Are you looking to transfer your interest in a property to another party? The transfer can be done with a legal document called a “deed.” There are two major types of deeds: a quitclaim deed and a warranty deed.

A quitclaim deed terminates your interest in a property, but it does not give protections to the beneficiary (the person receiving the interest). A quitclaim deed does not guarantee that the grantor (the person transferring the interest) actually owns the property; it merely states that the grantor thinks that she does have an interest. This type of deed is often used when there isn’t actually any money being exchanged with the transfer of the interest.

A warranty deed gives your interest in a property to the beneficiary and also gives certain protections to the beneficiary. With this type of deed, the grantor guarantees that she actually holds the title to the property and has the right to sell that property. The warranty deed also assures the beneficiary that there are no other people who may have claims to the property.

After the deed is filled out and signed, it must be recorded in the county in which the property is located. Each county has its own guidelines for what the deed must contain, so be sure to look at your county’s requirements.

You may also have to pay federal, state, or county taxes with the transfer. If you use a quitclaim deed and no money is exchanged, a gift tax might apply if the transfer of interest is not between spouses.

Purchase a Quit Claim or Warranty Deed Here

If you are just beginning to think about separating and getting a divorce and don’t know what to do first, our just published free eBook titled “What You Need to Know About Getting a Divorce” is for you.  You can download it here.

Often when you first begin to think about breaking up you don’t know what to do first.

• Should I consult with a lawyer?
• Should I represent myself?
• What is mediation?
• What is collaborative divorce?
• Should I empty my bank account and protect my assets?
• Am I entitled child support?
• Will I be accused of desertion if I leave my spouse?
• How will property be divided?

This free eBook will help you to answer these questions and also help you to develop a strategy to pursue your divorce at the lowest possible cost.

A Florida based law firm, IceLegal, has created a series of how to do it videos for its self-help law web site at http://www.legalyou.com  These videos were designed for Florida residents who represent themselves in court, but they are useful for any jurisdiction.

Here are some of the most useful videos for self-represented litigants:

What to Expect When Going to Court

Mediation and Arbitration: What You Need to Know

What to Wear to Court

For "unbundled" and "limited" legal services from a Florida law firm for a fixed fee - check out: LegalYou. LegalYou has an innovative approach to the delivery of legal services- lawyers helping consumers gain access to the legal system as a price they can afford.

Also see: SmartLegalForms available for the State of Florida.

There are now thousands of legal web sites on the Internet that range from non-lawyer web sites that offer legal information and legal forms to law firm web sites. To help users evaluate the quality of the legal information offered by these web sites, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association approved in 2003, best practice guidelines for legal information web site providers. These guidelines apply to both law firms and non-lawyer web sites, from state-wide legal information web sites operated by public agencies, to court web sites, to legal sites run by profit-making companies.

The guidelines can be found here. Many legal information information providers embrace and support the guidelines either explicitly or in principle. Even though the guidelines were published 9 years ago, they have stood the test of time and are common sense rules to guide non-lawyer users on how to evaluate the quality of a legal information web site.

Here is a quick summary of the best practice guidelines:

1. Full and accurate contact information should be available on the site.
2. The date that substantive legal content material was prepared or last review should be available.
3. The jurisdiction to which the site’s content relates should be clear.
4. There should be a disclaimer that legal information is not the same as legal advice.
5. There should be links to other resources that will help a user solve their legal problems, and where appropriate citations to relevant case law and legislation should be available.
6. Where appropriate, site should provide users with information on how and where to obtain legal advice and further information.
7. Providers should obtain permission to use content from other providers.
8. There should be a clear terms and conditions of use available on the site.
9. Sites should clearly and conspicuously provide users with their privacy policies and policies on security of communications.

These best practice are really minimum standards. Credible legal information web site providers will satisfy these standards whether they explicitly state their support for the ABA Guidelines or simply incorporate these principles into their Web site design and publication process.

We would be wary of legal information web sites that don’t at least try to comply or support these these best practices.

To these best practices, we would add the following:

• Look for a BBB – Better Business Bureau Seal which will act as a verification of the business practices of the vendor and an avenue for registering complaints.
• If services or information is sold from the site, in must be from a secure web space. Look for https:// in your web browser to make sure that you are in a secure web space that requires a user name and password for log-in. Look for the display of an SSL Certificate which means that all communications between the web site and the server are encrypted and secure.