How to Fill Out and Record a Colorado Special Warranty Deed

A Colorado special warranty deed transfers real property using the short statutory form in C.R.S. § 38-30-113(1)(b), with one phrase doing the heavy lifting: the grantor “warrant(s) the title to the same against all persons claiming under me.” To make the transfer legally effective, fill in the form’s blanks accurately, have the grantor’s signature acknowledged before a notary or other authorized officer, and record the deed with the clerk and recorder in the county where the property sits, paying the recording fee and documentary fee at submission and filing a TD-1000 transfer declaration with the county assessor.

What This Deed Actually Promises

A special warranty deed is narrower than a general warranty deed. The grantor guarantees only that title was free of encumbrances during their own ownership and that they will defend against claims arising through them.¹ Anything predating that ownership — an old lien, an unresolved boundary issue, a defect further back in the chain — is not covered.

The wording is what draws the line. If the warranty clause reads “warrant(s) the title to the same” without the qualifier “against all persons claiming under me,” the document operates as a general warranty deed with much broader seller liability.² Get the phrase right.

Gather This Information First

Most rejected deeds fail on details that should have been collected before anyone picked up a pen. Have all of the following ready:

Full legal names of the grantor and grantee. The grantor’s name should match the current deed of record exactly, including middle initials.
Street address, city, county, and state for each party. Omitting address information does not void the deed, but the recording office uses it for indexing.¹
The property’s full legal description — lot-and-block, metes and bounds, or subdivision plat reference. Not the street address. Copy it verbatim from the existing deed or a current title commitment.
Consideration — the dollar amount paid. The statutory form has a blank for this, and the figure drives the documentary fee.¹
The county where the property is located. That county’s clerk and recorder is where the deed must be filed.³
The assessor’s schedule or parcel number. Not part of the statutory form itself, but many counties want it as a secondary identifier, and you’ll need it for the TD-1000.

Filling In the Statutory Form

The form runs about one page. Pre-printed versions from title companies and legal document providers already contain the required warranty language, so most of the work is completing blanks.

At the top, enter the grantor’s name and address (street, city, county, state). Next comes the consideration amount. Then the grantee’s name and address in the same format. Identify the county where the property sits in the phrase “the following real property in the County of ________ and State of Colorado,” and insert the legal description in the space provided.¹

Confirm the warranty clause reads “and warrant(s) the title to the same against all persons claiming under me.” That qualifier is what keeps the deed a special warranty.

After the warranty clause, a “subject to” line lets you list encumbrances the buyer accepts — recorded easements, deed restrictions, mineral reservations, or similar items. If there are none, leave the line blank or write “none.” Add the date and a signature line for the grantor.

Only the grantor signs. A deed is a unilateral conveyance; the grantee makes no promises and does not need to sign.

Getting the Signature Acknowledged

The grantor’s signature has to be formally acknowledged before the deed can be recorded. Under C.R.S. § 38-30-126, for a deed executed within Colorado, the acknowledgment can be taken by a judge of any court of record (or the clerk or deputy clerk, under the court seal), the county clerk and recorder or a deputy (under the county seal), or any notary public (under the notary’s official seal).⁴

Notaries are the practical choice for most people; you can find one at a bank, a UPS store, or a title company. The notary confirms the grantor’s identity, witnesses the signature, and applies an official seal to the acknowledgment block. A deed without a proper acknowledgment will be rejected at the recording counter.

Recording the Deed

Bring or send the notarized deed to the clerk and recorder in the county where the property is located. Recording gives the public constructive notice that ownership has changed. Colorado is a race-notice state, so an unrecorded deed is not valid against a later buyer who records first without notice of the earlier transfer.³ Don’t sit on it. Record promptly.

Counties accept documents in person, by mail, or through authorized e-recording vendors. Whichever method you use, submit the correct fees along with the deed.

Recording Fee

Effective July 1, 2025, Colorado switched from per-page pricing to a flat per-document recording fee under HB24-1269.⁵ The base amount is $40 per document. Some counties add a small surcharge; Jefferson County, for example, charges $43 per document.⁶ Confirm the amount with your specific county before submitting.

Documentary Fee

A separate documentary fee applies when total consideration — including any liens or encumbrances the buyer assumes — exceeds $500. The rate is one cent for every $100 of consideration, or major fraction thereof.⁷ A $400,000 sale generates a $40 documentary fee. Sales at $500 or less owe nothing.

Several transfers are exempt from the documentary fee, including:

Deeds where the grantor or grantee is a government entity (federal, state, or a political subdivision)
Deeds conveying property as a gift
Instruments confirming or correcting a previously recorded deed
Documents transferring title because of the owner’s death
Sheriff’s deeds and public trustee’s deeds
Rights-of-way and easements⁸

Claim any exemption when you present the deed. The clerk will not apply one for you.

The TD-1000 Transfer Declaration

Colorado requires a Real Property Transfer Declaration (form TD-1000) whenever conveyance documents are presented for recording. The TD-1000 is not recorded with the deed; it goes to the county assessor for use in property valuation and is kept confidential.⁹

Either the buyer or the seller can sign it. A closing agent or title company may prefill the factual questions, but the signer is responsible for the accuracy of the answers. Skip the form and the assessor will send a notice. Failing to return a completed TD-1000 within 30 days of that notice triggers a penalty of $25 or 0.025% of the sale price, whichever is greater.⁹

If the Seller Is a Nonresident

When a nonresident of Colorado sells real property in the state valued at $100,000 or more, the closing agent is generally required to withhold Colorado income tax from the proceeds.¹⁰ The withholding is 2% of the sales price or the net proceeds due the seller, whichever is less.¹¹

The closing entity reports the withholding on Form DR 1083 to the Colorado Department of Revenue, and the seller can claim the withheld amount as a credit on their Colorado income tax return. If you are a nonresident grantor, work out the DR 1083 with your closing agent at closing, before the deed is recorded.

Correcting a Recorded Deed

Typos, missing middle initials, and small errors in the legal description are fixed with a corrective deed. A corrective deed does not transfer title again; it amends the original conveyance to correct a scrivener’s error. Note the specific error being corrected at the top of the document, and record it with the same county clerk and recorder so the two documents link in the public record.

Corrective deeds handle misspelled names, omitted initials, minor legal description errors, a missing execution date, or a faulty acknowledgment. They are exempt from the documentary fee because they confirm a deed already recorded and taxed.⁸ Bigger problems — the wrong grantee, an entirely incorrect legal description, or a dispute about whether the transfer was valid at all — are beyond what a corrective deed can fix, and typically call for legal counsel or a court action.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Code 38-30-113 – Deeds – Short Form – Acknowledgment – Effect
2
Justia Law. Colorado Code 38-30-115 – Deeds – Bargain and Sale – Special Warranty
3
Justia Law. Colorado Code 38-35-109 – Recording
4
Justia Law. Colorado Code 38-30-126 – Acknowledgments, Before Whom Taken
5
Colorado General Assembly. HB24-1269 Modification of Recording Fees
6
Jefferson County, CO. Fee Changes Coming July 1 for Recording and Motor Vehicle
7
FindLaw. Colorado Code 39-13-102 – Documentary Fee Imposed – Amount – To Whom Payable
8
Justia Law. Colorado Code 39-13-104 – Exemptions
9
Colorado Division of Real Estate. Real Property Transfer Declaration (TD-1000)
10
Colorado Department of Revenue. Information with Respect to a Conveyance of a Colorado Real Property Interest
11
FindLaw. Colorado Code 39-22-604.5