Most people may know that if you transfer your real estate property to a family member, neither of you will have to pay a transfer tax because it is a transfer within a family. Similarly, if you are getting a divorce and one spouse transfers his/her share of martial home to the other spouse, neither spouse pays a transfer tax to the county. Wrong.
Counties are increasingly more aggressive in pursuing collections of taxes, and they have assessed taxes on such innocuous family transfers. They devised regulations that provide for real estate property transfers among family members, which involves multiple visits to different government offices (bureaucracy). If one of the forms is not completed, the county feels they can assess the transfer tax.
First, you should visit the Recorder of Deeds where you will ultimately record the Quitclaim Deed. Therefore, if you are completing a Quitclaim Deed, which allows for property transfers without title search, and is commonly used for property transfers among family members, you should first obtain all appropriate forms from the County.
You will also have to visit the Village or City where you live and obtain a stamped letter of approval for waiver of the property tax. They further assure the County that all bills to the Village/City have been paid.
Additionally, you obtain a form from the notary that notarizes the Quitclaim Deed for you because notaries in Illinois are now required to keep a special record of all signatures relative to property transfers. Bank notaries are exempt from this additional formality.
Once you collect all the documents then make sure that the County recorder’s office does not need anything else before you record your Quitclaim Deed. Just ask them. If you follow all their step, there will not be an additional tax on your intra-family transfer of real estate.
May 13, 2012 at 9:41 PM 
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September 25, 2011
Divorce & Family Law