A South Dakota quit claim deed transfers whatever interest the grantor holds in a piece of real property to the grantee, with no promise that the interest is valid, complete, or free of liens. That is the whole legal effect. Preparing one correctly means using the statutory form, describing the property exactly, getting the grantor’s signature notarized, and filing the deed with a certificate of real estate value at the county Register of Deeds. The steps below walk through each of those in order, along with the mortgage, tax, and title issues that most often catch people off guard.
When a Quit Claim Deed Fits
Quit claim deeds are common in South Dakota for transfers between spouses, adding or removing a name after a marriage or divorce, moving property into a revocable living trust, and clearing up an old ambiguous claim on a title. They are a poor fit for arm’s-length sales to strangers, where a warranty deed and its title guarantees are almost always the better choice.
One thing the deed does not do is affect a mortgage. The loan is a contract between the borrower and the lender, and signing away the deed does not sign away the debt. The grantor remains personally responsible until the loan is paid off or refinanced in the grantee’s name.
Information to Gather Before You Draft
Collect the full legal names and complete mailing addresses of both the grantor and the grantee. The Register of Deeds will not accept the deed without them, and the certificate of value filed alongside requires the same information.1South Dakota Department of Revenue. Register of Deeds Nicknames and shortened names create title defects that can be expensive to fix later, so use the names as they appear on the current deed and on government identification.
Next, get the legal description of the property. This is not the street address. In South Dakota, legal descriptions generally take one of two forms: a lot and block reference to a recorded plat for properties in platted subdivisions, or a Public Land Survey System description using township, range, and section for rural parcels.2Bureau of Land Management. Specifications for Descriptions of Land The exact description appears on the current deed or can be pulled at the county Register of Deeds office. Copy it character for character. A transposed number can attach the deed to the wrong parcel.
Finally, decide on the stated consideration — the value exchanged for the property. Family transfers often list a nominal amount like one dollar or the phrase “love and affection.” Whatever the figure, it must be stated, because the certificate of value requires it.3South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 7-9-7 – Names, Addresses, and Descriptions Required in Recorded Instruments–Certificate of Value
The Statutory Form
South Dakota provides a standard quit claim deed form by statute. The operative language is “conveys and quitclaims to,” and the form has blanks for the grantor’s name and county of residence, the consideration, the grantee’s name and post office address, the county where the property sits, the legal description, and the date, with a signature line and acknowledgment block at the bottom.4South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 43-25-7 – Quitclaim Deed–Standard Form Pre-printed forms following this format are available through legal document providers and at some county offices.
Fill in each blank using the information you gathered. Accuracy matters more here than on most paperwork. A misspelled name or a wrong digit in the legal description creates a cloud on title that may require a corrective deed or a court action to clear.
Certificate of Real Estate Value
South Dakota will not record a deed without a certificate of real estate value, form PT-56, filed with it.5Cornell Law Institute. South Dakota Administrative Rules 64:04:01:06.01 – Certificate of Value The certificate lists the names and addresses of buyer and seller, the legal description, the actual consideration, the relationship between the parties, and the payment terms. If the transfer qualifies for an exemption from the state transfer fee, that goes on the certificate too. Transfer-on-death deeds are the one type of transfer entirely exempt from the certificate.3South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 7-9-7 – Names, Addresses, and Descriptions Required in Recorded Instruments–Certificate of Value
Notarizing the Deed
The grantor must sign the deed before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments, typically a notary public, though a clerk of the Supreme Court may also serve. Under South Dakota law, the officer cannot take the acknowledgment unless they either know the signer personally or receive satisfactory evidence of identity through the oath of a credible witness.6South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 18-4 – Acknowledgment and Proof of Instruments – Section: 18-4-10 In practice, most notaries accept a government-issued photo ID. The notary attaches a certificate of acknowledgment and their official seal. Without proper notarization the Register of Deeds will reject the document.
Recording With the Register of Deeds
Once the deed and certificate of value are signed and notarized, deliver them to the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits, in person or by mail. Recording costs $30 for documents up to 50 pages, with $2 per additional page.7South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 7-9-15 – Recording Fees
Formatting matters. The first page must have a blank space of at least three inches at the top, and all other margins must be at least one inch.8South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 43-28-23 – Format Standards for Real Estate Documents Recorded with the Register of Deeds Documents that miss these requirements can be rejected or hit with a non-standard document surcharge depending on the county, and text needs to be legible enough to scan.
After the office accepts and indexes the deed, the original paper deed is typically mailed back to the grantee at the address on the document. Indexing generally takes a few business days, though speed varies by county.
Transfer Fee and Common Exemptions
South Dakota’s real estate transfer fee is $0.50 for every $500 of value, paid by the grantor.9South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 43-4-21 – Transfer Fee Amount Many quit claim transfers qualify for an exemption under SDCL § 43-4-22 because they involve family or no real money changing hands.10South Dakota Legislature. South Dakota Codified Law 43-4-22 – Exemptions from Real Estate Transfer Fee The exemptions most relevant to quit claim deeds include:
- Transfers between spouses or between parent and child when only nominal consideration is involved
- Outright gifts, where no consideration of any kind is exchanged, regardless of the relationship
- Any transfer for no consideration
- Transfers made under a court’s decree of distribution in a decedent’s estate
- Transfers between a fiduciary and a beneficiary, or to a third party, to accommodate the fiduciary relationship — the primary exemption for trust transfers
- Partition transfers, where co-owners divide property among themselves
If the transfer qualifies, you still file the certificate of value; you just mark the applicable exemption so the fee is waived. If it does not qualify, the transfer fee is due at recording.
Mortgages and Due-on-Sale
If the property carries a mortgage, a quit claim deed raises two issues. The grantor remains personally responsible for the loan regardless of who now holds title. And transferring ownership can trigger a due-on-sale clause, letting the lender demand full repayment immediately.
The federal Garn-St. Germain Act blocks due-on-sale enforcement for residential properties with fewer than five units in several situations that cover most quit claim scenarios:11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions
- A transfer to a spouse or children of the borrower
- A transfer from a divorce or legal separation where the borrower’s spouse becomes an owner
- A transfer into a living trust where the borrower stays a beneficiary and occupancy rights do not change
- A transfer on the death of a joint tenant or through inheritance
If the transfer does not fit one of these categories, contact the lender before recording. A grantee taking over payments should plan to refinance in their own name to release the original borrower.
Title Risk to the Grantee
Because a quit claim deed carries no title warranty, any liens, easements, or competing ownership claims come along with the property, and the grantee has no legal recourse against the grantor for them. An existing owner’s title insurance policy generally protects only the person named in the policy, so a new owner receiving property this way should not assume prior coverage extends to them. For low-risk transfers, such as moving property into your own trust or adding a spouse’s name, most people accept that risk. Where more is at stake, a title search before recording is inexpensive relative to what it can catch.
Federal Gift Tax Reporting
Transferring property for less than fair market value is a gift under federal tax law. When the difference between fair market value and consideration paid exceeds $19,000 in 2026, the grantor must file IRS Form 709 even if no gift tax is actually owed.12Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances 1 Married couples can split gifts, raising the reporting threshold to $38,000 per recipient. A parent quit claiming a $250,000 home to an adult child for one dollar creates a reportable gift of roughly $249,999, which reduces the grantor’s lifetime estate and gift tax exemption.
Transfers between spouses who are both U.S. citizens are generally covered by the unlimited marital deduction and do not trigger gift tax reporting. Transfers into a revocable trust where the grantor remains the beneficiary are typically not treated as completed gifts. Form 709 is due by April 15 of the year following the transfer. South Dakota has no state gift or estate tax, so the federal return is the only filing to worry about.