Alabama Property Deed Attorneys | The Harris Firm LLC

The Deed Is One Page. Getting It Wrong Follows the Property for Decades.

The Harris Firm LLC prepares, notarizes, and records every deed type Alabama recognizes — quit claim, warranty, and life estate deeds — from offices in Birmingham, Chelsea, Huntsville, and Montgomery. Phone consultations on deed matters are free.

A deed is how Alabama real estate changes hands — between family members, after a divorce, into a trust, or in a sale. The deed type you choose decides what promises come with the transfer, and the drafting decides whether the transfer holds up. We handle both, at flat fees quoted before anything is drafted.

The Deeds We Prepare

The Four Deed Types Alabama Recognizes

Every deed answers the same two questions: what is being transferred, and what promises come with it. The four types answer the second question very differently, and the type used affects the buyer’s protections, the seller’s obligations, and what happens if a title problem surfaces later.

Alabama also sees bargain and sale deeds — instruments that imply ownership but carry no express covenants — mostly in tax sales, sheriff’s sales, and foreclosures, where the conveying party acts in an official capacity and will not warrant the title. If one of those is on your chain of title, that is worth a conversation before you rely on it.

Which Deed Fits Your Situation

Transferring between family, funding a trust, or carrying out a divorce decree? A quit claim deed does the job simply and cheaply, because the parties already know the property’s history and warranties add nothing but cost. This is the most common deed we prepare, and it is a $750 flat fee from drafting through recording.

Buying or selling for real money? A warranty deed is the correct instrument. Buyers in traditional sales should expect a general warranty deed; estates, trustees, and commercial sellers often convey by special warranty, standing behind their own period of ownership without vouching for the owners before them.

Passing the home to your children without probate? A life estate deed keeps the home yours for life and transfers it automatically at death. It is elegant and permanent in equal measure — the remaindermen own a real interest from the day it records — so the decision deserves the analysis, not just the form.

If you call about one deed type and your situation actually calls for another, we will say so at the free phone consultation. We draft every deed Alabama recognizes, so we have no reason to push the wrong one.

When the Other Party Refuses to Sign: Clerk’s Deeds Under Rule 70

Most deeds get signed voluntarily. Some don’t. The classic scenario is a divorce: the settlement agreement requires one spouse to deed the marital home to the other, the decree is entered, and the obligated spouse simply refuses to sign. The house cannot change hands without a deed — but Alabama law does not leave the other party stuck.

Rule 70 of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure lets the court order the conveyance done anyway. The judge can direct the clerk or another appointed person to execute the deed on the refusing party’s behalf — a clerk’s deed, with the same legal effect as if the owner had signed it — or enter a judgment divesting title directly. The petition is filed in the original case, and the refusing party can be ordered to pay the attorney fees their refusal caused. We handle these regularly alongside our post-divorce deed work, and the same tools apply in partition actions and other cases where a court has ordered land to change hands.

The practical advice is simpler than the procedure: the cheapest clerk’s deed is the one you never need. Getting the deed signed at settlement, while everyone is at the table, avoids the whole exercise. When that ship has sailed, the enforcement route is well worn and we know the way.

How We Prepare and Record Your Deed

Most deeds go from first call to recorded in a matter of days.

Deeds, Probate, and Your Estate Plan

For most Alabama families the home is the biggest asset they own, and how it is titled decides what happens to it at death. Property titled solely in one name generally must go through probate before it reaches the heirs — an estate opened, a personal representative appointed, creditors noticed, months of waiting, and court costs along the way.

A deed is often the tool that changes that outcome. Retitling the home into a revocable living trust takes it out of probate entirely. Adding survivorship language lets the surviving co-owner take full title automatically — but only if the deed says so expressly, because Alabama does not presume survivorship between co-owners. A life estate deed passes the home to the next generation at death with nothing more than a death certificate recorded.

Each of those moves has trade-offs — control, Medicaid timing, tax basis — which is why the deed conversation and the estate planning conversation belong together. We have both, in one free phone call.

What Deed Preparation Costs

A quit claim deed is $750 flat — drafting, notarization, the validation form and deed tax handling, and recording with the county probate office, with the recorded original delivered to you. The fee is the same at all four offices.

Warranty deeds, life estate deeds, and other conveyances are quoted as flat fees at the free phone consultation, because the right scope depends on the transaction — a straightforward family conveyance and a sale with lender requirements are different jobs. Either way, you will know the exact number before you commit to anything. The county’s recording fee and deed tax are separate and modest, and we tell you what to expect for your county.

Phone consultations on deed matters are free. In-person consultations are $100.

Alabama Property Deeds — Frequently Asked Questions

Get the Right Deed, Done Right — Free Phone Consultation

One free call tells you which deed fits your transfer, flags any mortgage, homestead, or Medicaid issue, and quotes the flat fee. Most deeds are recorded within days.