There are two (2) types of Warranty Deeds: Special Warranty Deed & General Warranty Deed.

Special Warranty Deed – A Special Warranty Deed is different from the General Warranty Deed in that the seller is saying that while they have a clean title to convey to the buyer, they cannot warrant that prior owners did as well. Therefore, if a claim is made to the validity of the title, and the alleged claim occurred prior to the sellers possession of the property, the seller will not defend the buyer.

General Warranty Deed – A General Warranty Deed is the most common deed used to transfer real estate, especially for transactions between unrelated parties. When a General Warranty Deed is used, the Seller or Grantor is warranting that have clear title and that all prior owners had the same. Therefore, the seller is warranting that if a claim is made as to the validity of the title, the seller will defend the buyer, regardless of when the title defect occurred.

Warranty deeds are most commonly used in sales contexts that involve the purchase of title insurance. Because warranty deeds allocate risks to the grantor ("seller"), title insurance is typically purchased when issuing these deeds. The title insurance acts to shoulder the risks, thus protecting the buyer and lessening risk on the seller.

Warranty deeds are very rarely used in situations that don’t involve a sales transaction.