Deed Location Service

Need help locating the prior deed to real estate?

For a one-time payment of $79.99, our online deed search can help you locate the most recent deed to real estate, guaranteed.

The prior deed is delivered by email, without the need for you to travel to the recorder’s office or search the land records yourself.

Note: This service is for locating the prior deed to real estate. If you want to create a new deed form to transfer real estate, use our online deed preparation service or TOD deed preparation service.

How it Works

When you use our nationwide deed location service, we use the information you provide to conduct a property record search across the nation's largest database of digital public land records (with over 7 billion recorded real estate documents). Once we locate the most recent deed, we will provide an electronic copy (PDF) to you by email.

More About the Service

A deed is a legal document that transfers real estate to new owners (either during life or at death). Deeds are signed by the current owners (grantors) to transfer property to new owners (grantees).

The grantees listed on the prior deed become the grantors of any new deed. The chain of deeds to the property connects each prior grantee with each new grantor through a chain of title that is maintained in the recorder’s office.

Having the most recent deed to real estate is useful for several reasons, including:

  • Confirming Ownership of Property. The deed is almost always the best evidence of who owns the property. Identifying the grantees in the prior deed is necessary to determine who must serve as grantors in any new deed.
  • Determining What Names are Used. To keep an unbroken chain of title, the names of the grantors in the new deed should exactly match the names of grantees in the prior deed. The omission or inclusion of a middle name or initial, for example, can make the chain of title unclear. Reviewing the names used in the prior deed can help prevent these types of title issues.
  • Determining How Title is Held. Real estate may be owned by more than one owner in several different ways, each of which has important legal consequences. Reviewing the prior deed tells you whether there is more than one owner of the property and, of so, the way the joint owners hold title.
  • Identifying the Legal Description. A new deed must describe the property in a way that is legally valid. Using the legal description from the prior deed is almost always the best way to ensure that the new deed is conveying the exact same property.

Because each of these issues is critical to the validity of any new deed, we recommend reviewing the prior deed before beginning any new deed to transfer real estate.

Note: Deeds go by many different names. Quitclaim deeds, special warranty deeds, and general warranty deeds are all named after the warranty of title they provide. Life estate deeds, transfer-on-death deeds, and enhanced life estate (lady bird) deeds are all named after their respective probate avoidance features. Regardless of the type of new deed you want to create, it is important to begin with the prior deed.

Click the NEXT button below to get started.