How to Fill Out and File a Texas Deed Transfer Form

A Texas deed transfer form moves ownership of real property from a grantor to a grantee, and to be valid it must be in writing, signed by the grantor, notarized, and recorded with the county clerk in the county where the property is located.¹ Miss any of those steps and the transfer is either legally incomplete or invisible to anyone searching the public records.

Which Deed Type to Use

The type of deed you choose decides how much protection the grantee gets if a title problem shows up later. For a normal sale to an unrelated buyer, use a general warranty deed. The grantor guarantees the title is clean going back through the entire history of the property, not just their own ownership period, and Texas Property Code Section 5.022 provides the statutory form.²

A special warranty deed only warrants against title problems that arose during the grantor’s ownership. Commercial sellers and banks disposing of foreclosed property tend to use it. A deed without warranties transfers the property with no promises about title at all, and it shows up often in transfers between family members, between spouses in a divorce, or into and out of a trust.

A quitclaim deed is the weakest option. It conveys whatever interest the grantor may or may not have, which could be nothing. One consequence catches people off guard: because a quitclaim carries no warranties, the grantor’s existing title insurance policy may terminate on transfer, and the grantee may struggle to get a new one. Quitclaims work best for narrow situations like clearing a possible claim from someone who never actually held title.

What the Deed Must Contain

Every Texas deed needs the same core pieces of information. Mistakes here create title defects that later require a corrective deed or affidavit to fix, so accuracy matters more than speed.

Full legal names of the grantor and grantee, exactly as they appear on government-issued ID, including suffixes like Jr. or III. For an LLC, corporation, or trust, use the entity’s full legal name and identify the person signing for it.
Current mailing addresses for both parties. County clerks use them for indexing and for returning the recorded deed.
The property’s legal description. A street address is not enough. Use the lot and block from a recorded subdivision plat, or a metes and bounds survey for rural or unplatted land, copied exactly from the prior deed or a current survey. A single wrong digit in a metes and bounds description can push the boundary onto a neighbor’s land.
A consideration statement declaring what the grantee gave in exchange. In a sale, it’s the purchase price. In a gift or family transfer, the standard language is “ten dollars and other good and valuable consideration.” The number doesn’t have to match market value; it just has to show the transfer was intentional.
A granting clause using operative language like “grant, sell, and convey,” along with the warranty language if you’re using a warranty deed. The Section 5.022 statutory form supplies standard wording.²

Texas Property Code Section 5.021 requires that any conveyance of a freehold interest in land be in writing and signed and delivered by the grantor.³ Blank deed forms are available through county clerk websites and legal document providers, but check any form you use against the list above. A missing granting clause or an incomplete legal description doesn’t just slow recording; it can make the entire conveyance legally ineffective.

What to Leave Off, and the Notice You Have to Include

Do not put anyone’s Social Security number in a Texas deed. The county clerk is required to redact any SSN that appears, but the responsibility to leave it out sits with the person drafting the deed.⁴

Deeds transferring an interest to or from an individual must also carry a confidentiality notice at the top of the first page, in 12-point bold or uppercase type. The notice reads substantially: “NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY RIGHTS: IF YOU ARE A NATURAL PERSON, YOU MAY REMOVE OR STRIKE ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION FROM ANY INSTRUMENT THAT TRANSFERS AN INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY BEFORE IT IS FILED FOR RECORD IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS: YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE NUMBER.”⁴ The clerk cannot reject a deed solely for missing this notice, but including it is standard practice.

When Both Spouses Must Sign

If the property is the grantor’s homestead, both spouses must sign the deed even when only one of them holds title. Texas Family Code Section 5.001 is absolute: neither spouse may sell, convey, or encumber the homestead without the other’s joinder, whether the homestead is community property or one spouse’s separate property.⁵ The rule protects the non-titled spouse’s homestead rights under Article XVI, Section 50 of the Texas Constitution.⁶

This is one of the most common reasons a deed gets rejected or later challenged. If you’re married and conveying property either of you has used as a primary residence, get both signatures on the deed and both acknowledged before the notary. A deed signed by only one spouse transferring homestead property can be voided.

Getting the Deed Notarized

Only the grantor has to sign. The grantee’s signature is not required. Before the deed can be recorded, the grantor’s signature must be acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments, or signed in front of two credible subscribing witnesses.⁷ Almost everyone goes the notary route.

The notary will verify the grantor’s identity with a government-issued photo ID, confirm the signature is voluntary, and complete the acknowledgment block. Without a proper acknowledgment the county clerk will refuse to record. Texas caps notary fees at $10 for the first signature and $1 for each additional signature on the same document.⁸ Mobile notaries can charge a separate trip fee on top of that, but the notarial act itself is capped.

Remote Online Notarization

If you can’t appear in person, Texas allows remote online notarization under Government Code Chapter 406, Subchapter C. The notary must be physically in Texas during the session and must use two-way video and audio along with credential analysis to verify the signer’s identity.⁹ The notary applies an electronic seal and signature, and the session is recorded and stored for at least five years. Remote online notarization is valid for real estate deeds in Texas; the documents excluded from electronic notarization are wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts.

Recording the Deed With the County Clerk

Take the notarized deed to the county clerk’s office in the county where the property sits. Filing options are in person, by mail, or through electronic recording if the county accepts digital submissions. Anyone presenting a deed in person must show a photo ID to the clerk.⁷

Recording fees are set by the Texas Local Government Code. The statutory base is $5 for the first page and $4 for each additional page.¹⁰ Most counties add a $10 records management and preservation fee and a $10 records archive fee, so a typical first-page total runs around $25, with additional pages at $4 each. If the deed indexes more than five names, the clerk charges $0.25 per extra name. Call the clerk’s office or check its website for the exact amount before you go; submitting the wrong fee means the deed comes back unrecorded.

Texas has no state-level real estate transfer tax. The Texas Constitution prohibits any law enacted after January 1, 2016, from imposing a transfer tax on conveyances of fee simple title to real property.¹¹ Your only out-of-pocket cost at the clerk’s office is the recording fee.

Once the clerk accepts the deed, it’s scanned into the public land records, assigned an instrument number (or volume and page number, depending on the county), stamped, and returned to the address printed on it. That recorded instrument is the permanent public proof that ownership changed hands.

Why Recording Can’t Wait

A signed and notarized deed is legally effective between the grantor and grantee the moment it’s delivered. You technically own the property before it’s recorded. But an unrecorded deed is invisible to everyone else, and Texas law punishes that invisibility. Under Property Code Section 13.001, an unrecorded conveyance is void against any later purchaser who pays value and has no knowledge of the earlier transfer.¹²

Here’s how that plays out. You buy a house, get a valid deed, and never record it. The seller turns around and sells the same house to someone else. That second buyer searches the title, finds nothing, pays a fair price, and records their deed. You lose. Their recorded deed prevails because you gave no public notice of your ownership.

An unrecorded deed is still binding between the original parties, their heirs, and anyone who receives the property as a gift or actually knows about the earlier transfer.¹² But relying on that is gambling. Record the same day the deed is notarized if you can.

Gift Tax When It’s Not a Sale

When property changes hands without a sale, like a parent deeding a house to a child, the IRS treats the transfer as a gift. That doesn’t automatically mean tax is owed, but it can create a federal reporting obligation.

For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. Married couples who elect gift-splitting can exclude up to $38,000 per recipient. If the fair market value of the property exceeds the exclusion, the grantor must file IRS Form 709 for the year of the transfer.¹³ Filing doesn’t automatically trigger a tax bill; the excess reduces the grantor’s lifetime exemption, which in 2026 is $15,000,000 per individual. Most people never exhaust it, but the paperwork is still required.

Transfers between spouses who are both U.S. citizens are exempt from gift tax and don’t require Form 709. Transfers to a non-citizen spouse qualify for a higher annual exclusion of $194,000 in 2026. The grantee never owes gift tax; the filing and payment obligation always sits with the grantor.

1
State of Texas. Texas Code Business and Commerce Code 26.01 – Promise or Agreement Must Be in Writing
2
Texas Property Code. Texas Property Code Section 5.022 – Form
3
State of Texas. Texas Code Property Code – Instrument of Conveyance
4
State of Texas. Texas Property Code – PROP 11.008
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Texas Public Law. Texas Family Code Section 5.001 – Sale, Conveyance, or Encumbrance of Homestead
6
Justia. Texas Constitution Art 16 – Sec 50
7
State of Texas. Texas Code Property Code – Instruments Concerning Property
8
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Notary Public Educational Information
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Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Online Notary Public Educational Information
10
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code Section 118.011 – Fee Schedule for Certain Officers
11
FindLaw. Constitution of the State of Texas 1876 Art 8 Sec 29
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State of Texas. Texas Property Code – PROP 13.001
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Internal Revenue Service. Whats New – Estate and Gift Tax