To complete and record a West Virginia quitclaim deed, you draft the deed with the full names and addresses of the grantor and grantee, the property’s legal description, and a signed declaration of consideration or value; sign it before a notary (and have the grantee sign too when the law requires it); then file the original with the county clerk in the county where the property sits, paying the $30 recording fee plus any transfer excise tax owed.
What to Gather Before You Draft the Deed
Pull everything together first. You need the full legal names of every grantor (the person giving up their interest) and every grantee (the person receiving it), exactly as those names appear on official identification, along with current mailing addresses for both. The clerk uses the grantee’s address to mail the recorded original back.
You also need the property’s legal description. This is not the street address. It is the detailed boundary description from the most recent recorded deed for the parcel, which you can get from the county clerk’s office or from your existing deed. Copy it exactly, whether it reads as metes-and-bounds, lot and block, or some other format. Including the tax map and parcel number from the county assessor helps the clerk match the transfer to the correct tax records, though West Virginia law does not prescribe a single required format beyond what accurately identifies the property.
Filling In the Declaration of Consideration or Value
Every deed recorded in West Virginia must include a signed statement, either on the face of the deed or appended at the end, declaring the price paid or the fair market value of the property. The statute calls this the Declaration of Consideration or Value, and the clerk will refuse to record the deed without it.1West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-22-6 – Duties of Clerk; Declaration of Consideration or Value For a gift or any transfer with no money changing hands, enter the fair market value. For a sale, enter the actual amount paid.
Accuracy here is not optional. West Virginia law makes it a crime to knowingly provide a false statement in this declaration.2West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-22-9 The declared figure also sets how much excise tax you owe at recording, so understating it flags the transfer for the clerk and the tax commissioner on top of the legal exposure.
When the Grantee Also Has to Sign
This West Virginia requirement catches people out. For any quitclaim deed recorded without consideration, or any deed transferring property worth $100 or less, the grantee must also sign the deed and have their signature acknowledged, the same way the grantor’s signature is acknowledged. A deed recorded in violation of this rule is void, and no interest passes to the grantee at all.3West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 39-1-2
There is an exception for close family transfers. The clerk will record a quitclaim deed without the grantee’s signature when the transfer is between spouses, between a parent and child (or child and spouse), or between a grandparent and grandchild (or grandchild and spouse), as long as the transfer is without consideration or for consideration under $2,000.3West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 39-1-2 If your transfer does not fit one of those family categories, make sure the grantee signs and gets notarized before you submit the deed.
Notarization
The grantor signs the deed in front of a notary public, who verifies identity and confirms the signature is voluntary. With multiple grantors, each signature must be separately acknowledged. They do not all need to appear together or in the same county, but every signature needs its own acknowledgment. Without a proper notarial acknowledgment, the county clerk will not accept the deed for recording.3West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 39-1-2
West Virginia provides a standard short-form acknowledgment certificate that the notary completes on the deed itself. The certificate must include the state and county where the notarization takes place, the date, the name of the person appearing, the notary’s original handwritten signature, their official rubber stamp seal, and their commission expiration date.4West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 39-4-165Secretary of State’s Office. West Virginia Notary Handbook If any element is missing, expect the clerk to send the deed back. A stamp that comes out faint or smeared is a common reason for rejection.
Recording the Deed With the County Clerk
Take the completed, notarized deed to the county clerk’s office in the county where the property is located. You can deliver it in person at the courthouse or mail the original by certified mail. The clerk examines the deed for the required signatures, the acknowledgment, and the declaration of value, then stamps it with the recording date, time, and the book and page numbers where it will be archived.
The base recording fee is $30.6West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 59-1-10 – Fees to Be Charged by Clerk of County Commission If the deed runs longer than five pages, add $1 for each additional page. Most quitclaim deeds come in at two or three pages. Some counties charge a small additional indexing fee on top of the statutory amount.
Record promptly. Until the deed is on file, the public has no notice that ownership changed, and a competing claim, lien, or judgment against the grantor filed before your deed is recorded could take priority over the grantee’s interest. The clerk typically processes and returns the original within a few business days.
Excise Tax and Common Exemptions
On top of the recording fee, the clerk collects the West Virginia real estate transfer excise tax based on the value declared on the deed. The state rate is $1.10 per $500 of value, or any fraction of $500. Every county also imposes a county excise tax, which starts at $0.55 per $500 and may run as high as $1.65 per $500 depending on whether the county has exercised its option to increase the rate.7West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-22-2 – Rate of Tax; When and by Whom Payable; Additional County Tax At the baseline county rate, you pay $1.65 per $500 combined. At the maximum, the combined total reaches $2.75 per $500. Confirm the local rate with the clerk’s office before you show up.
Many of the transfers people use quitclaim deeds for are exempt from the excise tax entirely. Exempt categories include:
- Transfers between husband and wife.
- Transfers between a parent and child, or child and spouse, without consideration.
- Transfers between a grandparent and grandchild, or grandchild and spouse, without consideration.
- Quitclaim or corrective deeds where no money changes hands.
- Testamentary or inter vivos transfers into a trust.
- Deeds to or from the United States, West Virginia, or any of their political subdivisions.
- Transfers where the property value is $100 or less.
The full list of exempt categories also covers corporate mergers, deeds of partition, gifts to charitable organizations, and mortgages given as security for debt.8West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-22-1 – Definitions Even when the excise tax is waived, the $30 recording fee still applies.
How the Transfer Affects an Existing Mortgage
A quitclaim deed does not remove the grantor from the mortgage. If you owe money on the property and quitclaim it to someone else, you still owe that money. Most conventional mortgages also contain a due-on-sale clause that lets the lender demand the entire remaining balance when ownership changes hands.
Federal law limits when a lender can enforce that clause on residential properties with fewer than five units. Under the Garn-St. Germain Act, the lender cannot accelerate the loan for:
- Transfers to a spouse or children of the borrower.
- Transfers resulting from death, by will, inheritance, or joint tenancy survivorship.
- Divorce or legal separation transfers where a spouse becomes the owner.
- Transfers into a living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary and retains occupancy rights.
Transfers outside those categories, such as a quitclaim to a sibling, a friend, or an LLC, give the lender the right to call the full loan due.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions Contact your lender before recording if any doubt exists about whether your transfer qualifies.
Gift Tax Return and Basis for the Grantee
When a quitclaim deed transfers property for little or no consideration, the IRS treats it as a gift, with two consequences.
First, the grantor may need to file a gift tax return. Any gift to one person that exceeds $19,000 in a calendar year requires the grantor to file IRS Form 709.10Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return Filing does not mean tax is owed. The lifetime gift and estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000, so no actual tax is due unless the grantor has already used a significant portion of that exemption.11Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax The return still has to be filed to report the gift.
Second, the grantee inherits the grantor’s tax basis in the property rather than getting a new basis at fair market value. If the grantor bought the house for $80,000 and quitclaims it when it is worth $250,000, the grantee’s basis for calculating gain on a future sale is $80,000, not $250,000.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gifts and Transfers in Trust That carryover basis can create a substantial capital gains tax bill when the grantee eventually sells. For property that has appreciated significantly, talk to a tax professional before executing the deed. Transferring property at death instead of during life typically gives the recipient a stepped-up basis at fair market value, which can save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital gains tax.