H. B. 2819
(By Delegate Whitman and Hendricks)
[Introduced March 31, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article ten, relating to
the uniform simplification of land transfers act;
definitions; marketable record title; matters to which
marketable record title is subject; interest extinguished by
marketable record title; effect upon marketable record title
of recording notice of intent to preserve an interest;
interests not barred by article; and limitations of actions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article ten, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. UNIFORM SIMPLIFICATION OF LAND TRANSFERS ACT.
§36-10-1. Definitions.
In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Marketable record title" means a title of record, as
indicated in section two of this article, which operates to
extinguish interest and claims, existing before the effective
date of the root of title, as stated in section four of this
article.
(2) "Person dealing with real estate" includes a purchaser
o real estate, the taker of a security interest, a levying or
attaching creditor, a real estate contract vendee, or another
person seeking to acquire an estate or interest therein, or
impose a lien thereon.
(3) "Records" includes probate and other official records
available in the recording office.
(4) "Root of title" means a conveyance or other title
transaction, whether or not it is a nullity, in the record chain
of title of a person, purporting to create or containing language
sufficient to transfer the interest claimed by him, upon which he
relies as a basis for the marketability of his title, and which
was the most recent to be recorded as of a date thirty years
before the time marketability is being determined. The effective
date of the "root of title" is the date on which it is recorded.
(5) "Title transaction" means any transaction purporting to
affect title to real estate, including title by will or descent,
title by tax deed, or by trustee's, referee's, guardian's,
executor's, administrator's, master in chancery's, or sheriff's
deed, or decree of a court, as well as warranty deed, quitclaim
deed or security interest.
§36-10-2. Marketable record title.
A person who has an unbroken chain of title of record to
real estate for thirty years or more has a marketable record
title to the real estate, subject only to the matters stated in
section three of this article. A person has an unbroken chain of
title when the official public records disclose a conveyance or
other title transaction, of record not less than thirty years at
the time the marketability is to be determined, and the
conveyance or other title transaction, whether or not it was a
nullity, purports to create the interest in or contains language
sufficient to transfer the interest to either:
(1) The person claiming the interest; or
(2) Some other person from whom, by one or more conveyances
or other title transactions of record, the purported interest has
become vested in the person claiming the interest; with nothing
appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest the
claimant of the purported interest.
§36-10-3. Matters to which marketable record title is subject.
The marketable record title is subject to:
(1) All interests and defects which are apparent in the root
of title or inherent in the other muniments of which the chain of
record title is formed; however, general reference in a muniment
to easements, use restrictions, encumbrances or other interests
created prior to the root of title is not sufficient to preserve
them unless a reference by record location is made therein to a
recorded title transaction which creates the easement, userestriction, encumbrance or other interests;
(2) All interests preserved by the recording of proper
notice of intent to preserve an interest;
(3) An interest arising out of a title transaction recorded
after the root of title, but recording does not revive an
interest previously extinguished; and
(4) The exceptions stated in section six of this article.
§36-10-4. Interests extinguished by marketable record title.
Subject to the matters stated in section three of this
article, the marketable record title is held by its owner and is
taken by a person dealing with the real estate free and clear of
all interests, claims, or charges whatsoever, the existence of
which depends upon an act, transaction, event or omission that
occurred before the effective date of the root of title. All
interests, claims, or charges, however denominated, whether legal
or equitable, present or future, whether the interests, claims or
charges are asserted by a person who is or is not under a
disability, whether the person is within or without the state,
whether the person is an individual or an organization, or is
private or governmental, are null and void.
§36-10-5. Effect upon marketable record title of recording
notice of intent to preserve an interest.
A person claiming an interest in real estate may preserve
and keep the interest, if any, effective by recording during the
thirty-year period immediately following the effective date of
the root of title of the person who would otherwise obtainmarketable record title, a notice of intent to preserve the
interest. No disability or lack of knowledge of any kind on the
part of anyone suspends the running of the thirty-year period.
The notice may be recorded by the claimant or by another person
acting on behalf of a claimant who is:
(1) Under a disability;
(2) Unable to assert a claim on his own behalf; or
(3) One of a class, but whose identity cannot be established
or is uncertain at the time of recording the notice of intent to
preserve the interest.
§36-10-6. Interests not barred by article.
This article does not bar:
(1) A restriction, the existence of which is clearly
observable by physical evidence of its use;
(2) Interests of a person using or occupying the real
estate, whose use or occupancy is inconsistent with the
marketable record title, to the extent that the use or occupancy
would have been revealed by reasonable inspection or inquiry;
(3) Rights of a person in whose name the real estate or an
interest therein was carried on the real property tax rolls
within three years of the time when marketability is to be
determined, if the relevant tax rolls are accessible to the
public at the time marketability is to be determined;
(4) A claim of the United States not subjected by federal
law to the recording requirements of this state and which has not
terminated under federal law;
(5) Mineral interests including oil, gas, sulphur, coal and
all other mineral interests of any kind, whether similar or
dissimilar to those minerals specifically named.
§36-10-7. Limitations of actions.
This article may not be construed to extend the period for
the bringing of an action or for the doing of any other required
act under a statute of limitations.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to adopt the Uniform
Simplification of Land Transfers Act which relates to declaring
a marketable record of title to real estate in persons who have
an unbroken chain of title of record to real estate for more than
30 years.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.