How to Fill Out and Record an Ohio General Warranty Deed Form

An Ohio general warranty deed is the strongest title-transfer document the state recognizes, and Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.05 gives you the exact form to use.¹ To complete and record one, you fill in the statutory template with the parties, legal description, and prior deed reference; have the grantor (and spouse, if the grantor is married) sign before a notary; take the signed deed and a completed DTE 100 to the county auditor for stamping; and then file it with the recorder in the county where the property sits.

What to Gather Before You Draft

The statutory form has specific blanks, and each one wants a specific piece of information. Pull all of it together first.

The full legal name of every grantor and grantee, matching the names on the current deed of record.
The grantor’s marital status. Ohio still recognizes dower, so a married grantor’s spouse almost always has to sign.
The grantee’s tax-mailing address. Ohio Revised Code Section 319.203 requires it so the auditor knows where to send future tax bills.
The property’s full legal description, copied word for word from the most recent recorded deed. A street address will not do. Pull the description from the county recorder’s records or the auditor’s parcel search, and transcribe it exactly; small discrepancies cloud title.
The prior instrument reference: the volume and page number, or the instrument number, of the last deed in the chain.
The consideration. Even on a gift or family transfer, the form calls for “valuable consideration paid.”
Any encumbrances the buyer is accepting, such as easements, restrictive covenants, or liens. These need to be written into the deed. Omitting them does not erase them; it just exposes the grantor to a later damages claim under the warranty covenants.

Dower and the Spouse’s Signature

Ohio is one of the few remaining dower states. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2103.02, a spouse holds a life estate in one-third of any real property the other spouse owned during the marriage, and that interest survives a sale unless the spouse releases it on the deed itself.²

The statutory form has a release line built in: “____________, wife (husband) of the grantor, releases all rights of dower therein.”¹ If the grantor is married, the non-owner spouse signs there. Skip it and the dower interest follows the property, meaning the grantee takes title subject to a potential life-estate claim. If the grantor is unmarried, write “unmarried” in the marital-status blank so the recorder can confirm no release is needed.

Filling In the Statutory Form

Section 5302.05 lays the form out word for word, and using the template is what activates the legal protections. The operative language reads:

“__________ (marital status), of __________ County, __________ for valuable consideration paid, grant(s), with general warranty covenants, to __________, whose tax-mailing address is __________________, the following real property:”

Work through the blanks in this order:

Grantor’s name and marital status. Use the name exactly as it appears on the current deed. Add “(married),” “(unmarried),” or “(single).”
Grantor’s county and state of residence. This is where the grantor lives, not necessarily where the property is.
Grantee’s name and tax-mailing address. If there is more than one grantee, state how they hold title (see the next section).
Legal description. Transcribe it in full. Add any encumbrances, reservations, or exceptions after it, for example, “subject to easements of record.”
Prior instrument reference. Enter the volume and page number, or the instrument number, from the previous deed.
Dower release line. The spouse’s name goes here if the grantor is married; strike or leave blank if not.
Date and signature line. The grantor signs only in front of the notary, not before.

What the Warranty Covenants Actually Promise

The short phrase “general warranty covenants” carries four distinct promises under Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.06:³

The grantor owns the property in fee simple at the time of the transfer.
The property is free of undisclosed liens, easements, and other encumbrances.
The grantor has the legal right to convey it.
The grantor will defend the grantee’s title against all lawful claims.

These promises reach back through the entire history of the property, not just the grantor’s time holding it. A title defect from decades earlier still falls on the grantor. That exposure is why grantors in substantial transactions typically buy title insurance before signing.

How Co-Grantees Take Title

When two or more people take title together, the deed’s wording controls what happens if one of them dies or wants out. Ohio’s default is tenancy in common, where each owner holds a separate, inheritable share.⁴

If you want the surviving owner to automatically take the deceased owner’s share and keep the property out of probate, Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.17 requires the deed to say the grantees hold the property “for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them.”⁵ Without those specific words, or language substantially the same, survivorship does not exist no matter what the parties meant. Fix this on the deed itself; adding survivorship later takes a new deed.

Formatting the Page So the Recorder Accepts It

Ohio Revised Code Section 317.114 sets statewide formatting standards. Documents that miss them can draw a non-compliance surcharge or an outright rejection.⁶

Paper: 8½ by 11 inches or 8½ by 14 inches.
Ink: black or blue only; no highlighting anywhere.
Font: size 10 or larger, legible throughout.
Top margin on page one: three inches, with the right half reserved for the recorder’s endorsement.
Top margin on later pages: one and one-half inches.
Side and bottom margins: one inch on every page.

Franklin County, for example, charges an extra $20 for non-compliant documents.⁷

Signing Before a Notary

The grantor must sign the deed in front of an authorized official. Ohio Revised Code Section 5301.01 allows a notary public, a judge or clerk of a court of record, a county auditor, a county engineer, or a mayor to take the acknowledgment.⁸ A notary handles almost all deed signings in practice. For deeds executed on or after February 1, 2002, Ohio no longer requires witnesses; the grantor’s signature and the official’s acknowledgment are enough.

The official completes an acknowledgment block at the bottom of the deed with the date, the signer’s name, a statement that the signing was voluntary, and the official’s signature and seal. Bring a government-issued photo ID. If the grantor’s spouse is signing the dower release, that spouse also has to appear and be identified. A deed without a complete acknowledgment block will be rejected.

Completing the DTE 100 and Visiting the Auditor

No county recorder will accept a deed without the tax conveyance form. For a standard sale, that form is the DTE 100, Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt. Qualifying exempt transfers (such as a gift between parent and child, or a transfer into a trust) use the DTE 100EX instead.⁹

The main fields on the DTE 100:

Lines 1 through 4: grantor and grantee names, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and the property address.
Line 5: whether buildings sit on the land and, if so, what type (single-family dwelling, condo, apartment, manufactured home, farm building, or other).
Line 6: conditions of sale. Check every box that applies, including relative transaction, land contract, life estate, gift, or mineral rights reserved.
Line 7: the financial breakdown. New mortgage amount, assumed balance, cash paid, total consideration, and the share attributable to real property as opposed to any personal property in the deal. Line 7f is where the conveyance fee is calculated.
Lines 8 through 10: whether the property currently has a homestead exemption, agricultural-use valuation, or will qualify for the owner-occupancy tax reduction.

The grantee or a representative signs under penalty of perjury. Take the completed DTE 100 to the county auditor before the recorder. The auditor reviews it, calculates the conveyance fee, stamps the form, and updates the tax duplicate with the new owner’s information.

Recording the Deed

With the deed signed and notarized and the DTE form stamped by the auditor, file everything with the recorder in the county where the property is located.

Recording Fees

Ohio’s statewide recording fee is $34 for the first two pages and $8 for each additional page.¹⁰ A typical two-page general warranty deed records for $34. Most offices take cash, checks, or money orders; credit card acceptance varies.

Transfer Taxes

The conveyance fee has two layers. Every county collects a mandatory statewide tax of $1 per $1,000 of the sale price. Counties may add a permissive transfer tax of up to $3 per $1,000, making the combined maximum $4 per $1,000.¹¹ On a $250,000 sale, that works out to between $250 and $1,000 depending on the county. Check the county auditor’s website for the local rate before closing.

Electronic Recording

Many Ohio counties now accept e-recording through third-party submitters such as Simplifile, Hopdox, or CSC.¹² You set up an account with one of them, upload a scan of the executed deed and the stamped DTE form, and pay by ACH. The recorder’s staff reviews the submission and either records or rejects it electronically, and an accepted document is permanently added to the public record.

After It’s Recorded

Once the deed is recorded, it is indexed into the county’s land records and the original is returned to the grantee by mail or electronically. In-person filings are often same-day; documents routed through the auditor first can run a little longer. The recorded deed, stamped with the instrument number and recording date, is the grantee’s permanent proof of ownership. Store it safely, but know that even if the paper copy is lost, the recorded version in the county’s records is the legally operative one.

1
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5302.05 – General Warranty Deed Form
2
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2103.02 – Dower
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5302.06 – General Warranty Covenants Meaning and Effect
4
FindLaw. Ohio Revised Code Title LIII Real Property 5302.19
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5302.17 – Survivorship Deed Form
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 317.114 – Recording Standards
7
Franklin County Recorder. Recording Standards
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5301.01 – Acknowledgment of Deed, Mortgage, Land Contract, Lease or Memorandum of Trust
9
Ohio Department of Taxation. Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt
10
County Recorder. State of Ohio County Recorder Table of Fees
11
Ohio Department of Taxation. Real Property Conveyance Fee
12
Hamilton County Recorder. Electronic Recording Info