How to Fill Out a Wisconsin Quit Claim Deed Form (3-2003)

To fill out a Wisconsin quit claim deed, enter the full legal names and addresses of the grantor and grantee, copy the property’s legal description verbatim from the prior recorded deed, add the parcel identification number and the amount of consideration, list the drafter’s name, and leave the required blank areas at the top of the first page for recording stamps. The grantor then signs in front of a notary or Wisconsin-licensed attorney, you file a Real Estate Transfer Return online with the Department of Revenue, and you record the deed with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property is located for a $30 fee.

What You’ll Need Before Filling Out the Form

Gather the following before you open the form. Missing or inaccurate items are the main reason deeds get rejected at the counter.

Full legal names and current mailing addresses for the grantor (person giving up interest) and the grantee (person receiving it). Names must match the ID the grantor will present at signing.
The property’s legal description. This is the metes-and-bounds or lot-and-block description from the most recently recorded deed or a certified survey map, not the street address. The abbreviated description on a tax bill is usually not sufficient and often causes rejection.
The parcel identification number (PIN) from the property tax bill. Milwaukee County requires the PIN by statute, and most other counties require it by local ordinance.¹
Recording information for the prior deed (document number, and volume/page if applicable). This confirms you are copying the right legal description.

Many Wisconsin counties post free fillable quit claim deed forms through the Register of Deeds office, and the Wisconsin State Law Library maintains a directory of county-specific forms.² The Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association also publishes a standard template.³

Filling In Each Section of the Deed

A valid Wisconsin conveyance must identify the parties, identify the land, identify the interest being conveyed, and be signed by or on behalf of each grantor.⁴ Each blank on a standard form maps onto one of those requirements.

Grantor and grantee. Write the full legal names exactly as they appear on government identification. If the grantor is married and the property is a homestead, the spouse must also sign the deed or sign a separate conveyance joining in the transfer, even if the spouse is not on title.⁴ Include the current mailing address for each party.

Legal description. Copy it word for word from the prior recorded deed or certified survey map. A transposed digit or dropped lot reference can break the chain of title or get the document kicked back.

Parcel identification number. Enter the PIN from the tax bill.

Consideration. State the amount paid. For a gift or an intra-family transfer with no payment, you can write “$1.00 and other good and valuable consideration” or “$0.00.” The amount you state here flows through to how the transfer fee is calculated on the Real Estate Transfer Return.

Drafter identification. Wisconsin requires the drafter’s name to appear on the deed. If you prepared it yourself, put your own name.⁵

Return address. Fill in where you want the recorded original mailed back after processing.

Witnesses are not required. Wisconsin law provides that no instrument will be denied recording for lack of witnesses, venue, or seals.⁶

Formatting Rules That Get Deeds Rejected

Wisconsin’s Register of Deeds offices follow strict formatting standards so documents can be scanned and archived. A deed that doesn’t meet them will be returned unrecorded.⁷

Leave a blank area of at least 3 inches by 3 inches in the upper right corner of the first page for the recording stamp.
Leave a blank area of at least 0.5 inch by 2 inches in the upper left corner for the document number.
Place the document title (“Quit Claim Deed”) between 0.5 inch and 3 inches from the top of the first page.
Provide a return address area of at least 1 inch by 3 inches directly below either the recording area or the document number area.
Keep top margins at 0.5 inch or more, and side and bottom margins at 0.25 inch or more.⁸
Use white paper of at least 20-pound weight, 8.5 by 11 inches or 8.5 by 14 inches. Ink must be black, blue, or red. No pencil signatures.
Text must be legible enough for a copier, microfilm camera, or scanner to reproduce.

Do not staple multipage deeds in a way that hinges the pages together. The statute prohibits that because it jams scanning equipment.

Getting the Signature Authenticated

The grantor’s signature has to be authenticated before the Register of Deeds will record the deed. Under Wis. Stat. § 706.06, that can be done by any public officer entitled to administer oaths (a notary public qualifies) or by any member in good standing of the State Bar of Wisconsin.⁹ The authenticator endorses the deed with the word “Acknowledged,” “Authenticated,” or similar language, the date, their signature, and their official or professional title. That endorsement certifies the signature is genuine.

If the grantor is signing as a trustee or in another representative role, the authentication also certifies that the signer claimed to hold that capacity and was believed to hold it.⁹ A deed without authentication will come back unrecorded.

Filing the Real Estate Transfer Return

Before the deed can be recorded, you must file a Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR) with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. The RETR is electronic only. File it at tap.revenue.wi.gov.¹⁰ The form reports the property’s value, the nature of the transfer, and whether any exemption applies.

Once you submit the RETR, the portal generates a receipt. That receipt has to go with the deed to the Register of Deeds. Without it the deed cannot be recorded, because the statute makes RETR submission and fee collection prerequisites to acceptance.¹¹

Recording the Deed and Paying the Fees

Deliver the completed package to the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits. The package consists of:

The authenticated quit claim deed
The RETR receipt
A $30 recording fee¹²
Any real estate transfer fee owed (see next section)

Make the check payable to the Register of Deeds for the county of filing. If you mail the package, include a self-addressed stamped envelope or make sure the return address on the deed is complete. Staff review the submission, assign a document number and volume/page reference, scan the deed into the county’s land records, and mail the original back to the return address. Turnaround runs a few weeks and varies by county. Roughly two dozen counties accept electronic recording through third-party platforms such as Simplifile or the eRecording Partners Network, which is faster when available.

Transfer Fee Exemptions for Family and Trust Transfers

Wisconsin charges a real estate transfer fee of $0.30 per $100 of value (or fraction thereof) on every conveyance, paid by the grantor.¹¹ On a $200,000 property, that is $600. For a gift or no-consideration transfer, the fee is calculated on estimated market value.¹³

Many quit claim deed transfers qualify for a full exemption under Wis. Stat. § 77.25. The categories that most often apply:¹⁴

Between spouses
Between domestic partners under Chapter 770
Between parent and child, stepparent and stepchild, parent and son- or daughter-in-law, or grandparent and grandchild, for nominal or no consideration
Between an agent and principal, or from a trustee to a beneficiary, without actual consideration
To a trust, if a direct transfer from the grantor to the trust’s beneficiary would itself be exempt
Between a family-owned LLC, corporation, or partnership and its members, shareholders, or partners, when all owners are spouses, lineal ascendants or descendants, or siblings, and the transfer is only for assumption of debt or an ownership interest

You claim the exemption on the RETR by selecting the applicable exemption number. The Department of Revenue publishes a guide that walks through each category and the matching selections on the electronic form.¹⁵

Before You Sign: Mortgage, Tax, and Medicaid Consequences

A quit claim deed is a short form with long consequences. Three issues trip up DIY filers often enough to flag here.

The mortgage stays with you. Signing over your interest does not remove your name from the loan. The deed transfers ownership; the mortgage is a separate contract. If your name is on the note, you remain personally liable for the debt after the deed is recorded. Most mortgages also contain a due-on-sale clause letting the lender call the loan if title changes. Federal law blocks that clause in a few residential situations (transfers to a spouse or children, transfers under a divorce decree or legal separation agreement, and generally transfers to a revocable living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary), but transfers to an LLC, a business partner, or an unrelated person can trigger it.¹⁶ Talk to the lender first if there is a mortgage on the property.

Gift tax and basis. A transfer for no payment, or for less than fair market value, is a gift for federal tax purposes. If the value above any consideration paid exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion ($19,000 per recipient for 2026), the grantor must file IRS Form 709.¹⁷ Filing the form does not necessarily mean paying tax; it reports the gift against the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption of $15,000,000 for 2026. The bigger surprise for most families is cost basis. A gifted property carries the grantor’s original basis to the grantee (carryover basis). If a parent bought a house for $80,000 and quit claims it to a child when it is worth $300,000, the child’s basis for capital gains at a future sale is $80,000. Inherited property, by contrast, is stepped up to fair market value at the date of death. For a high-value home, lifetime transfer versus transfer at death can swing the eventual tax bill by tens of thousands of dollars.

Medicaid look-back. If the grantor applies for Medicaid long-term care benefits within five years of the transfer, the agency reviews the prior 60 months of financial activity. A transfer for less than fair market value triggers a penalty period of ineligibility, calculated by dividing the transferred value by the average daily cost of nursing home care for a private-pay resident. There is no cap on the penalty. The clock does not start until the person applies and would otherwise qualify, so the consequence hits at the moment benefits are needed. Anyone considering a quit claim deed as part of Medicaid planning should see an elder law attorney well before the five-year window matters.

Fixing a Mistake After Recording

If you spot an error in the recorded deed, such as a misspelled name, wrong parcel number, or incorrect legal description, Wis. Stat. § 706.085 provides a correction procedure. Rather than recording a new deed, you record a correction instrument that identifies the original deed by document number, names the grantor and grantee, describes the specific error, and states the correct information.¹⁸

The correction instrument must be authenticated the same way as the original deed. It can be signed by anyone with personal knowledge of the circumstances: the grantor, the grantee, the drafter, or the settlement agent. After recording, the filer must send notice by first-class mail to all parties to the original transaction at their last-known addresses.¹⁸ The process can fix party names, marital status, dates, legal descriptions, parcel numbers, drafter identification, and acknowledgment errors.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 59.43
2
Wisconsin State Law Library. Quit Claim Deeds Legal Forms and Guides for Wisconsin Counties
3
Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association. Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association – Forms
4
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 706.02 – Formal Requisites
5
Fond du Lac County. Document Recording Requirements
6
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 706.05 – Formal Requisites for Record
7
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 59.43(2m)(a)
8
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 59.43(2m)(b)
9
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 706.06 – Authentication
10
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR)
11
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 77.22 – Imposition of Real Estate Transfer Fee
12
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 59.43(2)(ag)1
13
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Real Estate Transfer Fee
14
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 77.25
15
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. RETR Transfer Fee Exemption Guide
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
17
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
18
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 706.085 – Correction Instruments