To record a Gwinnett County quit claim deed, you prepare a deed that meets Georgia’s signature and content requirements, file a PT-61 transfer tax declaration online through the GSCCCA, then submit the deed with a $25 recording fee to the Gwinnett County Clerk of Superior Court at the courthouse in Lawrenceville. The deed transfers whatever interest the grantor holds, with no promises about the title’s condition.
What You’re Actually Transferring
A quit claim deed is Georgia’s most bare-bones transfer document. The grantor hands over only the interest they hold at that moment, with no warranty that the title is clean. If liens, boundary disputes, or ownership gaps exist, the grantee inherits every one of them and has no legal recourse against the grantor.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-5-33 – Form of Deed
That makes quit claim deeds the right tool for transfers where both sides already know the state of the title: adding or removing a spouse, divorce property divisions, moving a home into a personal trust, or correcting a name discrepancy in the chain of ownership. For a sale to a stranger, a warranty deed is the safer instrument because it gives the buyer legal protections a quit claim deed does not.
Information to Gather Before You Draft
Pull everything together before you start filling in blanks. Missing or inaccurate information is the main reason deeds get rejected or create title problems later.
- Full legal names of the grantor and grantee, spelled exactly as they appear on government-issued ID. Nicknames and misspellings cause indexing problems.
- The property’s legal description. A street address is not enough. You need the metes-and-bounds description or the lot, block, and subdivision reference from the recorded plat. Pull it word for word from the current recorded deed, which you can locate through Gwinnett County’s recorded documents search on the GSCCCA site.2Gwinnett County Courts. Deeds and Land Records
- The tax parcel ID (map and parcel number) from the Gwinnett County Tax Assessor or the county’s online GIS search. This is mandatory on the PT-61.
- The name and mailing address of whoever should receive the recorded deed back. Georgia law requires that return information at the top of the first page.3Justia. Georgia Code 44-2-14 – Requirements for Recordation
- The consideration amount. Georgia deeds must recite “good or valuable consideration.” Family transfers commonly use “$10 and other good and valuable consideration.”4Justia. Georgia Code 44-5-30 – Requisites of Deed to Lands
Georgia does not require a state-issued form. Any document that meets the statutory requirements works, and blank quit claim deed forms are available from the Clerk of Superior Court’s office and from legal document providers.
Filling Out the Deed
Enter the grantor’s full legal name and current address, then the grantee’s. If multiple grantees are taking title, state how they will hold it, whether as joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants in common, or another form.
Copy the legal description from the most recent recorded deed exactly. A transposed bearing or a dropped lot reference can cloud the title for years. Include the county and state, the land lot and district, and the subdivision plat with its recorded book and page number. Add the tax parcel ID in the designated space.
State the consideration. For a sale, that is the purchase price. For a gift or family transfer, use the standard “$10 and other good and valuable consideration” language. The consideration figure also determines whether transfer tax is owed.
Signing and Witnessing
Georgia requires every deed to be signed by the grantor in the presence of two witnesses.4Justia. Georgia Code 44-5-30 – Requisites of Deed to Lands One has to be an “official” witness, meaning an authorized officer such as a notary public, a judge, a magistrate, or a clerk or deputy clerk of the superior court.5Justia. Georgia Code 44-2-15 – Officers Authorized to Attest In almost every real-world signing, that officer is a notary. The second witness is an unofficial lay witness who simply watches the grantor sign and then signs the deed.
The notary verifies the grantor’s identity, witnesses the signature, signs as the official witness, and applies a notary seal that shows the commission expiration date. The grantee does not sign; only the grantor and the two witnesses do.
A missing witness signature or an incomplete notary seal is the single most common reason the Clerk’s office rejects a deed. Check every signature and the seal before leaving the signing table.
Filing the PT-61 Transfer Tax Form
The Clerk will not record any deed until the Georgia real estate transfer tax has been handled through a PT-61 Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration.6Georgia Department of Revenue. Real Estate Transfer Tax The PT-61 is filed electronically through the GSCCCA’s online portal. Paper versions are not accepted.7Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. PT-61 eFiling
Log in to the GSCCCA PT-61 eFiling system and enter the grantor and grantee names, the property description, the tax map and parcel number, the sale price or fair market value, and the instrument type (quit claim deed).8Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. GSCCCA PT-61 eFiling The map and parcel field is required. The system generates a confirmation number; print the completed PT-61 and bring it with the deed to the Clerk’s office.
One PT-61 is filed per deed. If the transfer qualifies for an exemption, you still file the form, mark the exemption, and pay no tax.
Fees and Transfer Tax
The recording fee in Gwinnett County is $25.00 per document, a flat fee set by state law.9Gwinnett County Courts. Deeds and Land Records – Recording Fees10Justia. Georgia Code 15-6-77 – Fees
Transfer tax is separate. Georgia charges $1.00 on the first $1,000 of the sale price (or any fractional part), plus $0.10 for each additional $100 or fractional part of $100.11Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-1 – Transfer Tax Rate On a $250,000 transfer, the tax runs about $251. The grantor is legally responsible for the tax, though contracts often shift that cost to the buyer.6Georgia Department of Revenue. Real Estate Transfer Tax
Common Transfer Tax Exemptions
Several categories of quit claim transfers owe no transfer tax under O.C.G.A. ยง 48-6-2:12Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-2 – Exemption of Certain Instruments From Real Estate Transfer Tax
- Deeds of gift with no sale price.
- Transfers between spouses as part of a divorce.
- Transfers to or from the United States, Georgia, or any political subdivision or public authority.
- Fiduciary distributions by an executor, administrator, or trustee without valuable consideration.
- Deeds dividing property among joint tenants or tenants in common where the only consideration is the division.
- Transfers between an individual and an entity in which the individual holds a majority interest.
Exemption cancels the tax, not the paperwork. You still file the PT-61 and document the total consideration.
Recording the Deed in Lawrenceville
Bring or mail the signed deed, the printed PT-61 confirmation, and the recording fee to the Gwinnett County Clerk of Superior Court. The real estate recording office is in the courthouse at 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30046, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In-person payments are accepted by cash or check.
Staff review the deed for proper signatures, a complete notary seal, and correct formatting before accepting it. Once accepted, the Clerk assigns a deed book and page number that becomes the permanent reference for the transfer. Grantor and grantee names are indexed so title examiners and the public can trace ownership.2Gwinnett County Courts. Deeds and Land Records
Confirm the Recording
Within a few business days of filing, search for the deed on the GSCCCA online records at gsccca.org by grantor or grantee name. It should appear with its assigned book and page number. If it does not, contact the Clerk’s real estate division. An indexing error is far easier to fix early than months later.
Check the Mortgage Before You File
A quit claim deed does not pay off or transfer any existing mortgage. The grantor stays personally liable on the loan unless the lender issues a release. Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause letting the lender demand full repayment when ownership changes.
The federal Garn-St Germain Act blocks lenders on residential properties of fewer than five units from enforcing due-on-sale clauses for certain transfers, including:13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
- Transfer by inheritance or to a relative after the borrower’s death.
- Adding a spouse or child to the title.
- Transfer to a spouse under a divorce decree or separation agreement.
- Transfer into an inter vivos trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary.
If your transfer falls outside those categories, contact the lender before you record. An unexpected due-on-sale demand can force a refinance on bad terms or lead to foreclosure.
Title insurance is a separate concern. A quit claim deed gives the grantee no title warranties, and any existing owner’s policy typically covers only the named insured, so coverage ends when ownership transfers. A new owner’s title policy is the only way to get coverage against hidden liens or defects on the property you just received.
Federal Gift Tax When the Price Is Low
When a quit claim deed moves property for less than fair market value, the IRS may treat the difference as a taxable gift. For 2026, the federal annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient, and the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per individual.14Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax A married couple can combine exclusions and give up to $38,000 per recipient per year without using any lifetime exemption.
If the value of the transferred interest exceeds the annual exclusion, the grantor must file IRS Form 709 for that year, even if no tax is actually owed because the lifetime exemption absorbs the excess.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709 Skipping the return does not erase the obligation; it just keeps the IRS from tracking how much lifetime exemption has been used.
Gifted property also carries a tax trap for the grantee. The recipient takes the donor’s original cost basis rather than the current market value. If the donor bought the home for $80,000 and it is now worth $300,000, the grantee’s basis is $80,000. A later sale is taxed on the gain measured from that carried-over basis, producing a much larger taxable gain than a purchase at market value would. Family quit claim deeds can create a sizable capital gains bill years after the transfer is forgotten.