Why You Should Transfer Titles Using a Grant (or Warranty) Deed – Not a Quit Claim Deed

By Garrett Sutton, Esq.

There are a few reasons a quit claim deed is not preferred to transfer title to your property. One big reason is because the quit claim deed severs an express or implied warranty of title. (This means you are just granting whatever you may own which may be something, or nothing.) As such, the title insurance doesn’t follow. While this may not seem like a big deal, let’s consider an example.

Why You Should Not use a Quit (not “Quick”) Claim Deed

You buy a property in your name. Part of your closing costs includes a policy of title insurance. Several years later you want to transfer title to an LLC for asset protection. Your friend says a quit claim deed (which they mispronounce as a ‘quick’ claim deed) is the easiest and quickest way to go. You file the quit claim deed and now the property is titled in the name of your LLC. Later, you learn that the boundaries weren’t properly surveyed. You seek recourse from the title company since they insured the boundaries were correct. But you now learn that by quit claiming the property into your LLC you have unwittingly cancelled your title insurance policy. The boundary issue is no longer insured.

Why Grant (Warranty) Deeds are Better

The way to avoid this problem is to use a grant deed or a warranty deed. A title insurance policy isn’t extinguished in such a transfer. As well, a grant deed is just as easy to prepare as is a quit claim deed. But in either case, remember that easy isn’t always best. If you are not an expert at title transfers, I would have an asset protection lawyer, or a title company handle them.