How to File a Quit Claim Deed in Kentucky: Fees, Taxes, and Recording

To file a quitclaim deed in Kentucky, you prepare a deed that meets the state’s content and formatting rules, sign it before a notary along with a sworn consideration certificate, and record it with the county clerk in the county where the property sits, paying the recording fee and any real estate transfer tax at the counter. The clerk cannot accept the deed without the consideration certificate, and the deed only protects the grantee against later claims once it is recorded.¹

What the Deed Must Contain

Kentucky law requires every deed to list the full mailing addresses of both the grantor and the grantee.² Use each person’s full legal name exactly as it appears on their identification. If more than one grantee is taking title, state how they will hold it — for example, as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

The deed needs a complete legal description of the property. A street address alone will not do. Pull the prior recorded deed from the county clerk’s office and copy the legal description from it, whether that description uses lot and subdivision references, metes and bounds, or both. While you have the prior deed in hand, note its book and page number or instrument number, because Kentucky recording standards expect a source-of-title reference tying the new deed back to the prior conveyance.

Every Kentucky deed also has to state the consideration. For a sale, that is the full amount paid. For a gift or family transfer, it is common to write “$1.00 and other good and valuable consideration” or “$0.00” with a note that the transfer is a gift. The figure you state affects the transfer tax the clerk will collect.

The Consideration Certificate

This is the requirement that trips people up. A Kentucky county clerk cannot accept a deed for recording unless it includes a sworn, notarized consideration certificate signed by both the grantor and the grantee (or their agents).²

What the certificate says depends on the transfer. For a sale or any transfer with real consideration, it must state that the amount shown in the deed is the full consideration paid. For a gift or a transfer with nominal or no consideration, the certificate must state that the transfer is a gift and set out the estimated fair cash value of the property.² Many Kentucky quitclaim deed forms build the certificate into the bottom of the deed. If yours does not, prepare it as a separate attached page.

Formatting and Signing

Kentucky county clerks follow statewide recording standards, and deeds that miss the specs get rejected at the counter. Use white paper, 8½ by 11 inches (8½ by 14 is accepted), with no watermarks, staples, or binding. Print on one side only, in black ink, in at least a 10-point font. Leave a three-inch margin at the top of the first page for the recorder’s stamp and one-inch margins everywhere else.

The grantor must sign the deed, and every signature on the deed and on the consideration certificate must be notarized. The notary has to certify that the signer appeared in person, acknowledged executing the document, and was either personally known to the notary or produced satisfactory identification.³ The notary’s signature, printed name, and commission ID number should all appear. Because the consideration certificate needs both the grantor’s and grantee’s signatures, both parties usually have to appear before a notary.

Where to File

Take the completed, signed, and notarized deed to the county clerk’s office in the county where the property is located. Recording must happen in that specific county for the deed to be effective against later purchasers or creditors.¹ Most clerks accept deeds in person or by mail. If you mail it, include the original notarized deed, your payment, and a self-addressed stamped envelope so the clerk can return the recorded original.

Recording Fee

Kentucky’s statutory recording fee for a deed of five pages or fewer is $33.00, with $3.00 for each additional page. Payment methods vary by county but generally include checks, money orders, and cash for walk-in filings.

Real Estate Transfer Tax

Kentucky charges a real estate transfer tax on the grantor at a rate of $0.50 for every $500 of value, or fraction of $500.⁴ The clerk calculates the tax and collects it before recording. On a $200,000 property, the tax runs $200.

How “value” is measured depends on the deal. For a sale, value is the full actual consideration, including any liens the grantee assumes. For a gift or a nominal-consideration transfer, value is the property’s estimated fair market value.⁴ That matters for quitclaim deeds because so many are gifts or family transfers.

Common Exemptions

Many of the most common quitclaim transfers are fully exempt from the transfer tax:

Transfers between spouses, or between former spouses as part of a divorce proceeding.
Transfers between parent and child, or grandparent and grandchild, when only nominal consideration is involved.
Transfers into a trust when the grantor is the sole beneficiary, or when a direct transfer to the other beneficiaries would itself be exempt.
Correction deeds that confirm or correct a previously recorded deed.
Transfers between an LLC and its members, regardless of consideration.
Deeds given solely to provide or release security for a debt.

The full list is in KRS 142.050.⁴ If your transfer qualifies, tell the clerk when you present the deed. You may also need to note the exemption on the consideration certificate.

If There Is a Mortgage on the Property

A quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership the grantor has, but it does not remove or affect any mortgage. The lien stays with the real estate regardless of who holds title, and the original borrower stays personally liable on the loan. The grantee takes ownership subject to that mortgage.

Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause allowing the lender to call the loan when the borrower transfers the property. Federal law blocks enforcement of that clause for residential properties with fewer than five units in several situations common to quitclaim deeds, including transfers to a spouse or children, transfers resulting from a divorce decree or property settlement, transfers to a relative following the borrower’s death, transfers to a surviving joint tenant, and transfers into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary and occupancy does not change.⁵ Those protections cover only the due-on-sale clause; they do not release the original borrower. If your name is on the loan and you sign a quitclaim to someone else, you keep paying unless the lender agrees to a formal assumption or the grantee refinances.

After the Clerk Records the Deed

Once accepted, the deed gets a book and page number or instrument number and is indexed in the public land records. That recording is what fixes priority against anyone who later claims an interest in the property.¹ The clerk returns the recorded original to the party who submitted it, usually by mail, within a few days to several weeks depending on volume. Store it somewhere secure. You do not need the physical document to prove ownership, since the county’s records are the official evidence, but the original is handy if you ever need the legal description or recording details again.

Recording the deed does not update anything else on its own. Contact the county property valuation administrator to update ownership for property tax purposes, and notify your homeowner’s insurance carrier, because a change in ownership can affect coverage. If the prior owner had a homestead exemption, the new owner may need to apply separately to keep it in place.

1
Justia. Kentucky Code 382.110 – Recording of Deeds and Mortgages
2
Justia. Kentucky Code 382.135 – Deed Requirements
3
Justia. Kentucky Code 423.130 – Requirements for Certificate of Acknowledgment
4
Justia. Kentucky Code 142.050 – Real Estate Transfer Tax — Collection on Recording — Exemptions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions