Delivery

Key Takeaways

• A deed transfers title when the grantor hands it over intending to pass ownership at that moment, not on the date it was signed.
• Delivery must happen while the grantor is alive. A deed handed over after the grantor's death passes nothing.
• In Washington a deed must be in writing, signed by the party bound, and acknowledged (RCW 64.04.020), and meeting all three form rules still transfers nothing without delivery.
• Recording does not make a deed effective between grantor and grantee, but an unrecorded deed loses to a later good-faith purchaser who records first (RCW 65.08.070).

What It Means

Delivery is the moment a deed does its work. A Grantor can sign a perfectly drafted deed, have the signature notarized, and hold the paper for twenty years without transferring anything at all. Title moves when the grantor parts with the deed intending, right then, to pass ownership to the Grantee.

Two pieces have to be present. There is the physical act, the grantor handing the Deed over to the grantee. And there is intent, the grantor meaning for ownership to change now rather than someday. A deed passed across a table with instructions to hold it until the grantor says otherwise fails the intent half of the test, because nothing was meant to change hands at that moment.

Timing is the other trap. Delivery has to happen during the grantor's lifetime. A deed found in a desk drawer after the grantor dies, however clearly it names the intended recipient, transfers nothing, because there was no living grantor to deliver it. Property meant to pass at death has to travel by a will or by a transfer on death deed instead.

How It Works in Washington

In Washington, the form rules for a deed and the delivery rule are separate hurdles, and a conveyance has to clear both. RCW 64.04.010 requires that every conveyance of real estate, or any interest in it, be by deed. RCW 64.04.020 then requires that every deed be in writing, signed by the party bound by it, and acknowledged before a person authorized to take acknowledgments. A deed that satisfies all of that and never leaves the grantor's hands still conveys nothing.

Recording is a third step, and it protects rather than transfers. RCW 65.08.070 makes an unrecorded conveyance void as against a later purchaser or mortgagee in good faith and for valuable consideration whose conveyance is recorded first. Between the grantor and the grantee, though, the delivered deed already works, which is why delivery and recording are tested as different ideas.

Washington does supply a lawful way to move property at death without a lifetime delivery. Under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, a transfer on death deed is nontestamentary (RCW 64.80.040) and has to be recorded before the transferor dies (RCW 64.80.060). That is the legitimate route for the result a grantor is reaching for when a signed deed sits undelivered in a drawer.

Example

Harold owns a Yakima house worth about $529,000. On June 2 he signs a statutory warranty deed naming his daughter Renee as grantee, has it acknowledged before a notary, and locks it in his safe deposit box. He tells nobody, Renee included. Harold dies on November 14.

Renee finds the deed in December while clearing out the box. It is in writing, signed, and acknowledged, so on its face it satisfies RCW 64.04.020. It still transfers nothing, because Harold never handed it to her while he was alive, and the $529,000 house passes through his estate instead.

Had Harold signed a transfer on death deed naming Renee and recorded it with the Yakima County auditor back in June, RCW 64.80.060 would have been satisfied and the house would have gone to her at his death with no lifetime delivery needed.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• Recording is not delivery. An unrecorded deed that was handed over with intent is still good between the grantor and the grantee.
• A notary's acknowledgment proves who signed the deed. It proves nothing about whether the deed was ever delivered.
• A signed deed the grantor keeps, meaning it to take effect at death, fails as a conveyance. That result needs a will or a transfer on death deed.
• Delivery requires present intent to pass title now, so handing someone a deed to hold until further notice is not delivery.