A title examiner two doors down the street from my office dropped in today.
He showed me a document and said, "What do you think of this crazy instrument that went on record"? My reply was that I had been ranting about that for a week now on this forum.
The title company is working on the 5 acre cut-out that delivered to them last week. I posted a goofy easement that a local lawyer had prepared. Another title company is a bordering county is making the false assumption that maybe its conveying fee title, when it clearly states an easement. Goofy lawyer or his clerk screwed it up by calling it a GENERAL WARRANTY DEED FOR AN EASEMENT.
For those who did not see it before,
her it is.....
My title guy thinks the lawyer should have to pay for fixing.
> A title examiner two doors down the street from my office dropped in today.
> He showed me a document and said, "What do you think of this crazy instrument that went on record"?
This is Texas? It really isn't material what the title of the instrument is. What matters is what the instrument actually says. So look at the granting language that presumably on the next page. What does it say? I've seen quitclaim deeds labeled "Warranty Deed", but that doesn't make them other than quitclaim deeds.
On a larger point, one can give a general warranty of title in an estate less than fee simple, such as an easement, which is what I understand that deed to appear to attempt to do.
If you google "warranty deed for an easement" you will get several examples of such deeds from various parts of the country. I've never seen one before either, but it seems they are not unheard of.
> If you google "warranty deed for an easement" you will get several examples of such deeds from various parts of the country. I've never seen one before either, but it seems they are not unheard of.
To be clear: in Texas practice the warranty of title applies only to the estate to be conveyed. If the instrument purports to convey an easement, then the warranty clause is a guaranty that the grantor owns the estate out of which the easement rights are to be conveyed and will indemnify the purchaser against any loss in the event that a defect or failure of the title to the estate (an easement in this case) appears.
See Section 743 in "Land Titles and Title Examination" in the Texas Practice series written by Fred Lange.
> If the instrument purports to convey an easement, then the warranty clause is a guaranty that the grantor owns the estate out of which the easement rights are to be conveyed
Couldn't it also pertain to the situation in which an easement owner transfers the easement, warranting that he owns the easement being transferred?
> Couldn't it also pertain to the situation in which an easement owner transfers the easement, warranting that he owns the easement being transferred?
Yes, certainly.
That wording on the instrument adds NOTHING, but confuses PLENTY.
JOhn Harmon
> That wording on the instrument adds NOTHING, but confuses PLENTY.
Well, what a warranty of title means is that a grantee can sue his grantor for breach of warranty in the event that there are defects in or failure of his title. It's a pretty big deal if money has changed hands.
No money changed hands. Mother was grantor of easement.
Just a case of an unexperienced lawyer.
Now I am waiting for the tax district to start taxing the two mile easement as if it was purchased because all they will see is the word WARRANTY DEED. I will post when it happens.
In Texas, my understanding is that an instrument pertaining to the transfer of real property or usage of real property must mention that money ($10) or other monetary amounts and in the case of family often mentioned as "$10 and loving affection" was exchanged on any real property transaction for the transfer to be legal, whether or not it actually happened.
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