When is a grant deed appropriate to transfer property?

Question

When is a grant deed appropriate to transfer property?

Answer

The most frequent type of deed is the grant deed. This is used for when a property title is going to be transferred from one person to another in America. This does not happen too much on the East Coast, but is quite the norm on the west coast. They are usually documented by some sort of government entity, but this is not mandatory.

Every state has its own laws regarding this issue. There are six main factors though that are pertinent here that are related to this issue. A grant deed usually includes:

  • a written form of the land transfer
  • something legal that verifies the transfer between the buyer and the seller
  • the actual names of the grantee and grantor in regards to the title
  • the land description that is set to be transferred
  • the grantor's execution, transfer and acknowledgement
  • the grantor's own wet ink signature

Usually the grant deeds are observed by a notary, but this is not a requirement. There are two aspects that a grant deed makes pertaining to the title in property that is set to change ownership. They are:

  • the property actually belongs to the grantor and is not owned by any other party
  • there is not any other party that has a stake in that land, like a lien

There is another facet of a warranty deed. It has the guarantee that there cannot be any challenges. The ownership of the title is absolute, free of any ambiguity. Despite this, the grant deed is the main deed used across the U.S.

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