Will Unrecorded Deed Kill The Deal?
Opportunity to buy a prop. that is in my family. Somone deeded the property to the oldest child to prevent prop. from going through probate. This deed is unrecorded. Owner does not want person holding unrecorded deed to know he want's to sell. If I buy I'm going to record the deed. Will a recorded deed be legal if filed after this unrecorded deed was done. I don't think the un recorded deed was notoarized. What do you think?
Get title insurance and or an attorney's title guarantee depending on the state you are in.
"First in time, first in line" The recorded deed is the instument to let the world know who is the real owner. I also would get title insurance in the event this would become a legal issue The insurance is your safety net.
Once you record your deed, any subsequent deed would have to come from you to be effective.
The previously executed deed, if not recorded ahead of yours, is totally ineffective once yours is recorded.
But the suggestions that you require title insurance on this are right on target.
GET TITLE INSURANCE on any prop you're buying !
A signed and notarized deed is legal transfer, recorded or not. However, if the deed wasn't notarized it's not legally binding. Therefore ownership did not transfer.
How do I confirm the deed was in fact not recorded? Title search? Will this show the actual deed? And can a deed be recorded and not notarized? The person doing the deed is a notary but I assume they can't notarize a deed transferring ownership to them. Is this correct? Thanks
Search the county records yourself or have the title search done. If the deed was recorded it will show.
Some counties do not require the deed to be notarized - meaning the seller/grantor needed to sign in the presence of a notary public and have him notarize the document
The title search/title insurance advise was good, especially if you live in a big county (like Cook Cty, here in IL). If the title search doesn't show the recorded deed and you don't get the insurance, the following could happen:
you go down to record your deed yourself (not using a title insurer to search & insure title) and it goes into the stack for recording. If they record in order and are months behind, the oldest child's deed may in fact be ahead of yours for recording, making yours the useless deed.
Is this likely? Probably not, and probably only if the oldest child recorded in the past few months, but title insurance should cover you in this instance, as the title insurer is backing the results of their title search that title is clear.
Andy