Which Deed Do You Sign When You Sell an Ohio House?
Somewhere near the end of a sale, a document arrives and you sign it. Most sellers never ask which kind it is, and for a straightforward sale that is usually fine. But Ohio has several deed forms written into the statutes, they convey exactly the same estate, and they differ entirely in what you are promising the buyer. If you are selling an inherited house, or a house after a divorce, the difference stops being academic.
A heavy brass document embosser and a black fountain pen resting on a polished wooden desk beside a folded blank sheet of paper
Ohio's deed forms all convey the same thing — a fee simple. What separates them is what you promise. A general warranty deed defends the title against all persons. A limited warranty deed defends only against claims arising through you. A quitclaim carries no covenants of any kind. And a fiduciary deed — what an executor signs — promises that you had the authority to sell, not that the title is clean.
They all hand over the same estate
Start here, because it removes a worry people often carry into this subject. Every one of the forms below, when properly executed, "has the force and effect of a deed in fee simple to the grantee". Fee simple is the fullest ownership Ohio recognises. A quitclaim deed does not hand over a lesser kind of ownership than a general warranty deed.
What changes between them is the set of covenants — the promises the seller makes about what they are handing over. That is the whole distinction, and once you see it the rest follows easily.
What each Ohio deed form promises
| Deed | Section | What the seller covenants |
|---|---|---|
| General warranty | 5302.05 | Lawfully seized in fee simple; premises free from all encumbrances; good right to sell and convey; warrants and will defend forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons |
| Limited warranty | 5302.07 | Premises free from all encumbrances made by the grantor; defends against persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor — "but against none other" |
| Quitclaim | 5302.11 | No covenants of any kind. Conveys whatever interest the grantor had |
| Fiduciary | 5302.09 | That the grantor was duly appointed, qualified and acting in the stated fiduciary capacity, was duly authorised to make the sale, and complied with the statutes in the proceedings |
Each of these sections requires execution in accordance with Chapter 5301 of the Revised Code. We have not read that chapter, so nothing here describes how a deed must be signed, witnessed or notarised — that is a separate body of requirements and a real one.
General warranty: the broadest promise
This is the deed most ordinary residential sales use, and it is the most demanding of the seller. Ohio spells out what the shorthand phrase "general warranty covenants" actually means:
The grantor covenants with the grantee, his heirs, assigns, and successors, that he is lawfully seized in fee simple of the granted premises; that they are free from all encumbrances; that he has good right to sell and convey the same, and that he does warrant and will defend the same to the grantee and his heirs, assigns, and successors, forever, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.
Read the last five words. All persons — not merely people whose claim comes through you. If a problem surfaces from 1961, three owners before you bought the place, a general warranty deed puts you on the hook for defending it. That is a substantial promise about a period of history you had nothing to do with.
Not sure what you can honestly promise about the house?
That question comes up more than people expect on inherited and long-held property. Tell us the situation — we buy in circumstances where the history is incomplete, and we would rather know up front.
Limited warranty: the promise cut to your own tenure
The limited warranty form does the same job with a much shorter reach. Its statutory meaning:
The grantor covenants with the grantee, his heirs, assigns, and successors, that the granted premises are free from all encumbrances made by the grantor, and that he does warrant and will defend the same to the grantee and his heirs, assigns, and successors, forever, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor, but against none other.
Two phrases do the narrowing. Encumbrances made by the grantor — not encumbrances generally. And claims by persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor, with the statute adding, for the avoidance of any doubt, "but against none other".
So you are standing behind your own period of ownership and nothing before it. For someone who inherited a house they never lived in, or who owned a property briefly, that is often the only promise it is reasonable to make.
Quitclaim: no promises at all
The quitclaim form is the one with the fearsome reputation, and the statute is admirably blunt about it. The deed has the force and effect of a fee simple conveyance to the grantee, "but without covenants of any kind on the part of the grantor".
It hands over whatever interest you actually had. If that was full clean ownership, the buyer now has full clean ownership. If it was nothing, they have nothing, and they have no claim against you for the difference — because you never said otherwise.
A quitclaim is a normal, sensible instrument between people who already know the position — moving a property between spouses, clearing up a possible interest, transferring into a trust. It is a much harder thing to ask of a buyer in an arm's-length sale, because you are asking them to accept the title with no assurance from you whatsoever. Neither use is wrong. They are just different situations, and the deed is not the thing that makes a transaction safe or unsafe.
The fiduciary deed, and the thing nobody explains about it
If you are selling a house as an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, receiver or commissioner, Ohio has a form written for you. Its covenants are unlike the others, and the difference is worth understanding before you sign.
A fiduciary deed covenants that, at delivery, the grantor was duly appointed, qualified, and acting in the fiduciary capacity described in the deed, that the grantor was duly authorised to make the sale and conveyance, and that in all of the grantor's proceedings in the sale the grantor complied with the requirements of the statutes.
Every one of those promises is about you and your authority — that you really were the executor, that you really could sell, that you followed the process. None of them is a promise about the state of the title. A fiduciary deed does not warrant the property against the claims of all persons the way a general warranty deed does. That is not a defect in the form; it is the form working correctly, because a fiduciary is selling someone else's property and cannot sensibly warrant its history. It is simply why buyers of estate property rely on the title search rather than on the deed.
Notice also what the fiduciary form does not carry: the dower release line that appears in the general warranty, limited warranty and quitclaim forms. Those three each include a line by which the grantor's spouse releases all rights of dower — which is the reason a spouse who is not named on the deed may still have to sign. We have written about dower and whose signature a sale needs in our article on selling during a divorce.
Selling an estate property and unsure of the paperwork?
We buy inherited and probate property regularly, and the deed is usually the least of it. Tell us where the estate has got to and we will tell you plainly what we would need and what we would not.
What this means for you in practice
Three honest observations, offered as orientation rather than advice.
- The deed is not what protects the buyer. A covenant is a promise to sue on if something goes wrong later. A title search is what finds the problem before anyone signs. That is why we have written separately about what a title company actually does, and why a cash sale still uses one.
- A narrower deed is not a red flag by itself. A limited warranty or fiduciary deed on an estate sale is normal and appropriate. What matters is whether the title work supports the transaction, not which form is on the page.
- Do not choose your own deed from an article. Including this one. What you can honestly covenant depends on facts about the property's history that you may not know, and getting it wrong creates a promise you cannot keep. Your attorney and the title company will settle this between them.
Where this leaves your options
Deed type rarely drives the decision, but it does travel with it:
- Keep it. No conveyance, no deed, no covenants. If the title has a known oddity, it is usually cheaper to resolve it while you are not under time pressure.
- Repair, then list. Improves the price, changes nothing about the deed. Keep records of who did the work — unpaid contractors are a common source of the encumbrances a warranty covers.
- Rent it out. No conveyance. Worth knowing that a tenancy does not affect what you could later covenant.
- List it with an agent. Expect 5.5%–6% commission plus closing costs. A retail buyer with a mortgage will usually expect the broadest deed the seller can honestly give.
- Sell it yourself. Same expectation from the buyer, and the drafting decision lands on you and whoever you hire to prepare the documents.
- Sell direct to a cash buyer. No repairs, no cleanout, closing as fast as 7 days and typically around 21 days. Buyers like us are generally more comfortable with a limited warranty or fiduciary deed where that is what the seller can properly give.
We are not going to claim a cash sale nets more — on a clean, marketable title it usually does not. Where it genuinely helps is where the seller cannot make the promises a retail buyer expects: an estate, a property with a complicated history, an owner who simply does not know what happened before them. Work out the net on each route and compare those figures, as always.
The statutory quitclaim language, in full
A deed in substance following the form set forth in this section, when duly executed in accordance with Chapter 5301. of the Revised Code, has the force and effect of a deed in fee simple to the grantee, the grantee's heirs, assigns, and successors, and to the grantee's and the grantee's heirs', assigns', and successors' own use, but without covenants of any kind on the part of the grantor.
This article summarises ORC 5302.05, 5302.06, 5302.07, 5302.08, 5302.09 and 5302.11 as we read them, and is provided for general information. It is not legal advice. Each of those sections requires execution in accordance with Chapter 5301, which we have not read and which governs how a deed must actually be signed and acknowledged — do not treat this article as covering that. Which deed suits a particular transaction is a question for an Ohio real estate attorney and your title company.
Have a house with a complicated history?
Those are the ones we are most used to. Call or text 216-899-CASH and tell us what you know and what you do not — an incomplete story is not a problem for us, and we would rather hear it early.
Frequently asked questions
Not what the buyer receives — all of these forms convey a fee simple. What differs is the covenants the seller gives. A general warranty deed promises the most, a limited warranty deed promises only about the seller's own period of ownership, a quitclaim promises nothing, and a fiduciary deed promises something different again: that the fiduciary had authority to sell.
Four things, as at delivery of the deed: that the grantor was lawfully seized in fee simple, that the premises were free from all encumbrances, that the grantor had good right to sell and convey, and that the grantor warrants and will defend the property forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.
It cuts the promise down to the seller's own tenure. It covenants that the premises are free from all encumbrances made by the grantor, and defends against persons claiming by, through, or under the grantor — the statute adds "but against none other". Anything arising before you owned it is outside the promise.
No — it still has the force and effect of a deed in fee simple to the grantee. What it lacks is any assurance. The statute says it conveys that estate "but without covenants of any kind on the part of the grantor". The buyer receives whatever interest the grantor actually had, with no promise that it was anything.
Ohio has a specific form for a deed of an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, receiver or commissioner. Its covenants are about your authority rather than the title: that you were duly appointed, qualified and acting in the fiduciary capacity described, that you were duly authorised to make the sale, and that you complied with the statutes in your proceedings.
Correct, and it is the point most often misunderstood. The covenants in the fiduciary form go to whether you had the power to sell and followed the required process. They do not warrant the state of the title against the world the way a general warranty deed does. That is why buyers of estate property lean on a title search rather than the deed.
Because Ohio still has dower, and the general warranty, limited warranty and quitclaim forms each carry a line by which the grantor's spouse releases all rights of dower. It is the reason a spouse who is not on the deed may still need to sign. We cover dower in detail in our article on selling during a divorce.
That is a question for your attorney and your title company, not for an article, because it depends on what you can honestly promise and what the buyer will accept. What we can tell you is what each form means, so the conversation makes sense when you have it.
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