Quitclaim deed
A quitclaim deed is a deed by which a grantor releases to a grantee the grantor's claims upon land. Virginia construes such release words as a quitclaim of all right, title and interest, at law and in equity, and quitclaim deeds are recorded in the deed book with other deeds.
It passes nothing? The release words reach all right, title and interest
Three things get said about quitclaim deeds so often that they pass for rules: that a quitclaim transfers nothing, that it cannot go on the record, and that a buyer who takes one gives up the protection other buyers have. Each one can be checked against the Code of Virginia, and none of them holds up as a rule.
Start with the first. Va. Code 55.1-363 takes a deed in which the grantor releases to the grantee all his claims upon the lands, and says how to read it: as if the grantor had remised, released and forever quitclaimed to the grantee and the grantee's heirs and assigns:
all right, title, and interest whatsoever, both at law and in equity
Va. Code 55.1-363
That is not the language of a document that passes nothing. It is the language of a release that reaches whatever right, title and interest the grantor has in the land. What the statute does not say is how much interest a particular grantor holds. That answer is in the land records, and finding it is the job of a title search.
The interest being released might be a co-owner's share of land held in a tenancy in common, an interest tied to a life estate, or a claim a person believes they have. The release words describe the release; the records, and an attorney's reading of them, describe the interest.
It cannot be recorded? The deed book statute lists it by name
The second claim fails on the plain text of the statute that says what goes in the deed book.
Va. Code 17.1-227 lists the instruments a clerk records in the deed book unless another rule applies. Deeds, deeds of trust and deeds of release come first, and the list goes on to name "quitclaim deeds, homestead deeds, grants, transfers and mortgages of real estate". The list covers instruments acknowledged as required by law.
Recording matters for a quitclaim for the same reason it matters for any deed, and a release left unrecorded carries the same exposure to later purchasers and lien creditors as any other unrecorded deed.
It strips a buyer's protection? The form alone does not
The third claim is the one the recording statute answers most directly, because the General Assembly wrote a sentence about it.
The fact that any such instrument is in the form of or contains the terms of a quit-claim or release shall not prevent the grantee from being a purchaser for valuable consideration without notice, nor be of itself notice to such grantee of any unrecorded conveyance of or encumbrance upon such real estate or personal property.
Va. Code 55.1-407
The sentence has two halves. The first says the quitclaim form does not stop the grantee from being a purchaser for valuable consideration without notice, the status the recording statute protects. The second says the form is not, by itself, notice to the grantee of an unrecorded conveyance or encumbrance. The statute takes the form off the table as a reason; it does not say that nothing else about a transaction matters. Whether a given grantee qualifies is a question for an attorney.
Release deeds come up often when people talk about clearing a cloud on title, such as an old interest outstanding in the record. Whether a quitclaim does that job on a particular tract, or something more is needed, is an attorney's decision. How the quitclaim sits beside a warranty deed is laid out in quitclaim vs general warranty deed, and deeds of every kind are worked through in Virginia deeds explained.
Spotted a quitclaim deed in your tract's chain of title?
Send the tax map number and the deed book reference for the release, and Lowell will talk through how it bears on a sale and which questions go to the attorney who reads the title. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions about this term
Does a quitclaim deed have to use the word quitclaim to work as one?
Not according to Va. Code 55.1-363. When a deed says the grantor releases to the grantee all his claims upon the lands, the statute construes it as if the grantor had remised, released and forever quitclaimed all right, title and interest, at law and in equity. Whether other wording in a particular deed has the same effect is a question for an attorney reading it.
Is a quitclaim deed indexed under the grantor's name and the grantee's?
Yes, the way other recorded instruments are. Every circuit court clerk keeps general indexes to the deed books and indexes each instrument under every party named in it as grantor or grantee. A quitclaim deed, which is recorded in the deed book, can be found in those indexes under the grantor's name and under the grantee's.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 55.1-363: effect of certain words of release in a deed Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-227: instruments recorded in the deed book Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-407: contracts and deeds void as to creditors and purchasers until recorded Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-249: general indexes kept in every clerk's office Code of Virginia
- Virginia Title Insurance Guide State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance