You are viewing the printer-friendly version of What is a Quit Claim Deed?What is a Quit Claim Deed?Definition: A quit claim deed is a type of deed where a grantor, a person who owns an interest in a property, transfers all his interests to someone else. The grantor makes no guarantees about the title to the recipient, who is called the grantee. A quit claim deed is often used to clear up problems with a title or when someone wants to use a simple method to give up all interests in a property.Quit Claim Deed Uses Sally inherited a property and shares ownership with her brothers and sisters. Sally sells her share to her brother and uses a quit claim deed to transfer all of her rights in the property to him. A couple divorces. The husband uses a quit claim deed to give all of his ownership rights in a property to his wife. During a title search the researcher finds out that, because of an error, a previous owner never relinquished his rights to a property. That puts a "cloud" or "defect" on the title, two terms that indicate the current owner isn't the only person with ownership rights in the property. The mistake is corrected by asking the former owner to sign a quit claim deed that transfers all rights in the property to the current owner. Quit Claim Limitations A quit claim transfers only the rights of the person signing the deed. It does not guarantee that other people don't have an interest in the property. If there are other owners, their ownership is not affected by the quit claim. A title search verifies that there are no other claims. aa |