lee -   please allow me to offer what i know about recording documents; i worked
for several years for a title company, and a number of years following that for
a real estate lawyer.  there is a great significance to the "latter" date, the
recording date.  in some cases it is even important to know the "clerk's number"
on a recorded document.  recording a document makes it a matter of public record
and establishes priority.  the making it public record isn't the more important
thing; establishing priority is.  should another person claim ownership to, say
a piece of land that you own, you can prove that you owned it first by showing,
not the date of the deed (as deeds can be forged), but the date the deed was
recorded.  if your recording date is earlier than the other person's then your
ownership has priority over his.  that is not to say that the other person can't
try to sue to get ownership, and it could tie the property up if you tried to
sell it with another person claiming ownership, but by recording the deed you
have established yourself legally as the "owner of record."  so the "second
date", the recording date, is actually more important in most cases than the
date of the actual deed.  i mentioned the "clerk's number" earlier.  i don't
know if recording a document works the same everywhere (currently), and i doubt
that, in the early records a clerk's number was assigned to documents.  but, for
example (in duval county, fl)  if two people had a deed dated the same day for
the same piece of property (i have seen this happen when an unscrupoulous child
sold his parents' home out from under them - he forged the deeds - to two
separate people) and they took the deeds into the clerk's office to be recorded,
the clerk (at least in duval county) gives each document a clerk's number before
the document is actually recorded.  that number indicates the order that
documents are brought into the clerk's office for recording.  in this particular
case both deeds were fraudulent and neither deed held up (the case went to court
and the owners' son was convicted).  if the first "owner", for example,
defaulted on some terms of ownership, the person holding the other deed might
record his and he might have priority of ownership over the other deed.  when a
title company performs a search of title records prior to the sale of property,
and issues a title policy, they are saying (and accepting liability in case they
are wrong) that they have searched the records on that piece of property and
have found no claims against the property that have not been satisfied or
discharged.

title companies, banks and lawyers used to issue Satisfactions of Mortgage when
a debt was paid, and would send the signed, witnessed and notarized (but
unrecorded) document to the mortgagor.  it was up to the mortgagor to have the
document recorded.  frequently no one explained this to the person and, though
the debt had been paid off and discharged by the lender, the actual document had
never been recorded.  most people thought that just having the signed document
was all they needed to have and weren't even aware that a document needed to be
recorded.  part of my job at the lawyer's office was to "clear clouds on titles"
when a piece of property was being sold and the title search showed various
documents that had never been recorded.  99% of those were satisfactions of
mortgage.  not recording the document didn't mean that the debt hadn't been paid
and discharged.  but, while the public records showed the recorded mortgage,
they did not show the recorded satisfaction of that mortgage.  and property
cannot be sold until all claims against it can be proved to be paid or otherwise
satisfied (marketable title).

the subject can get very detailed and involved, and i've probably told you more
than you ever wanted to know.  i only hope that my explanation hasn't confused
you.

have a nice day,
julie thames howell
jax, fla
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Lee Adair
  To: [email protected]
  Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 6:29 AM
  Subject:  Deed record information


  Deed book records usually indicate the date the deed was signed
  and the date it was recorded. Is there any significance to the latter
  date? In SC in the late 1700's and early 1800's, there was
  occasionally a large time interval (sometimes years) between the
  two dates.
  *************************************************
   W. Lee Adair, Jr, Ph.D.
   Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
   University of South Florida
   MDC 7
   Tampa, FL  33612
   TEL: (813)974-9599
   FAX: (813)974-5798
  *************************************************



==== SCROOTS Mailing List ====