General Warranty Deed – The Alabama general warranty deed is used when owners want to provide a full warranty of title that covers the entire chain of title, including the period before the current owners owned the property.
Statutory Warranty Deed – The Alabama statutory warranty deed provides a warranty of title that is limited to the time when the current owner (the owner conveying the property by deed) owned the property. The current owner is not responsible for anything that happened before that owner took title to the property.
Quitclaim Deed – An Alabama quitclaim deed form provides no warranty of title. It simply transfers the current owner’s interest, if any, to the new owner. You can Quitclaim deed anything to anybody, i.e., you can Quitclaim deed the “Golden Gate Bridge to your sister.”
Life Estate – is a form of co-ownership that allows owners to hold interests at different points in time. One owner—called a life tenant—can hold title to the property for his or her life.
At the life tenant’s death, the property passes automatically to another owner called a remainderman or remainder beneficiary.
There can be more than one life tenant and more than one remainder beneficiary. Life estates are used to avoid probate.
On the death of the life tenant, the other class of owners—called remaindermen or remainder beneficiaries—take possession of the property.
Even though the right to possession occurs at different times, the property is considered jointly owned during the life of the life tenant.
Under Alabama Code § 6-10-3, the deed should state whether the property being conveyed is the homestead property of any person transferring the property.
To be effective, the deed must also include a valid legal description that identifies the property.
The legal description should almost always come from the prior deed to the property. (Using the address, description from the tax records, or other self-made legal description can cause ambiguity that requires legal action to resolve).
If any person transferring the property (grantor) is an individual, the deed must include a statement of that individual’s marital status
The deed should be signed by the current owner or owners, with each signature notarized.
There is no need for the new owners to sign the deed.
The deed must be recorded in the Office of the Judge of Probate in the county where the property is located.
Unless an exception applies, a deed transfer tax must be paid when the deed is recorded.
When the deed is presented for recording, it must be accompanied by proof of the actual purchase price paid for the real estate or, if the property not being sold, evidence of the actual value of the property.
These requirements must be satisfied for each type of deed discussed above.
Property held in joint tenancy, tenancy by the entirety, or joint with right of survivorship automatically passes to the survivor when one of the original owners dies.
Anything with a title such as… real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, and investments can all pass this way and probate is not necessary to transfer ownership of the property.
The State of Alabama provides an estate plan for everyone. It is a one size, and it fits everyone. Fits everyone? Not really.
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