Texas Warranty Deed: General vs Special, Drafted and Recorded Right

Every warranty deed does two things: it conveys the grantor's title, and it attaches a promise about that title. The difference between the two Texas versions is the reach of the promise.

A general warranty deed warrants title against all lawful claims, including defects that arose before the grantor ever owned the property. If a title problem from 1985 surfaces after a 2025 sale, the grantee can look to the grantor under the warranty. This is the deed Texas buyers expect in an ordinary arm's-length sale, and the one the statutory form in Property Code section 5.022 is built around.

A special warranty deed limits the promise to claims arising "by, through, or under" the grantor. The grantor stands behind what happened on their own watch and nothing earlier. Builders, banks selling foreclosed property, estates, and trustees use it because they cannot vouch for a chain of title they did not live through. It is also the usual choice when the parties already know each other and the property's history, which is why Texas divorce transfers and transfers into a living trust are typically done by special warranty deed.

Both instruments convey the same fee simple title. The choice changes who bears the risk of an old defect, not what the buyer receives. Neither should be confused with a quitclaim, which conveys only whatever interest the grantor happens to hold and, in Texas, is routinely refused by title insurers; the comparison in our breakdown of warranty deed vs quitclaim deed explains why.

Texas layers two sets of promises into a warranty deed. The first is the express warranty the deed spells out, typically the language that the grantor "binds themselves and their heirs to warrant and forever defend" the title. That clause is what makes the deed a warranty deed, and the statutory form in section 5.022 includes it, though the section also states that a covenant of warranty is not required and that parties may use other lawful forms and add lawful clauses.

The second set is implied by statute. Property Code section 5.023 provides that, unless the conveyance expressly says otherwise, using the words "grant" or "convey" in a deed of a fee simple estate implies two covenants: that before signing the grantor had not conveyed the estate or any interest in it to anyone other than the grantee, and that at the time of signing the estate was free from encumbrances. The statute adds that an implied covenant can support a lawsuit as if it had been written into the deed.

The practical consequence is that a deed reciting "grant, sell, and convey" carries the implied covenants even if the drafter forgot the warranty clause, and a grantor who wants to give no promises at all must say so expressly. That is the reason Texas practice includes a distinct instrument, the deed without warranty, which conveys title while disclaiming every covenant, express or implied. A carefully drafted deed also lists the exceptions to the warranty: recorded easements, restrictive covenants, mineral reservations, and the current year's taxes, so the grantor is not promising something the public record already contradicts.

Texas keeps deed execution light. The grantor signs; the grantee does not need to. Property Code section 12.001 sets the requirement for recording: the instrument must be signed and either acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments, in practice a notary public, or signed in the presence of two or more credible subscribing witnesses. Nearly every Texas deed uses the notary route, so the two-witness alternative is rarely seen and no witnesses are needed when the deed is properly acknowledged.

The deed itself must identify the grantor and grantee, recite consideration (nominal consideration is fine), contain words of conveyance, describe the property by its legal description rather than a street address, and be delivered to and accepted by the grantee. The legal description comes from the prior recorded deed or the plat; copying a street address or a tax appraisal shorthand is the most common drafting defect we see in family-prepared deeds, and it can leave the conveyance unenforceable against the property intended.

A grantor who cannot sign in person can sign through an agent under a durable power of attorney, provided the power authorizes real estate transactions and is itself recorded with the deed; the structure is covered in our guide to real estate powers inside a durable power of attorney. Signing a deed for a Texas homestead, however, has an additional rule that no power of attorney overrides, discussed below.

A Texas deed is valid between the parties the moment it is signed and delivered, but it protects the grantee against the rest of the world only when it is recorded in the real property records of the county where the land sits. Property Code section 13.001 makes an unrecorded conveyance void as to a creditor or a subsequent purchaser for valuable consideration without notice. In plain terms, if the seller deeds the same lot to two buyers, the one who records first without notice of the other wins.

Recording is handled by the county clerk. Fees are set by Local Government Code section 118.011 and layered with records-management and archive fees, so in 2025 most Texas counties charge in the range of about 25 to 30 dollars for the first page and 4 dollars for each additional page, plus a small charge for each name beyond five that must be indexed. Texas imposes no real estate transfer tax or documentary stamp tax, which is one reason retitling property here is inexpensive compared with states like Florida or Pennsylvania.

Clerks reject deeds for mechanical reasons: a missing notary seal, an illegible page, margins that do not meet the county's standards, or a grantee mailing address left off the face of the deed. A compliant deed records the same day it is presented, and the recorded copy, stamped with volume, page, or instrument number, is the document to keep.

Texas homestead law adds the rule that trips up more family deeds than any other. Family Code section 5.001 provides that, whether the homestead is community property or the separate property of one spouse, neither spouse may sell, convey, or encumber it without the joinder of the other spouse, subject to narrow exceptions such as a spouse judicially declared incapacitated. A deed of the homestead signed by only the owning spouse is not effective as a conveyance, no matter whose name is on the title.

Community property creates a second drafting point. Property acquired during marriage is presumed community, and a deed that vests title in one spouse's name alone does not change its character; the recital in the deed, for example "as her sole and separate property," matters only if the facts support it and the other spouse has joined or executed a partition or gift. Getting the vesting language wrong has consequences that surface at death, since community property passes under different rules than separate property, and at divorce.

The marital status of the grantor should be recited, both spouses should sign when there is any homestead question, and the deed should state how the grantees take title. For a married couple buying together, Texas does not create a right of survivorship by default; a survivorship agreement or a separate planning instrument is needed, which is why couples who want the home to pass automatically look at a transfer on death deed recorded during life or a lady bird deed rather than relying on the purchase deed alone.

Texas homeowners frequently ask for a "warranty deed" when they mean the deed of trust, and vice versa. They are different instruments with different jobs.

The warranty deed conveys ownership from seller to buyer. The deed of trust is the security instrument for the mortgage: the borrower conveys the property to a trustee to hold as security for the lender, with a power of sale that allows non-judicial foreclosure if the loan defaults. Both are recorded at closing, the warranty deed first, and the deed of trust survives until the loan is paid and a release is recorded.

The confusion matters in practice. A homeowner who signs a warranty deed to a family member while a deed of trust is still on record has transferred title subject to the lien and may have triggered the loan's due-on-sale clause. Federal law protects certain transfers to a spouse or child and transfers into a revocable living trust where the borrower remains a beneficiary, but a transfer to a sibling, a friend, or a business entity does not enjoy that protection. The deed should be planned around the lien, not signed in ignorance of it.

The general warranty deed is the right tool for a sale between strangers backed by a title search. It is often the wrong tool for the transfers families actually make.

• Gifts to children. A lifetime gift deed conveys the parent's original tax basis to the child, forfeits the stepped-up basis an inheritance would carry, exposes the home to the child's creditors and divorce, and starts the five-year Medicaid look-back. A deed that takes effect at death usually serves the family better, and Texas offers two: the statutory transfer on death deed under Estates Code Chapter 114, and the enhanced life estate deed known as a lady bird deed that keeps lifetime control. Texas recognizes both, and a warranty clause is unnecessary in either.
• Transfers into a living trust. Deeding the home to yourself as trustee is routinely done by special warranty deed or deed without warranty, because a general warranty from you to your own trust adds nothing and can complicate the existing title policy's coverage.
• Divorce. The decree is a court order, not a conveyance. The spouse giving up the house signs a special warranty deed to the other, often paired with a deed of trust to secure assumption if a mortgage remains in both names.
• Clearing a deceased owner's title. A warranty deed from heirs who have never been established of record does not fix the chain. Texas uses an affidavit of heirship or a probate proceeding first; our guide to each route for transferring a deed after an owner's death lays out the sequence.
• Selling inherited or foreclosed property. Executors, trustees, and lenders give special warranty because they cannot vouch for history they did not own.

A warranty is only as good as the grantor's ability to pay on it years later, which is why Texas closings pair the deed with an owner's title insurance policy. Title insurance rates in Texas are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance, so every insurer charges the same premium for a given policy amount, and the policy, not the seller's covenant, is what a buyer actually calls on when a lien or a missing heir surfaces.

The two protections interact. When a title company pays a claim, it typically steps into the buyer's shoes and pursues the seller under the warranty, so a seller who signs a general warranty deed is exposed to that subrogation even when the buyer never sues directly. Sellers who know of a cloud on title, an unreleased lien, a boundary dispute, an unrecorded easement, should disclose it and except it from the warranty rather than warrant around it.

For transfers with no title company involved, which describes most gifts, family sales, and trust funding, the deed's exceptions and the choice between general and special warranty are the only risk allocation the parties get. That is the point at which having the deed drafted to the actual title history, rather than pulled from a generic form, earns its fee.

The defects that generate title claims and corrective deeds later:

• A street address instead of a legal description. The deed must describe the land the way the recorded plat or prior deed does; anything less may not convey the intended parcel.
• One spouse signing for the homestead. Family Code 5.001 requires both signatures; the deed is ineffective without them.
• Warranting against the whole world when you own a slice of history. Heirs, trustees, and recent buyers should give special warranty, not general.
• No exceptions clause. Failing to except recorded easements, restrictions, mineral interests, and current taxes turns known facts into breached covenants.
• Not recording. A deed in a drawer does not protect the grantee against the grantor's creditors or a later buyer under Property Code 13.001.
• Ignoring the deed of trust. Transferring mortgaged property to the wrong recipient can trigger the due-on-sale clause.
• Using a quitclaim to "keep it simple." Texas title insurers routinely refuse to insure through a quitclaim, and the instrument passes no after-acquired title; if warranties are unwanted, the deed without warranty is the correct Texas alternative.