Why People File a Quitclaim Deed in Dolores County
Just Got Married
There's no rule that says a title has to stay one name after a wedding — a quitclaim deed updates it to both, quickly and without a sale.
Going Through a Divorce
If your divorce is finalized and the house is yours, a quitclaim deed is what makes the county's records agree with the court's decision.
Inherited Property
If you and your siblings inherited a property together, a quitclaim deed is often used to sort out or simplify how the title is held.
Gifting to Family
A parent adding a grown child to the title, with no money exchanged, is one of the more common quitclaim filings we see.
About the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder
Dolores County was carved out of the southern half of Ouray County in 1881. Its western reaches were densely populated by Ancestral Puebloan communities between roughly 900 and 1300 AD, with archaeologists documenting village sites of hundreds of rooms. Rico boomed as a silver-mining camp after the 1891 arrival of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and served as county seat until 1946, when the title passed to the more populous farming town of Dove Creek, today known locally as the 'Pinto Bean Capital of the World.'
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Dolores County, this is the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Dove Creek (county seat), Rico.
Unincorporated communities: Cahone, Dunton.
Office Details
Address: 409 N Main St, PO Box 58, Dove Creek, CO 81324
Phone: 970-677-2381
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Recording Fee: A flat, statewide per-document recording fee set by Colorado statute (the same amount applies in every county), plus small state technology surcharges. A separate state documentary fee applies to real estate transfers above a small statutory consideration threshold, calculated as a percentage of the sale price rather than a flat charge.
E-recording: Dolores County accepts e-recording through Simplifile and CSC.
Good to know before you go: The Clerk and Recorder's office keeps a four-day, Monday-through-Thursday week and is closed Fridays, so plan in-person recording visits accordingly.
How to File a Document
- Sign in Front of a Notary: Colorado requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public before the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder will accept a deed for recording. No witnesses are required beyond the notary, and the grantee doesn't need to sign at all -- just the person giving up their interest in the property.
- Attach a Full Legal Description, Not Just an Address: A street address alone won't satisfy Colorado's requirements -- the deed needs the property's actual legal description (a metes-and-bounds description, a government survey reference, or a platted lot and block, depending on how the parcel was originally surveyed). You can usually copy this directly from the deed that transferred the property to you.
- Complete a Real Property Transfer Declaration (TD-1000): Colorado requires a separate Real Property Transfer Declaration (TD-1000) to accompany most deeds when they're filed, signed by the buyer or seller. It's a distinct form with its own signature, not a box you check on the deed -- the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder can provide the current version and confirm whether your situation qualifies for an exemption.
- Consider Online Notarization if an In-Person Visit Is Hard: Colorado has permitted remote online notarization since Senate Bill 20-096 took effect on December 31, 2020 (C.R.S. § 24-21-514.5) -- so if getting to a notary's office in person is inconvenient, a signer may be able to complete the acknowledgment over live video with a Colorado-commissioned online notary instead.
- Record with the County Clerk and Recorder: Bring, mail, or (where the county supports it) e-file the signed, notarized deed and its Transfer Declaration with the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder for the county where the property sits. Colorado's recording fee is set by state statute -- a flat rate per document -- and on top of that, Colorado charges a documentary fee calculated as a small percentage of the sale price, separate from the flat recording fee.
Still Have Questions About Filing With the Dolores County Clerk and Recorder?
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Other Counties in Colorado
Filing somewhere else in the state? Here are a few other county pages:
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