otherwise than by operation of law or by a conveyance or other instrument in writing, subscribed by the party ... or by the lawful agent of the party under written authority' (ORS 93.020(1)). A conveyance is 'made by deed, signed by the person of lawful age from whom the estate or interest is intended to pass, or by the lawful agent or attorney of the person' (ORS 93.010). No seal is required (ORS 93.010, 93.410). Words of inheritance are unnecessary. The consideration and content the recording statutes demand (below) go to recordability, not to whether title passes between the parties |
No subscribing witnesses required to convey or to record. ORS 93.410 requires only the grantor's signature plus acknowledgment before an authorized officer — it names no witnesses. A subscribing witness appears only as an optional alternative way to prove a deed for recording when it was not acknowledged: 'Proof of the execution of any conveyance ... shall be made by a subscribing witness thereto, who shall state the place of residence of the witness' (ORS 93.440). Because Oregon deeds are almost always acknowledged before a notary, the witness-proof route is rarely used. Oregon has no two-witness validity rule like Florida's |
Not needed to pass title between the parties; needed to record and to protect the buyer. ORS 93.410 says a deed 'shall be signed by the grantors and shall be acknowledged before any judge of the Supreme Court, circuit judge, county judge, justice of the peace or notary public within the state.' An acknowledged (or witness-proved) deed 'may be read in evidence without further proof thereof and is entitled to be recorded in the county where the land is situated' (ORS 93.480). Acknowledgment is thus the gateway to recording — and only a recorded deed is protected against a later purchaser under ORS 93.640 — but a signed, delivered deed is still valid between grantor and grantee even if never acknowledged or recorded |
No spousal joinder needed to convey individually owned property. 'Dower and curtesy, including inchoate dower and curtesy, are abolished' (ORS 112.685). Oregon has no community property and no statutory homestead-signature rule for conveyances — the homestead exemption is a creditor-protection amount, not a deed-signing requirement. A nonowner spouse's protection is the probate elective share claimed against the estate, not a signature on the deed. The one time both spouses must sign is when they co-own the property (for example, as tenants by the entirety): then both sign because both own it, not because of any marital-interest override on one owner's separate title |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. A deed may be 'signed by ... the lawful agent or attorney of the person' (ORS 93.010), and the writing statute requires the agent to act 'under written authority' (ORS 93.020(1)). To put the authority into the land records, the power of attorney, 'when acknowledged or proved in the manner prescribed for the acknowledgment or proof of conveyances, may be recorded in the county clerk's office of any county in which the lands ... [are] situated' (ORS 93.670(1)). A recorded power is not treated as revoked 'unless the instrument containing such revocation is also recorded in the same office' (ORS 93.670(2)). The underlying authority runs under Oregon's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (ORS Chapter 127) |
Record with the county clerk of the county where the land is located (ORS 93.480, 205.130). The county clerk records deeds 'when properly acknowledged or proved' (ORS 205.130(2)(a)). ORS 205.234(1) requires the first page to show the transaction name, the parties' names, the person and mailing address to return the deed to after recording, the 'true and actual consideration paid for the transfer as required by ORS 93.030,' and 'the tax statement information required by ORS 93.260.' The consideration must appear on the face of the instrument or the clerk 'may not' accept it (ORS 93.030(5)), and deeds must carry Oregon's statutory land-use warning (ORS 93.040). Type must be at least 10-point on paper no larger than 8½-by-14 inches (ORS 205.232). County fees and cover-sheet details are set locally |
Race-notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between grantor and grantee even unrecorded, but an unrecorded conveyance 'is void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance ... is first filed for record' (ORS 93.640(1)) — a later buyer beats the earlier deed only if that buyer took without notice AND recorded first. Cures: a missing ORS 93.260 tax statement 'does not invalidate the conveyance and ... the recording is valid' (ORS 93.260(2)); a missing land-use statement does not invalidate the conveyance and creates no recorder liability (ORS 93.040); and ORS 93.810 lists historical validating and curative Acts (for example, old defective acknowledgments). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Pennsylvania verified 2026-07-15 | Pennsylvania's deed and recording rules are mostly unconsolidated statutes in Title 21 P.S. (Deeds and Mortgages): the race-notice recording act at 21 P.S. § 351 and the older acknowledgment/proof provisions (e.g., 21 P.S. § 444, the 1775 Enrollment Act). The Statute of Frauds (33 P.S. § 1) supplies the signed-writing rule, marital rights sit in Title 20 (20 Pa.C.S. § 2105), and powers of attorney in 20 Pa.C.S. ch. 56. A common-law title state using race-notice recording, with deeds filed at the county Recorder of Deeds. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; mortgages, tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Writing and the grantor's signature. A conveyance of an interest in land must be in a signed writing (Statute of Frauds, 33 P.S. § 1). Section 351 speaks of 'instruments of writing wherein it shall be the intention of the parties executing the same to grant, bargain, sell, and convey any lands' (21 P.S. § 351), and § 444 requires a deed to be 'made and executed' and 'acknowledged by the grantor' (21 P.S. § 444) — so the owner (or an agent authorized in writing) signs. There is no statutory deed form and no seal requirement; the words 'release and quitclaim' pass the grantor's interest without warranty. Delivery of the signed deed is required for it to take effect, but that is a common-law rule, not one of these statutes |
None for validity, and none in practice. Pennsylvania records a deed on the grantor's own acknowledgment before a notary; witnesses are only an alternative route to proof. Section 351 requires the deed to be 'acknowledged by the parties executing the same or proved in the manner provided by the laws of this Commonwealth' (21 P.S. § 351), and § 444 spells out that a deed is 'acknowledged by the grantor ... or proved by one or more of the subscribing witnesses thereto' before an authorized officer (21 P.S. § 444). So subscribing-witness proof matters only when the grantor does not personally acknowledge — which is rare. No witness is ever needed to make the deed valid between the parties |
A recording requirement, not a validity requirement. A signed, delivered deed already passes title between grantor and grantee; acknowledgment is what makes the deed recordable. Section 351 lets a deed be recorded 'upon being acknowledged by the parties executing the same or proved' as provided by law (21 P.S. § 351), and § 444 identifies the officers who may take the acknowledgment — a notary public, judge, recorder of deeds, prothonotary, clerk of a court of record, or justice of the peace (21 P.S. § 444). Skipping acknowledgment does not void the deed between the parties; it leaves the deed unrecordable and exposed to a later good-faith purchaser under § 351 |
Generally none for individually-owned property. Pennsylvania is not a community-property state and has no homestead-joinder rule, and it replaced common-law dower and curtesy with a statutory share: a widow's or surviving husband's share under Title 20 is 'in lieu and full satisfaction of' dower or curtesy at common law (20 Pa.C.S. § 2105). Because there is no inchoate dower/curtesy attaching during life, a spouse who is not on the title need not sign the deed. A surviving spouse is protected instead by a post-death elective share against the estate. The exception is co-ownership: property the couple holds together as tenants by the entireties can be conveyed only if both spouses sign, because each is an owner |
An agent may sign the deed under a written power of attorney. Pennsylvania sets real formalities for the power itself: it 'shall be dated, and it shall be signed by the principal,' and (for powers executed on or after the 2014/2016 amendments) the principal's signature must be 'Acknowledged before a notary public' and 'Witnessed by two individuals, each of whom is 18 years of age or older' who are not the agent or the notary (20 Pa.C.S. § 5601(b)). A power of attorney used for real estate is acknowledged and recorded: an executed power, 'if it is acknowledged, ... may be recorded in the office for the recording of deeds of the county of the principal's residence and of each county in which real property to be affected by an exercise of the power is located' (20 Pa.C.S. § 5602(c)) |
File the deed with the Recorder of Deeds of the county where the land lies — § 351 directs recording 'in the office for the recording of deeds in the county where such lands, tenements, and hereditaments are situate' (21 P.S. § 351). The one statewide statutory gate to recording is a valid acknowledgment or proof (§§ 351, 444). Beyond that, county recorders and the transfer-tax rules commonly require a completed Realty Transfer Tax Statement of Value (Form REV-183) when the full consideration is not stated or an exemption is claimed, a certificate of the grantee's residence/return address, and, in counties that have adopted it, a Uniform Parcel Identifier — plus page-formatting and fees the recorder sets. Confirm these with the county Recorder of Deeds |
Race-notice. Recording is optional in Pennsylvania — an unrecorded deed is still valid between the grantor and grantee — but a deed 'which shall not be acknowledged or proved and recorded ... shall be adjudged fraudulent and void as to any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee or holder of any judgment ... without actual or constructive notice unless such deed ... shall be recorded ... before the recording of the deed ... under which such subsequent purchaser, mortgagee, or judgment creditor shall claim' (21 P.S. § 351). So a later buyer wins only by both taking without notice and recording first; a buyer with notice, or who records second, loses. Section 351 supplies no self-executing cure for a defective acknowledgment, and recording never cures forgery, fraud, incapacity, or a grantor's lack of title — the fix for a defect is a corrected, re-recorded deed |
| Rhode Island verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. Deed execution and recording sit in R.I. Gen. Laws Title 34 (Property): Chapter 34-11 (Form and Effect of Conveyances) — a conveyance must be in writing, signed, acknowledged, delivered, and recorded (§ 34-11-1); Chapter 34-12 (Acknowledgments and Notarial Acts) — the acknowledgment form (§ 34-12-1); and Chapter 34-13 (Recording) — recording as constructive notice (§ 34-13-2). The marital rule is in Title 33 (Probate Practice): dower and curtesy are abolished (§ 33-25-1) and the surviving spouse takes a life estate (§ 33-25-2). Recording is in the land evidence records of the town or city where the land lies. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, and tax, foreclosure, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed). 'Every conveyance of lands ... for any term longer than one year ... shall be void unless made in writing duly signed, acknowledged ..., delivered, and recorded' (§ 34-11-1), though a delivered but unrecorded deed is 'valid and binding' between the parties and against those with notice (§ 34-11-1). So the owner signs a written deed. No seal is required: 'no seal shall be required to any instrument conveying lands ... and any instrument purporting to convey lands ... shall be, a deed, though no seal be affixed' (§ 34-11-2). To be recorded, the deed must also carry the grantee's name and address (§ 34-11-1.2) |
None required by statute. Rhode Island's conveyance statute lists writing, signature, acknowledgment, delivery, and recording (§ 34-11-1) — not witnesses — and the acknowledgment is 'made by all the parties executing the instrument' before a magistrate (§ 34-12-1). No subscribing or attesting witness is required for a valid, recordable deed. Many Rhode Island deed forms still include two witness lines as a matter of long-standing conveyancing custom, but that is convention, not a statutory requirement |
Required to record and to bind those without notice; not required for validity between the parties. A conveyance is void unless 'acknowledged ..., delivered, and recorded,' yet 'if delivered, as between the parties and their heirs, and as against ... those having notice thereof, [it] shall be valid and binding though not acknowledged or recorded' (§ 34-11-1). To record, the deed is acknowledged before a magistrate (a notary), whose certificate states that the parties are known and 'acknowledge the instrument to be their free act and deed' (§ 34-12-1). A recording is then 'constructive notice to all persons of the contents' (§ 34-13-2) |
No spousal joinder to convey. Rhode Island abolished dower and curtesy in 1978: 'The right of a widow to common law and/or statutory dower ... and the right of a husband to ... curtesy ... are hereby abolished' (§ 33-25-1). The surviving spouse instead takes a life estate in real estate 'owned by the decedent in fee simple at his or her death' (§ 33-25-2(a)) — but real estate the decedent conveyed during life, 'with or without monetary consideration,' is not subject to that life estate if the conveyance was 'recorded prior to the death of the decedent' (§ 33-25-2(b)). So a married owner may convey solely owned real property without the other spouse's signature; recording the deed before death is what keeps the grantee free of the surviving spouse's life estate |
An agent signs under a written power of attorney. A deed must be 'duly signed' (§ 34-11-1); where the owner acts through an attorney-in-fact, the agent signs the deed and the acknowledgment is 'made by all the parties executing the instrument' (§ 34-12-1). The power of attorney is customarily recorded in the same municipal land evidence records so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. Rhode Island's Uniform Power of Attorney Act governs the authority itself; recording the power of attorney is practice, not a statutory validity condition |
Record in the land evidence records of the town or city where the land lies (§ 34-11-1) — Rhode Island records at the municipal, not county, level. The deed must be acknowledged (§§ 34-11-1, 34-12-1) and must contain the grantee's name and address; 'failure to comply ... shall not affect the validity of any deed,' but a clerk 'may decline to accept a deed' that omits it (§ 34-11-1.2). A recording is constructive notice of the deed's contents (§ 34-13-2). Rhode Island's real-estate conveyance tax and municipal requirements are handled at recording — confirm current fees and formatting with the town or city clerk |
Notice recording act. A delivered deed is 'valid and binding' between the parties and their heirs, against those taking by gift or devise, and against anyone 'having notice thereof,' even if unrecorded (§ 34-11-1) — but it is void as against a later purchaser for value who takes without notice, because recording is what supplies constructive notice (§§ 34-11-1, 34-13-2). So record promptly to protect priority. Cures: omitting the grantee's address does not affect the deed's validity, though a clerk may refuse to record it (§ 34-11-1.2), and a delivered deed stays good between the parties without acknowledgment or recording (§ 34-11-1). Recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| South Carolina verified 2026-07-16 | South Carolina conveyancing runs on the common law plus two statutory pillars: Title 27, Chapter 7 (Form and Execution of Conveyances, §§ 27-7-10 to -40) and Title 30 — Chapter 5 (Recording Generally) and Chapter 7 (Recordation Essential to Validity, § 30-7-10). A common-law title state, not community property; 'tenancy by curtesy, dower, and jointure are abolished' (§ 21-5-10). Deeds are recorded with the county Register of Deeds (or the Clerk of Court in counties where that office was abolished). Scope here is an ordinary warranty, quitclaim, or other deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; mortgages and deeds of trust, and fiduciary, judicial, or tax deeds, run on separate rules |
Signed writing, traditionally under seal, delivered. A conveyance in the statutory form 'shall ... be valid and effectual to carry ... the fee simple of any land or real estate if it shall be executed in the presence of and be subscribed by two or more credible witnesses' (§ 27-7-10). The form ends 'Witness my hand and seal ... [L.S.]' — South Carolina keeps the old sealed-instrument tradition, but § 27-7-30 saves a deed if the attestation shows 'it was the intention ... that such instrument should be a sealed instrument,' even with 'no seal ... actually attached.' Words of warranty are optional (§ 27-7-20). The whole execution package is the grantor's signature, two witnesses, and delivery |
Two credible witnesses — and in South Carolina this goes to VALIDITY, not merely recording. A conveyance is valid to carry a fee simple only 'if it shall be executed in the presence of and be subscribed by two or more credible witnesses' (§ 27-7-10), and to record, the grantor's signing must be witnessed by two witnesses under either the probate or the acknowledgment route (§ 30-5-30). One of the two witnesses may also serve as the notary. If a subscribing witness later cannot give the required affidavit 'by reason of the death, insanity or absence from the State,' the deed may still be recorded on other proof of the signatures (§ 30-5-70) |
Required to record, by one of two routes. 'Before any deed or other instrument in writing can be recorded ..., it must be acknowledged or proved' (§ 30-5-30): (A)(1) PROBATE — the execution is 'first proved by the affidavit of a subscribing witness' before an officer; or (B) ACKNOWLEDGMENT — the grantor's signing is 'acknowledged by the grantor ... in the presence of two witnesses' before an officer. Under the probate route the notary need not watch the grantor sign; the witnesses swear they did. Notarization/probate is a recording prerequisite; a properly signed, sealed, two-witnessed deed already conveys between the parties. A deed signed out of state may follow the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act (§ 30-5-30(A)(2)) |
No spousal joinder. 'Tenancy by curtesy, dower, and jointure are abolished in this State' (§ 21-5-10, 1985), so a nonowner spouse holds no dower or curtesy interest that a deed must release. South Carolina is not a community-property state. Its homestead protection (S.C. Code § 15-41-30) is an exemption from attachment that is subordinate to a deed or mortgage the titled owner signs, not a co-signature rule — so a married owner conveys solely owned property alone. The statutory deed form (§ 27-7-10) calls for only the grantor's signature plus two witnesses; no spouse is a required party |
An attorney-in-fact may sign, but South Carolina's power of attorney is executed as strictly as a deed. Under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a power of attorney must be '(1) signed by the principal ...; (2) attested with the same formality and with the same requirements as to witnesses as a will ...; and (3) acknowledged or proved pursuant to Section 30-5-30' (§ 62-8-105) — so signature, two witnesses, and acknowledgment/probate. And 'after the principal's incapacity, an agent may exercise the authority ... only if the power of attorney has been recorded in the same manner as a deed in the county where the principal resides' (§ 62-8-109(c)). Entity, trustee, and personal-representative execution run on their own rules |
Record with the Register of Deeds (or Clerk of Court where that office is abolished) of the county where the land lies; the register records instruments 'in the order of the times at which they may be brought to his office,' within thirty days of lodgment (§ 30-5-90). Statewide content items (§ 30-5-35): a derivation clause in the property description and the grantee's mailing address 'inscribed on the deed' — but 'a derivation clause is not required on a quitclaim or non-warranty deed of real property.' The former county-auditor endorsement (old § 30-5-80) is repealed. A deed recording fee ($1.85 per $500 of value, S.C. Code § 12-24-10) and an affidavit of value (§ 12-24-70) are separate steps |
Race-notice priority. Deeds 'are valid so as to affect the rights of subsequent creditors ... or purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, only from the day and hour when they are recorded in the office of the register of deeds or clerk of court' (§ 30-7-10). So an unrecorded deed still binds the grantor and grantee, but it loses to a later purchaser or creditor who gives value, takes without notice, and records — record promptly. Statutory helps: a deed may be recorded on substitute proof when a subscribing witness is dead, insane, or absent (§ 30-5-70), and an out-of-state acknowledgment under the Uniform Recognition of Acknowledgments Act is accepted (§ 30-5-30(A)(2)). None cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| South Dakota verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not a community-property state. Deed execution sits in SDCL Title 43 (Property), ch. 25 (Deeds and Conveyances); recording sits in ch. 28 (Recording and Constructive Notice); the homestead-signature rule is in ch. 31 (Homestead Exemption). An estate in real property is transferred by a written instrument subscribed by the owner or a written-authorized agent (§ 43-25-1). Recording is with the register of deeds of the county where the land sits. Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; corporate, fiduciary, tax, and mortgage deeds follow separate rules |
Signed writing (deed), no seal required. 'An estate in real property, other than an estate at will or for a term not exceeding one year, can be transferred only by operation of law, or by an instrument in writing, subscribed by the party disposing of the same, or by his agent thereunto authorized by writing' (§ 43-25-1). So the owner — or a written-authorized agent — must subscribe (sign) a written deed. A seal is not needed: 'The absence of the seal of any grantor or his agent from any grant of an estate in real property ... shall not invalidate or in any manner impair the same' (§ 43-25-25). South Dakota supplies standard warranty-deed (§ 43-25-5) and quitclaim-deed (§ 43-25-7) forms |
None for validity. South Dakota requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid. A subscribing witness matters only as an alternative to a notary acknowledgment for recording: 'The execution of a grant of an estate in real property ... if it is not duly acknowledged, must, to entitle the grant to be recorded, be proved by a subscribing witness, or as otherwise provided in §§ 43-28-8 and 43-28-10' (§ 43-25-26). A notarized deed needs no witnesses; there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's |
Not required for validity between the parties; required to record. A signed, delivered deed transfers the estate (§ 43-25-1) without a notary, but to record it the execution 'if it is not duly acknowledged, must ... be proved by a subscribing witness' (§ 43-25-26) — acknowledgment is the ordinary route into the land records. Only a recorded instrument 'proved and certified' gives constructive notice 'to all purchasers or encumbrancers subsequent to the recording' (§ 43-28-15). The acknowledgment is a recording and notice step, not a between-parties validity rule |
Homestead joinder. South Dakota has no dower or curtesy and is not a community-property state, but a married owner cannot convey the homestead alone: 'A conveyance or encumbrance of a homestead by its owner, if married and both husband and wife are residents of this state, is valid if both husband and wife concur in and sign or execute such conveyance or encumbrance either by joint instrument or by separate instruments' (§ 43-31-17), with a narrow armed-forces exception. So a deed of the married owner's homestead needs both spouses' signatures, even if only one holds title. Property that is not the homestead may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
An agent signs under written authority. The transfer statute authorizes a conveyance by the owner's 'agent thereunto authorized by writing' (§ 43-25-1) — the attorney-in-fact signs the owner's name and the agent's own name as attorney-in-fact. Recording the power of attorney is customary so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title, but South Dakota's recording act defines 'conveyance' to embrace 'every instrument ... by which the title to any real property may be affected, except wills and powers of attorney' (§ 43-28-17), so the power of attorney is not itself a priority-affecting conveyance and no statute makes recording it a condition of a valid agent deed |
Record with the register of deeds of the county where the land sits. The deed must be acknowledged, or its execution proved by a subscribing witness, to be recorded (§ 43-25-26). Statewide format standards apply — one or more 8.5-by-11 to 8.5-by-14-inch sheets, black ink, a three-inch top block, and a prominent title (§ 43-28-23) — but that section adds that 'any document that does not conform ... has the same effect as conforming documents for all recording purposes, including establishing priority,' so format is directory, not a validity gate. Confirm current fees, the real estate transfer fee, and any local requirements with the register of deeds |
Race-notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but 'every conveyance of real property other than a lease for a term not exceeding one year is void as against any subsequent purchaser or encumbrancer ... in good faith and for a valuable consideration whose conveyance is first duly recorded' (§ 43-28-17). So a later buyer defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only if that buyer takes in good faith, pays value, and records first — a race-notice rule — and a recorded, acknowledged deed gives constructive notice to later takers (§ 43-28-15). A nonconforming-format document keeps its priority (§ 43-28-23), but recording cures no forgery, incapacity, defective description, or lack of title |
| Tennessee verified 2026-07-17 | Tennessee deed execution begins in Title 66, Chapter 5: § 66-5-103 supplies sufficient conveyance forms, § 66-5-104 governs agent signatures, § 66-5-105 governs a new legal description, and § 66-5-106 connects authentication and county registration to third-party effect. Chapters 22, 24, and 26 govern acknowledgment/proof, recordability, content, and priority. Section 26-2-301 protects a marital homestead exemption, while § 31-2-102 abolishes dower and curtesy. Scope here is an ordinary present fee-simple deed by an individual, not a mortgage, fiduciary deed, forced sale, or transfer-on-death deed |
Use a written deed signed by the grantor. Section 66-5-103 says its short written forms—or equivalent forms adapted to the facts—are sufficient, including ‘I hereby convey’ for a fee deed and ‘I hereby quitclaim’ for a quitclaim deed, each identifying the land. To authenticate the instrument for recording, § 66-22-101 requires the maker’s original signature; that term includes a statutory electronic signature. Section 66-5-101 presumes a grant passes all of the grantor’s estate unless the instrument shows a smaller estate |
No subscribing witness is required to execute an ordinary deed that the grantor acknowledges. For recording authentication, § 66-22-101 creates alternatives: the maker’s original signature must be acknowledged according to law or proved by at least two subscribing witnesses. The register may refuse an instrument that does not meet that rule. The two witnesses are therefore a proof route when acknowledgment is not used, not extra witnesses required on every notarized deed |
Required for registration unless execution is proved by two subscribing witnesses; not required for effect between the original parties. Section 66-22-101 allows physical appearance or an interactive two-way audio-video appearance meeting Tennessee’s online-notary rules. Within Tennessee, a county clerk or deputy, chancery clerk and master, or notary may take the acknowledgment (§ 66-22-102). Sections 66-26-101 and 66-26-103 distinguish the deed’s between-parties effect from protection against creditors and later bona fide purchasers |
Dower and curtesy are abolished (§ 31-2-102), so Tennessee has no surviving dower/curtesy release. The separate homestead-exemption rule remains: when a marital relationship exists, the homestead exemption may not be alienated or waived without the spouses’ joint consent (§ 26-2-301(b)); a duly executed deed conveying property in which an exemption may exist conveys free of the exemption (§ 26-2-301(d)). Obtain the spouse’s joinder or other documented joint consent for a protected homestead; the statute protects the exemption rather than declaring every one-spouse deed void in all respects |
Section 66-5-104 permits an agent or attorney to sign for the principal, write the principal’s name as agent or attorney, or sign the agent’s or principal’s name, provided the instrument’s face shows the representative character when needed. Section 66-24-101 lists a power of attorney authorizing a real-property sale or conveyance among writings that may be registered, but the general sections cited here do not make separate registration of the power a condition of every agent-signed deed. Make the representative capacity clear on the deed and acknowledgment |
Record with the register of deeds in the county where the land lies (§ 66-5-106). Authentication requires acknowledgment or proof by two subscribing witnesses (§ 66-22-101). Statewide content gates include the grantor’s source-of-title or derivation recital (§ 66-24-110); the name and address of a property owner and of the person or entity responsible for real-property taxes (§ 66-24-114); the preparer’s name and address (§ 66-24-115); and the assessor’s parcel identification number or an affidavit that it was requested but not promptly furnished (§ 66-24-122). Under § 66-5-105, a description for property not previously described in a recorded instrument must be prepared by a Tennessee-registered land surveyor, except for a deed prepared by or for a government department or agency |
Notice priority. Section 66-26-101 says a deed operates between its parties, heirs, and representatives without registration, but only affects other persons without actual notice from the time it is noted for registration. Section 66-26-103 makes an unregistered instrument void against existing or later creditors of the maker and bona fide purchasers from the maker without notice. Targeted savings rules preserve an accepted recording despite missing content: § 66-24-112 protects the validity of registration despite noncompliance shown in the record; § 66-24-115 preserves notice if the register accepts an instrument without the preparer line; and § 66-24-122 preserves validity, priority, and recording despite an accepted parcel-number omission. These rules do not cure forgery, lack of authority, or missing homestead consent |
| Texas verified 2026-07-15 | Texas conveyancing sits in the Property Code: execution and form in Chapter 5 (§§ 5.021–5.023) and recording in Chapters 11–13 (§§ 11.001–13.006), with homestead joinder set separately by Family Code § 5.001. A common-law title state that is also a community-property state, with recording at the county clerk. Scope here is an ordinary warranty or quitclaim deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; trustee, tax, fiduciary, and foreclosure deeds follow separate rules. Texas imposes no state real-estate transfer tax |
Writing, signature, and delivery. A conveyance of a freehold or an estate for more than one year 'must be in writing and must be subscribed and delivered by the conveyor or by the conveyor's agent authorized in writing' (Prop. Code § 5.021) — unlike many states, delivery is written into the statute. Section 5.022 supplies an optional statutory warranty-deed form, but a warranty 'is not required' (§ 5.022(b)) and the parties may 'use any form not in contravention' of law (§ 5.022(c)). Using 'grant' or 'convey' implies limited title covenants unless the deed says otherwise (§ 5.023) |
Not required for validity — and Texas is unusual in offering two subscribing witnesses as an alternative to notarization for recording. A deed 'may not be recorded unless ... it is signed and acknowledged or sworn to by the grantor in the presence of two or more credible subscribing witnesses or acknowledged or sworn to before and certified by an officer authorized to take acknowledgements' (Prop. Code § 12.001(b)). In practice notarization is universal and the two-witness route is rarely used, but either satisfies the recording rule; no witness is needed to make the deed valid between the parties |
A recording requirement, not a validity requirement. A signed, delivered deed already passes title (§ 5.021); acknowledgment is what makes it recordable. To record, the deed must be 'acknowledged, sworn to with a proper jurat, or proved according to law' (Prop. Code § 12.001(a)), and a paper deed 'may not be recorded or serve as notice' unless it carries 'an original signature or signatures that are acknowledged, sworn to with a jurat, or proved according to law' (§ 12.0011(b)). The person presenting a deed in person must also show photo ID (§ 12.001(b)(2)) |
Homestead joinder — the sharpest Texas rule. 'Whether the homestead is the separate property of either spouse or community property, neither spouse may sell, convey, or encumber the homestead without the joinder of the other spouse except as provided in this chapter or by other rules of law' (Fam. Code § 5.001). So a homestead needs both signatures even if only one spouse holds record title and even if it is one spouse's separate property. Non-homestead separate property may be conveyed by its owner alone. Narrow exceptions apply when a spouse is judicially declared incapacitated (§§ 5.002, 5.003) |
A deed may be signed by 'the conveyor's agent authorized in writing' (Prop. Code § 5.021). If the agent acts under a durable power of attorney, the power must be recorded too: a durable power of attorney 'for a real property transaction requiring the execution and delivery of an instrument that is to be recorded ... must be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the property is located not later than the 30th day after the date the instrument is filed for recording' (Est. Code § 751.151) |
Record with the county clerk of the county where a part of the property is located; 'to be effectively recorded, an instrument relating to real property must be eligible for recording and must be recorded in the county in which a part of the property is located' (Prop. Code § 11.001(a)), and the clerk must record eligible acknowledged, sworn, or proved instruments in the order filed (§ 11.004). Statewide items: acknowledgment or two-witness proof (§ 12.001); an original signature on a paper deed (§ 12.0011); and a boldface 'NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY RIGHTS' at the top of the first page of any instrument transferring an interest in real property to or from an individual (§ 11.008(c)). Fees, page formatting, and e-recording rules are set by the county |
Notice state. An unrecorded conveyance 'is void as to a creditor or to a subsequent purchaser for a valuable consideration without notice unless the instrument has been acknowledged, sworn to, or proved and filed for record as required by law' (Prop. Code § 13.001(a)), but it stays 'binding on a party to the instrument, on the party's heirs, and on a subsequent purchaser who does not pay a valuable consideration or who has notice' (§ 13.001(b)). A properly recorded instrument is 'notice to all persons' (§ 13.002). Because Texas is a notice — not race-notice — state, a good-faith purchaser for value without notice prevails without having to record first. Special limit: after four years a recorded quitclaim no longer affects a later purchaser's good faith or gives notice of an unrecorded transfer (§ 13.006). Omitting the confidentiality notice does not affect validity between the parties (§ 11.008(d)) |
| Utah verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state. The signature rule sits in the Statute of Frauds (Utah Code § 25-5-1), and the recording rules are in Title 57, Chapter 3 (Recording of Documents): acknowledgment for recording (§ 57-3-101), the recording act (§ 57-3-103), and required content (§ 57-3-105), with Chapter 4a on the effects of recording (§§ 57-4a-2, 57-4a-4). Recording is at the county-recorder level. Statutory deed forms are in Chapter 1 (warranty deed § 57-1-12, quitclaim § 57-1-13). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; trust deeds (§§ 57-1-19 to 57-1-36) and trustee, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds are outside this survey |
Signed writing required. Under the Statute of Frauds, 'no estate or interest in real property ... shall be created, granted, assigned, surrendered or declared otherwise than by act or operation of law, or by deed or conveyance in writing subscribed by the party creating, granting, assigning, surrendering or declaring the same, or by that party's lawful agent thereunto authorized by writing' (Utah Code § 25-5-1). So a deed must be in writing and signed by the grantor (or an agent authorized in writing). Utah's statutory warranty and quitclaim deed forms (§§ 57-1-12, 57-1-13) are available but not mandatory; Utah imposes no seal requirement |
No subscribing witnesses required. Utah's execution rule (Utah Code § 25-5-1) and its recording requirements (§§ 57-3-101, 57-3-105) call for a signed writing, a notarial acknowledgment, and specific content — none of them requires an attesting or subscribing witness. A Utah deed is executed by the grantor's signature and acknowledged before a notary; there is no two-witness rule like Florida's or Connecticut's |
Not needed between the parties; required to record. A signed, delivered deed passes title between grantor and grantee even unrecorded (see § 57-3-103, which makes an unrecorded deed valid except against a later good-faith purchaser). But to record, the deed must be acknowledged: 'A certificate of the acknowledgment of any document, or of the proof of the execution of any document ... that is signed and certified by the officer taking the acknowledgment, proof, or jurat ... entitles the document and the certificate to be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county where the real property is located' (Utah Code § 57-3-101(1)). The acknowledgment is taken before a Utah notary or other authorized officer |
No spousal joinder to convey. Utah recognizes no dower, curtesy, or community property, and § 25-5-1's execution rule contains no spouse-signature requirement — so an owner whose name alone is on title may convey without the other spouse joining. Utah confirms this in its recording-presumptions statute: for a recorded deed, it is presumed that where the grantor appears to have been married, 'the grantee was a bona fide purchaser and the grantor received adequate and full consideration ... so that the joinder of the nonexecuting spouse was not required under Sections 75-2-201 through 75-2-207' (Utah Code § 57-4a-4(1)). The surviving spouse's protection is instead the probate elective share against the augmented estate (§§ 75-2-201 to 75-2-207), claimed in probate — not a signature on the deed |
An attorney-in-fact may sign under written authority. The grantor may convey through 'that party's lawful agent thereunto authorized by writing' (Utah Code § 25-5-1), and § 25-5-9 confirms that 'every instrument required by the provisions of this chapter to be subscribed by any party may be subscribed by the lawful agent of such party.' To record a deed signed by an agent, the deed must be acknowledged like any other (§ 57-3-101); in practice the power of attorney is also acknowledged and recorded so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title, and Utah's recording presumptions cover an agent who 'held the position that the person executing the document purported to hold and acted within the scope of that person's authority' (§ 57-4a-4(1)). The underlying authority runs under Utah's Uniform Power of Attorney Act |
Record with the county recorder of the county where the land is located (Utah Code §§ 57-3-101, 57-3-105). The deed must be acknowledged (§ 57-3-101), and for documents executed after July 1, 2022, it 'is entitled to be recorded ... only if the document: (i) names the grantees and recites a mailing address to be used for assessment and taxation; and (ii) includes a legal description of the real property' (§ 57-3-105(3)(a)). The document must also be an original (or a compliant electronic document), carry a brief caption stating its nature, and be legible (§ 57-3-106). Utah has no state real estate transfer tax; county recording fees and any cover-sheet requirements are set locally |
Race-notice recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between grantor and grantee even unrecorded, but 'each document not recorded as provided in this title is void as against any subsequent purchaser of the same real property ... if: (1) the subsequent purchaser purchased the property in good faith and for a valuable consideration; and (2) the subsequent purchaser's document is first duly recorded' (Utah Code § 57-3-103). A later buyer therefore defeats an earlier unrecorded deed only by taking without notice AND recording first. Cures: 'a recorded document imparts notice of its contents regardless of any defect, irregularity, or omission in its execution, attestation, or acknowledgment' (§ 57-4a-2), and a recorded document is presumed genuine and 'executed voluntarily by the person purporting to execute it' (§ 57-4a-4(1)). None of this cures a forged signature, incapacity, or lack of ownership |
| Vermont verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not community property. Deed execution and recording sit in Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27 (Property), ch. 5 (Conveyance of Real Estate) — subch. 1 (manner of conveying) and subch. 2 (execution and acknowledgment); the homestead-joinder rule is in ch. 3 (Estates of Homestead). A conveyance must be a writing signed by the grantor or the grantor's attorney (§ 302), and it is recorded in the clerk's office of the town — not the county — where the land lies (§ 341(a)). This page covers an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, tax, fiduciary, and entity deeds follow other rules |
Signed writing; no seal required. An oral conveyance creates only an estate at will, and an interest in land cannot be granted 'unless by operation of law or by a writing signed by the grantor or his or her attorney' (§ 302). The execution statute requires that deeds 'be signed by the party granting the same and acknowledged by the grantor before a notary public' (§ 341(a)). No seal is needed — a long-recorded instrument is valid even if it 'was not sealed, witnessed, acknowledged, [or] validly acknowledged' (§ 348(a)), confirming none of those is an independent validity requirement today |
None. Vermont requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses for an ordinary deed. Section 341(a) lists only the grantor's signature and a notarial acknowledgment; the older witness requirement is gone, and there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's. The 15-year curative statute treats an instrument that 'was not sealed, witnessed, acknowledged, [or] validly acknowledged' as validated after recording, underscoring that witnessing is not a current validity condition (§ 348(a)) |
Required to record and to bind third parties; not required for validity between the parties. A deed must be 'acknowledged by the grantor before a notary public and recorded at length' in the town clerk's office (§ 341(a)) — the acknowledgment is valid even without a notary stamp. An unacknowledged, unrecorded deed still holds the land against 'the grantor and his or her heirs' but not against anyone else (§ 342), so acknowledgment is a recording-and-third-party-effect step, not a between-parties validity rule. When a grantor dies or leaves the State without acknowledging, execution may instead be proved by witness testimony |
Homestead joinder. Vermont has no dower or curtesy and is not a community-property state, but a married owner cannot convey the homestead alone: a homestead 'shall not be conveyed by the owner thereof, if married, ... unless the wife or husband 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' (§ 141(a)). A civil-union partner counts the same, and a spouse may still convey a homestead interest directly to the other spouse (§ 141(d)). Separately, an owner may not convey tenancy-by-the-entirety or homestead property to anyone but the spouse unless the spouse joins (§ 349(a)(2)). Non-homestead property may be conveyed by the titled owner alone |
Agent may sign, but the power of attorney must be recorded. Section 302 lets 'the grantor or his or her attorney' sign, but a deed 'made by virtue of a power of attorney[] shall not be of any effect or admissible in evidence unless the power of attorney is signed, acknowledged, and recorded in the office where the deed is required to be recorded' (§ 305(a)). So recording the power of attorney in the same town land records is a condition of the agent deed's effectiveness — not merely customary. An out-of-state power of attorney valid where executed is honored (§ 305(b)), and a long-recorded agent deed is cured after 15 years even if no power of attorney appears of record (§ 348(f)) |
Record at length in the clerk's office of the town where the land lies (§ 341(a)) — Vermont uses town, not county, land records. The deed must be signed and acknowledged before a notary (§ 341(a)). A deed that references a survey prepared or revised after July 1, 1988 may be recorded only if accompanied by that survey or a citation to where it is already recorded, and a post-2020 subdivision deed needs a survey plat or its recording citation (§ 341(b)(1)-(2)); failure to comply does not void the deed or make title unmarketable (§ 341(b)(3)). A property transfer tax return is filed with the town clerk at recording under separate tax law. Confirm current fees and formatting with the town clerk |
Recording protects the land against third parties. A deed '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' (§ 342). So an unrecorded deed is valid between the parties (and against the grantor's heirs) but does not hold the land against other claimants until it is acknowledged and recorded; the statutory text carries no express good-faith or first-to-record qualifier, so read it as written. Defect cures are generous: an instrument on record for 15 years is validated despite a missing consideration, seal, witness, or acknowledgment (§ 348(a)), a missing recorded power of attorney is cured after 15 years (§ 348(f)), and survey non-compliance never voids the deed (§ 341(b)(3)). None of this cures forgery, incapacity, a defective description, or lack of title |
| Virginia verified 2026-07-16 | Virginia conveyancing law is in Title 55.1 (Property and Conveyances), recodified from old Title 55 in 2019 (c. 712). Execution rules are in Chapter 1 (§§ 55.1-100 et seq.) and Chapter 3 (form of a deed, § 55.1-300); recording and priority are in Chapter 4 (§ 55.1-407) and Chapter 6 (§§ 55.1-600 et seq.). A common-law title state with no community property; tenancy by the entirety is recognized. Deeds are recorded not with a county recorder but with the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city where the land lies (§ 55.1-600). Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; deeds of trust, trustee, fiduciary, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
A signed writing, and nothing more, passes title. 'No estate of inheritance or freehold in lands shall be conveyed unless by deed or will' (§ 55.1-101(A)). The statutory deed form closes with 'Witness the following signature (or signatures)' (§ 55.1-300) — the grantor's signature is the whole execution requirement. No seal is required: the form recites only a signature, and the recording statute asks only for 'an original signature' (§ 55.1-600). No date, consideration recital (a nominal recital is allowed), or attesting witness is needed to pass title between the parties |
None. Virginia requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed. Witnesses appear only as an alternative route to recording: the clerk records a writing when it has 'been acknowledged by him, or proved by two witnesses as to him' (§ 55.1-600). Because the grantor's own acknowledgment before a notary satisfies recording, two-witness proof is a backup, not a requirement, and the notary route is what deeds normally use |
Required to record, not to pass title. Title passes on the signed deed itself (§ 55.1-101); a writing 'not properly notarized ... shall not invalidate the underlying document' but 'shall not be in proper form for recordation' (§ 55.1-602). To record, the deed must be acknowledged by the grantor (or proved by two witnesses) before the circuit court clerk, a notary public, a commissioner in chancery, or another authorized officer, who certifies the acknowledgment (§§ 55.1-600, 55.1-612). Acknowledgment is the gateway to the land records and to priority, not the moment title transfers |
No general marital-joinder rule. Virginia abolished dower and curtesy: 'The interests of dower and curtesy are abolished' for interests vesting on or after January 1, 1991 (§ 64.2-301). There is no homestead-signature or community-property requirement, so an owner may convey property titled in that owner's name alone — even the marital home — without the other spouse's signature. A surviving spouse is protected instead by the elective share against the augmented estate (Title 64.2, Ch. 3, Article 1), which is claimed at death rather than by joining the deed. Where spouses hold together as tenants by the entirety, both must sign to convey the jointly held property |
An owner may convey through an attorney-in-fact. When a deed 'is signed by a person acting on behalf of another, or in any representative capacity, the signature of such representative may be acknowledged or proved in the same manner' as the grantor's own (§ 55.1-600). The authority is a power of attorney, which 'shall be signed by the principal or in the principal's conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal,' is presumed genuine if acknowledged before a notary, and 'in order to be recordable shall satisfy the requirements of § 55.1-600' (§ 64.2-1603). A power of attorney 'may be recorded in any county or city' (§ 55.1-605); in practice it is recorded so the agent's authority appears in the land records with the deed |
Record with the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city where the land is located (§ 55.1-600); the writing must carry an original signature and be acknowledged or proved. The clerk's indexing statute lets the clerk reject a deed (absent a compliant cover sheet) unless each party's surname is underscored or in capitals in the first clause, pages are numbered, the consideration and value are stated on the first page for a taxable deed, and each party is identified as grantor or grantee (§ 17.1-223(A)); for residential property of four units or fewer, the first page must also name the title insurer (or state it is unknown) and the preparer, and the Social Security number must be removed (§ 17.1-223(B)). A deed recorded on or after July 1, 2020, may not reference a prohibited restrictive covenant (§ 55.1-300). State recordation and grantor taxes (§§ 58.1-801, 58.1-802), county fees, and formatting are separate steps — confirm them with the circuit court clerk |
Notice priority. Every deed 'conveying any estate or term ... shall be void as to all purchasers for valuable consideration without notice not parties thereto and lien creditors, until and except from the time it is recorded' (§ 55.1-407(A)(1)). A later buyer who pays value and takes without notice of the earlier deed prevails, so record promptly — but an unrecorded deed still binds the original parties, and Virginia does not require the later buyer to record first to win. Cures: a recorded writing is 'conclusively presumed to be in proper form for recording after having been recorded for a period of three years, except in cases of fraud' (§ 55.1-602). Recording does not cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, a defective description, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| Washington verified 2026-07-16 | Washington conveyancing is in Title 64 (Real Property and Conveyances): every conveyance must be by deed (RCW 64.04.010), with execution rules and statutory warranty, bargain-and-sale, and quitclaim forms in Chapter 64.04. Recording and priority are in Title 65 — the recording/priority statute RCW 65.08.070 and the document-format statute RCW 65.04.045. Washington is a community-property state, so marital joinder is central, and it recognizes domestic partnerships alongside marriage. Deeds are recorded with the county auditor (recording officer) of the county where the land lies. Scope here is an ordinary deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; deeds of trust (Washington's mortgage substitute), trustee, and tax deeds follow separate rules |
A written, signed deed is required for any conveyance: 'Every conveyance of real estate, or any interest therein ... shall be by deed' (RCW 64.04.010), and 'Every deed shall be in writing, signed by the party bound thereby, and acknowledged by the party' (RCW 64.04.020). The grantor's signature is the core execution act. No seal is required — the statute exempts even leases from 'acknowledgment, witness, or seals' and asks a deed only to be signed and acknowledged. Washington supplies optional statutory forms for a warranty deed (RCW 64.04.030), a bargain-and-sale deed (RCW 64.04.040), and a quitclaim deed (RCW 64.04.050) |
None. Washington requires no subscribing or attesting witness to make or record an ordinary deed; the deed statute calls for a signature and an acknowledgment, not witnesses (RCW 64.04.020). RCW 64.04.010 confirms the point by expressly relieving leases of any 'witness' requirement, and deeds are held to the acknowledgment route rather than witness proof |
Required. Unlike states where notarization is only a recording step, Washington writes acknowledgment into the deed statute itself: 'Every deed shall be in writing, signed by the party bound thereby, and acknowledged by the party before some person authorized ... to take acknowledgments of deeds' (RCW 64.04.020). Acknowledgment is also the gateway to recording and priority — 'A conveyance of real property, when acknowledged by the person executing the same ... may be recorded' (RCW 65.08.070). So a Washington deed is both signed and acknowledged before an authorized officer as a matter of course |
Community-property joinder, and a strong one. Either spouse or domestic partner may manage community property alone, 'except' that 'neither person shall sell, convey, or encumber the community real property without the other spouse or other domestic partner joining in the execution of the deed ... and such deed or other instrument must be acknowledged by both spouses or both domestic partners' (RCW 26.16.030(3)). So a deed of community real estate needs both signatures and both acknowledgments. Property that is a spouse's own separate estate may be conveyed by that spouse alone, with a 'like power of disposition' as over any separate property (RCW 26.16.030) |
An owner may convey through an attorney-in-fact acting under a power of attorney. Under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, 'A power of attorney must be signed and dated by the principal, and the signature must be either acknowledged before a notary public ... or attested by two or more competent witnesses' meeting the statute's qualifications (RCW 11.125.050(1)); an acknowledged signature is 'presumed to be genuine' (RCW 11.125.050(3)). The agent signs the deed in that representative capacity and acknowledges it, and in practice the power of attorney is recorded with the county auditor alongside the deed so the agent's authority appears in the land records |
Record with the county auditor or recording officer of the county where the property is situated (RCW 65.08.070). Washington sets detailed first-page formatting by statute: a three-inch top margin and one-inch side and bottom margins, the return name and address in the top left, the document title(s), the grantor and grantee names, an abbreviated legal description (lot/block/plat or section-township-range) with a page reference to the full description, and the assessor's parcel or account number (RCW 65.04.045(1)). A recorded instrument may not contain a Social Security number, a date of birth tied to a person, or a parent's maiden name (RCW 65.04.045(3)). Excise-tax affidavits, county fees, and additional formatting are separate steps — confirm them with the county auditor |
Race-notice priority. A conveyance 'may be recorded in the office of the recording officer of the county where the property is situated,' and 'every such conveyance not so recorded is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance is first duly recorded' (RCW 65.08.070). A later buyer wins only by paying value, taking without notice, and recording first — so record promptly. An unrecorded deed still binds the original grantor and grantee; it fails only against a protected later claimant. Recording does not cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, a defective description, or a grantor who did not own the land |
| West Virginia verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; dower and curtesy abolished (1992). Deed execution sits in W. Va. Code Chapter 36 (Estates and Property): a freehold passes only 'by deed or will' (§ 36-1-1), backed by the land statute of frauds (§ 36-1-3). Authentication and recording sit in Chapter 39, Article 1 (§§ 39-1-1 to 39-1-4). Recording priority sits in Chapter 40, Article 1 (§ 40-1-9). Recording is done by the clerk of the county commission (the county clerk). Scope here is an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages, deeds of trust, and tax, sheriff, and fiduciary deeds follow separate rules |
Signed written deed. 'No estate of inheritance or freehold ... in lands ... shall be created or conveyed unless by deed or will' (§ 36-1-1), and the recording statute admits a writing to record 'as to any person whose name is signed thereto' (§ 39-1-2) — so the grantor must sign the deed. The land statute of frauds separately requires the underlying contract to be 'in writing and signed by the party to be charged' (§ 36-1-3). No seal is required, consideration 'need not be set forth' (§ 36-1-3), and West Virginia imposes no statewide date or legal-description validity rule (those are recording and transfer-tax items) |
None for validity. West Virginia requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses to make a deed valid. Two witnesses appear only as an alternative to a notarial acknowledgment for recording: the county clerk admits a deed 'when it shall have been acknowledged by such person or proved by two witnesses' (§ 39-1-2; see also § 39-1-3). A notarized deed needs no witnesses at all. There is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's or Ohio's |
Not required for validity; required (or witness-proof) to record. A signed, delivered deed passes title between grantor and grantee without a notary, but to record it 'it shall have been acknowledged by such person or proved by two witnesses' before the county clerk (§ 39-1-2). The officers who may take the acknowledgment — notary public, clerk of a court, and others — are listed in § 39-1-3, and § 39-1-4 supplies the certificate-of-acknowledgment form. Acknowledgment is the ordinary route into the land records |
No spousal joinder to convey. West Virginia abolished dower and curtesy in 1992 (the former marital-estate provisions were repealed, Acts 1992 Reg. Sess., Ch. 75). A married owner may convey solely owned real property without the other spouse's signature, and the spouse cannot veto the deed. The surviving spouse's protection is a post-death 'right of election ... to take the elective-share percentage of the augmented estate' scaled to years married, 3% to 50% (§ 42-3-1) — a claim against the estate at death, not a signature requirement on a lifetime deed. West Virginia's homestead exemption is a creditor exemption, not a conveyance-joinder rule |
An agent signs under a written power of attorney. 'No power of attorney to execute a deed of land for another person shall be valid, unless it be in writing signed by the person on whose behalf such deed is to be made' (§ 36-1-2). The power of attorney 'may be admitted to record in any county' (§ 39-1-1) — recording it is permissive, not a validity condition, but is customary so the agent's authority appears in the chain of title. West Virginia's Uniform Power of Attorney Act is Chapter 39B |
Record with the clerk of the county commission (county clerk) for the county where the land lies. The deed must be acknowledged or proved by two witnesses (§ 39-1-2), and the preparer's name must appear at the end of the instrument, e.g. 'This instrument was prepared by (name)' (§ 39-1-2a). Special West Virginia rule: a quitclaim deed without consideration, or a transfer of property worth $100 or less on which no transfer tax is paid, must also be signed by the grantee and acknowledged or proved as to the grantee (§ 39-1-2(b)(2)). County recording fees, transfer/excise tax (§ 11-22-1 et seq.), and any sales-listing form are set locally — confirm with the county clerk |
Notice-type recording act. A signed, delivered deed is valid between the parties even unrecorded, but 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' (§ 40-1-9). A later purchaser for value who takes without notice of the earlier unrecorded deed prevails — a notice rule, and a strong reason to record promptly. Cures: a missing preparer name 'shall not invalidate or cloud the title' and the recorded instrument still constitutes notice (§ 39-1-2a); a deed may be recorded on two-witness proof if it cannot be acknowledged (§§ 39-1-2, 39-1-3). But § 39-1-2 makes a low-value or no-consideration quitclaim deed recorded without the required grantee signature void, transferring no interest, and recording cures no forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Wisconsin verified 2026-07-16 | Wisconsin deed law is Chapter 706, 'Conveyances of Real Property; Recording; Titles,' which governs 'every transaction by which any interest in land is created, aliened, mortgaged, assigned or may be otherwise affected' (§ 706.001(1)), except transfers by operation of law, by will, by nonprobate transfer on death (§ 705.15), or by short lease (§ 706.001(2)). Deeds are recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the land lies. Wisconsin is a marital-property state (Chapter 766), but the deed-execution joinder rule keys on the homestead, not on marital property generally. Scope here is an ordinary quitclaim or warranty deed by an individual owner conveying a present fee simple; mortgages, transfer-on-death deeds, and fiduciary deeds run on separate rules |
A conveyance is 'not valid unless evidenced by a conveyance that' identifies the parties, identifies the land, identifies the interest conveyed and any material term, 'is signed by or on behalf of each of the grantors,' and 'is delivered' (§ 706.02(1)(a)-(d), (g)). Delivery is a codified requisite in Wisconsin, not just a common-law doctrine. An agent may sign, but the conveyance is 'ineffective as against the purported principal unless such agent was expressly authorized, and unless the authorizing principal is identified' in the deed or signature (§ 706.03(1m)). No seal is required (§ 706.03(2); § 706.05(6)) |
None. Wisconsin requires no subscribing or attesting witness for an ordinary deed. The recording statute is explicit that, absent an express contrary rule, 'no instrument shall be denied acceptance for record because of the absence of venue, seals, witnesses or other matter of form' (§ 706.05(6)), and the register-of-deeds statute confirms that a record's 'validity and effect' is 'not impaired by the fact that the name of any grantor, grantee, witness, or notary was not printed or typed on the document' (§ 59.43(6)(a)). Witnessing is neither a validity rule nor a recording condition |
Authentication is required to record, not to make the deed valid between the parties. Every instrument offered for record must 'contain a form of authentication authorized by s. 706.06 or ch. 140' (§ 706.05(2)(b)). Section 706.06 gives two routes: an ordinary notary acknowledgment, or — distinctive to Wisconsin — authentication by 'any member in good standing of the State Bar of Wisconsin' (or a public officer who may administer oaths) who endorses the instrument 'Acknowledged,' 'Authenticated,' or 'Signatures Guaranteed,' with the date, signature, and title (§ 706.06(1)-(2)). That endorsement certifies each signature is genuine. Validity between the parties turns on § 706.02 (a signed, delivered writing), not on authentication |
Homestead joinder. A conveyance must be 'signed, or joined in by separate conveyance, by or on behalf of each spouse, if the conveyance alienates any interest of a married person in a homestead under s. 706.01(7) except conveyances between spouses,' and 'on a purchase money mortgage pledging that property as security only the purchaser need sign' (§ 706.02(1)(f)). So a married owner conveying the homestead needs both spouses' signatures even when only one holds record title, but a non-homestead parcel may be conveyed by the titled spouse alone. Wisconsin courts treat the homestead-signature requirement as strict — it cannot be supplied by agency or waived except by actually signing. Beyond the homestead, a spouse's marital-property interest is governed by Wisconsin's Marital Property Act (Chapter 766) |
An attorney-in-fact may sign, but under § 706.03(1m) the conveyance is 'ineffective as against the purported principal unless such agent was expressly authorized, and unless the authorizing principal is identified as such in the conveyance or in the form of signature or acknowledgment'; the burden of proving authority is on the person asserting it. A power of attorney used to convey is generally recorded in the same land records, and a recorded power is not treated as revoked as to third parties 'unless the instrument containing such revocation is also recorded in the same office' (§ 706.08(7)); the principal's death does not revoke it as to an agent or good-faith party without notice. A single officer may sign in a corporation's name unless a different authorization is recorded (§ 706.03(2)-(3)) |
Record with the register of deeds of each county where the land lies (§ 706.05(1)). An instrument offered for record must bear the signatures required by law (§ 706.05(2)(a)), a § 706.06 or ch. 140 authentication (§ 706.05(2)(b)), and enough identification of the land and parties for indexing, including a full legal description (§ 706.05(2)(c), (2m)). Every conveyance must be accompanied by the Wisconsin real estate transfer return (eRETR) under § 77.22(2) (§ 706.05(12)). The register's standard document-format rules apply (§ 59.43(2m)): the document's title must sit within the top 0.5 to 6 inches of the first page, and 'the name of the person or governmental agency that drafted the document' must appear (§ 59.43(2m)(a)16). Some counties require the parcel identification number. The register may not reject a deed for the absence of witnesses, seals, or venue (§ 706.05(6)). Transfer fees under Chapter 77 and county recording fees are separate steps |
Race-notice priority. Except for government patents, 'every conveyance that is not recorded as provided by law shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser, in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance is recorded first' (§ 706.08(1)(a)); a later buyer with notice under § 706.09 is not in good faith. Between the grantor and grantee, a signed and delivered deed is valid even unrecorded. Cures: a transaction that fails a § 706.02 requirement 'may be enforceable in whole or in part under doctrines of equity' by reformation, unjust-enrichment, or estoppel (§ 706.04); a correction instrument fixes a scrivener's error (§ 706.085); an instrument the register accepts and properly indexes is 'deemed duly recorded despite its failure to conform to one or more of the requirements of this section' (§ 706.05(7)); and a missing witness, notary, or drafter name does not impair the record (§ 59.43(6)(a)). None cure fraud, forgery, incapacity, or lack of title |
| Wyoming verified 2026-07-16 | Common-law title state; not community property. Deed execution and recording sit in Wyo. Stat. Ann. Title 34 (Property, Conveyances and Security Transactions), ch. 1 (general provisions, §§ 34-1-101 to -158) and ch. 2 (statutory deed forms); the homestead is a creditor exemption in Title 1, ch. 20. A 'conveyance' is 'every instrument in writing by which any estate or interest in real estate is created, alienated, mortgaged or assigned' (§ 34-1-102), and it is recorded with the clerk of the county where the land lies (§ 34-1-118). This page covers an ordinary present transfer of a fee interest by an individual owner; mortgages and tax, fiduciary, and entity deeds run on their own rules |
Signed writing; no seal required. A conveyance is an 'instrument in writing' (§ 34-1-102), and land may be conveyed 'by instrument executed and acknowledged by the party from whom or which the estate or interest is intended to pass' (§ 34-1-106). Wyoming supplies short statutory warranty-deed and quitclaim-deed forms (§§ 34-2-102, 34-2-105), and a quitclaim 'shall be sufficient to pass all the estate which the grantor could lawfully convey' (§ 34-1-107). No seal is required, and the code contains no statewide date, consideration, or granting-word validity formula beyond a signed, executed writing |
None. Wyoming requires no subscribing or attesting witnesses for an ordinary deed. Sections 34-1-106 and 34-1-113 call only for execution and a notarial acknowledgment, with no witness step, and there is no two-witness execution rule like Florida's. A curative statute long ago validated old instruments that did 'not purport to be properly witnessed' (§ 34-5-104), confirming witnessing is not a present validity requirement |
Required to record; not required for validity between the parties. 'Execution of deeds, mortgages or other conveyances of lands ... shall be acknowledged by the party or parties executing same, before any notarial officer' (§ 34-1-113), and that acknowledgment (or proof of execution) 'shall entitle such deed ... to be recorded in the office of the county clerk in the county where the land lies' (§ 34-1-118). A deed is valid between grantor and grantee without recording; acknowledgment is the gateway to recording and constructive notice. A defective certificate of acknowledgment on a long-recorded instrument is cured by operation of law (§ 34-8-103) |
No community property and no dower or curtesy; a married person may convey as if single. 'A married woman may, by her deed or mortgage, convey her real estate in like manner as she might, if she were an unmarried woman' (§ 34-1-108), and Wyoming has no statute making a nonowner spouse's signature a general validity condition. The homestead is a $100,000 exemption from execution 'while occupied as such by the owner or the person entitled thereto, or his or her family' (§§ 1-20-101, 1-20-102), not a conveyance-joinder statute — but Wyoming deeds are expected to address it: the curative statute cures, only after ten years, a recorded conveyance in which 'there is no release or waiver of homestead or the marital status of the grantor is not set forth' (§ 34-5-113). So on an occupied family homestead, include the spouse's homestead release. Property titled to spouses 'as husband and wife' is presumed a tenancy by the entirety (§ 34-1-140(b)) that neither spouse can convey alone. A surviving spouse's post-death protection is the elective share (§ 2-5-101), not a lifetime signature |
An agent signs under a written power, and recording that power is optional. A 'letter of attorney ... containing a power to convey lands as agent or attorney for the owner' is expressly not itself a 'conveyance' (§ 34-1-103), and such a power 'only when acknowledged by such owner, may be recorded by the county clerk' and then read in evidence like a recorded conveyance (§ 34-1-104). Recording the power is therefore permissive proof, not a condition of a valid agent deed — but if the power is recorded, a later revocation must also be recorded to be effective (§ 34-1-105). Spouses may appoint each other attorney-in-fact to deal with their interests (§ 34-1-129) |
Record with the clerk of the county where the land lies (§ 34-1-118); the county clerk 'shall receive and record at length all deeds' (§ 34-1-119). Only originally signed documents (including conforming electronic records) or properly certified copies may be recorded (§ 34-1-119). A sworn Statement of Consideration from the grantee must accompany the deed: 'No instrument evidencing a transfer of real property may be accepted for recording until the completed sworn statement is received by the county clerk,' though 'the validity or effectiveness of an instrument as between the parties is not affected' by failing to file it (§ 34-1-142(b)). Confirm current fees and formatting with the county clerk |
Race-notice recording act. 'Every conveyance of real estate ... which shall not be recorded as required by law, shall be void, as against any subsequent purchaser or purchasers in good faith and for a valuable consideration ... whose conveyance shall be first duly recorded' (§ 34-1-120). So an unrecorded deed binds the grantor and grantee but loses to a later buyer who takes in good faith, pays value, and records first; a recorded instrument is notice and 'take[s] precedence' from the time it is delivered to the county clerk (§ 34-1-121). Cures are generous: an instrument recorded for ten years is validated despite a defective attestation, acknowledgment, or certificate (§ 34-8-103), a missing homestead release or marital-status recital is cured after ten years (§ 34-5-113), and old unwitnessed instruments were validated (§ 34-5-104). None of this cures forgery, incapacity, a defective description, or lack of title |
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