Warranty Deed vs. Quit Claim Deed in Florida: What's the Difference?

Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by Adams, Cameron & Co.

What is the real difference between a warranty deed and a quit claim deed?

Both documents do the same basic job on paper: they transfer ownership of real property from one party (the grantor) to another (the grantee). The difference is what each one promises about the property's title, and that difference matters enormously in practice. A warranty deed comes with the grantor's legal guarantee that they actually own the property, that the title is free of hidden problems like undisclosed liens or competing ownership claims, and that the grantor will defend the buyer's title if a claim surfaces later. A quit claim deed comes with none of that. It simply transfers whatever interest the grantor happens to have, if any, without promising the title is clear, without promising the grantor even has a valid claim to convey, and without any obligation to defend the buyer if a problem shows up down the road.

Warranty deeds: the standard for a real Florida sale

When most people picture buying a house, a warranty deed is the document doing the actual legal work at closing. Florida recognizes two forms of it. A general warranty deed offers the broadest protection: the grantor guarantees the title has been clear for the property's entire history, not just during their own ownership, and promises to defend the buyer against any claim that predates the sale. A special warranty deed narrows that promise, guaranteeing only that the grantor personally hasn't caused any title defects during the time they owned the property, without making promises about what happened before they took ownership.

In a typical arms-length residential sale between a buyer and seller who don't know each other, a warranty deed (general or special, depending on what's negotiated) is the expected instrument, and title insurance is layered on top of it precisely because even a warranty deed's promise is only as good as the seller's ability to make good on it. Buyers and lenders expect this level of protection, and a seller unwilling to convey by warranty deed on a normal sale is, itself, a signal worth paying attention to.

Quit claim deeds: no guarantees, and that's the point

A quit claim deed strips away every one of those guarantees. The grantor is essentially saying: whatever interest I have in this property, if any, I'm handing it to you, and I'm making no promises about whether that interest is real, whether it's clear of liens, or whether anyone else might also have a claim to it. If it later turns out the grantor didn't actually own the property, or owned it subject to an unpaid lien, the person who received the quit claim deed generally has no legal recourse against the grantor over the title itself.

That sounds risky, and it is, if it's used in the wrong situation. But quit claim deeds aren't shady or improper; they're simply built for transfers where the parties already trust each other and aren't relying on the deed itself to prove clear title. A quit claim deed can also be one of the fastest and simplest ways to move property between parties, since it doesn't require the same title research and guarantee obligations a warranty deed implies.

When Florida practice actually uses a quit claim deed

The most common real-world uses in Florida all share the same underlying logic: the parties know each other, and no money is really changing hands for the property itself.

Divorce settlements are one of the most frequent examples. When a divorcing couple divides marital property, a quit claim deed is often used to remove one spouse from title, transferring their interest to the other spouse as part of the settlement. Since the receiving spouse already has direct knowledge of the property and isn't buying it from a stranger, the guarantees a warranty deed would provide aren't the point.

Family transfers are another common case: a parent adding a child to title, a sibling transferring their share of an inherited property to another sibling, or a couple moving property into a trust for estate planning purposes. Again, these are situations between people who already know the property's history, not a purchase from an unknown seller.

Quit claim deeds also show up in simpler title-correction situations, like fixing a misspelled name on a prior deed, or removing a deceased co-owner's name from title after the appropriate estate paperwork has been handled. In each of these cases, the point of the deed isn't to prove clear title to a stranger; it's to formally document a transfer between parties who already understand exactly what they're dealing with.

Recording, and why a deed alone isn't the whole story

Whichever deed type is used, it only becomes fully effective as public notice of ownership once it's recorded with the county's official records, typically the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. Recording doesn't change what the deed promises; a recorded quit claim deed still carries no title guarantee, and a recorded warranty deed still carries its full guarantee. What recording does is put the transfer on the public record, so anyone researching the property's title later, a future buyer's title company, for example, can see the chain of ownership. This is also part of why title insurance exists as a separate layer of protection: even a properly recorded warranty deed's guarantee is only as good as the grantor's ability to make good on it, and a title company's search plus an insurance policy protects a buyer against problems that predate the current transaction entirely, in a way the deed itself can't fully guarantee on its own.

Why an agent has to know the difference

A new agent isn't drafting deeds, that's the job of a closing attorney or title company, but an agent absolutely needs to recognize which type of deed a transaction calls for and flag it when something looks off. A buyer purchasing a home from an unrelated seller should reasonably expect a warranty deed and title insurance protecting their purchase; if a quit claim deed shows up instead on a normal arms-length sale, that's a red flag worth raising immediately, not something to wave through because the paperwork is moving forward. Conversely, an agent helping a client with a family property transfer or a post-divorce title change should understand why a quit claim deed is the appropriate, standard tool there, and shouldn't create unnecessary alarm by treating it as a red flag when it isn't one.

Getting this backwards, treating a quit claim deed as good enough for a real purchase, or treating a routine family quit claim as somehow improper, is exactly the kind of mistake that erodes a client's trust and can create real legal exposure. Agents aren't expected to be title attorneys, but they are expected to know enough to ask the right question at the right moment and loop in a title company or real estate attorney when the situation calls for it.

What is your next step?

Knowing the difference between a warranty deed and a quit claim deed is exactly the kind of practical, real-world knowledge that separates an agent who can guide a client confidently from one who's just filling out forms. If you haven't started the licensing process yet, our step-by-step Florida real estate license guide walks through the course, the exam, and what comes after. Once you're closer to deciding where you'll actually practice, that decision deserves a real conversation.

Adams, Cameron & Co., the largest brokerage in Volusia and Flagler counties since 1963, trains new agents on the real mechanics of a Florida transaction, deeds included, not just what it takes to pass the state exam. Start a conversation if you want to talk through what that training actually looks like.

Deed types and their legal effect are governed by Florida law and can involve nuances beyond the scope of this overview. Confirm the right instrument for any specific transaction with a Florida real estate attorney or title company. Educational only, not legal advice.