Kentucky · KRS 382.135, 382.335Kentucky deed requirements: the consideration certificate, preparer statement and warranty words

Kentucky clerks check a deed's contents before recording it. Under KRS 382.135, a deed must contain the full names and mailing addresses of the grantor and grantee, a statement of the full consideration, the in-care-of address where that year's property tax bill may be sent, and – for a sale – a sworn, notarized certificate signed by the grantor or its agent and the grantee or its agent that the consideration in the deed is the full consideration paid; a gift or nominal-consideration transfer instead carries a certificate stating it's a gift and giving the estimated fair cash value. Utility easements, divorce court transfers, governmental rights-of-way, cemetery lots, deeds correcting earlier deeds between the same parties and conveyances to local airport boards are exempt from the consideration and certificate items. No county clerk may lodge a deed that doesn't comply (KRS 382.135(5)). Separately, the clerk won't record an instrument conveying real estate unless it bears the signed name and address of the individual who prepared it and the grantee's mailing address, and it complies with the county's indexing system (KRS 382.335). The warranty words matter too: "with general warranty" means the grantor will defend against the claims of all persons, while "with special warranty" covers only claims by, through or under the grantor (KRS 382.030, 382.040). A deed isn't legally lodged for record until the transfer tax is paid (KRS 382.260), and an unacknowledged deed that hasn't been lodged isn't valid against a later purchaser for value without notice or against creditors (KRS 382.270).