Each deed serves a different purpose. Determining when and why a specific deed is used can be confusing! To help, we aimed to define and explain each type of deed in order to equip you with knowledge to guide you down the road.

This type of deeds serves to protect the grantee against title defects arising at any point, extending all the way back to the property’s origins.

General Warranty Deed

A mineral deed provides the holder with executive rights to the property beneath the surface of the earth, the minerals. With these rights, the deed holder can control the means by which the minerals are extracted and transferred for sale and reap the financial benefits. They also have the right to receive lease bonuses, delay rental payments, shut-in payments, and royalties.

A mineral deed can be either a general or special warranty deed, or a quitclaim deed. Most often, mineral deeds are special warranty deeds.

Mineral Deed

Also called a QCD, this deed is used to transfer interest in real property. The grantor quits any right and claim to the property, allowing the right or claim to transfer to the grantee. Only conveys whatever title the grantor currently holds and does not guarantee the title is free and clear or “not warranted”.

Quitclaim Deed

A royalty deed conveys the rights to receive royalties, a share in production that is free from the costs of production. No executive rights or mineral rights are conveyed here.

Royalty Deed

A SWD serves to protect the grantee only against title defects that may arise from actions/omissions of the grantor.

Special Warranty Deed

Warranty Deed

A covenant from the grantor regarding the title, in which the grantor promises the grantee the property is free from encumbrances and the future claims of others, known as fee simple.

Different Types of Deeds