Title 35

All conveyances admitted to record on proof must be attested by two witnesses, and the proof or acknowledgment must comply substantially with the foregoing forms or the conveyances lose the privileges conferred by section 35-4-65. (Code 1852, §1261; Code 1867, §1550; Code 1876, §…

Affidavits heretofore recorded or that may hereafter be recorded showing the relationship of parties or other persons to conveyances of lands, the relationship of any parties to any conveyances with other parties whose names are shown in the chain of title to lands, whether or no…

In any litigation over any of the lands referred to and described in any of such affidavits, in any court in the state of Alabama or in any proceedings in any such court involving the title to such lands, wherein the facts recited in such affidavits may be material, the said affi…

The affidavits referred to in Sections 35-4-69 and 35-4-70 shall be filed by the probate judge of the county where offered for filing and by him recorded and indexed in deed records as conveyances of lands are recorded and indexed, and he shall receive the same compensation there…

When a validly executed instrument, not properly acknowledged and recorded, has for 10 years been of record in the office of the judge of probate, the original or a duly certified transcript thereof shall have the same force and effect as evidence as such original or transcript w…

(a) No deed, contract, or other conveyance of land or any interest therein, whether legal or equitable, shall be accepted for record by the probate judge unless it contains a recitation of the marital status of an individual grantor or vendor; provided, that this section shall ap…

(a) No instrument, other than a will, purporting to create or transfer any interest in land shall be accepted for record by a probate judge if such instrument describes the land in which such interest is to be created or transferred by reference to a plat and the plat is not atta…

(a) Where any contract or extension thereof for the sale of any interest in land fails to state the time within which, or the circumstances under which, a deed is to be delivered, the time for the delivery of the deed shall be a reasonable time after the date on which the contrac…

(a) No option to purchase any interest in land, other than an option limited in favor of a lessee and exercisable at a time not later than the end of the term of a lease or any extension or renewal thereof, or an option to repurchase reserved by the grantor in a deed, shall be va…

(a) All conveyances of real property, deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, or instruments in the nature of mortgages to secure any debts are inoperative and void as to purchasers for a valuable consideration, mortgagees, and judgment creditors without notice, unless the same have be…

All wills and conveyances, creating estates in lands in remainder or reversion or upon a condition, after an estate for life or lives, are inoperative and void as against the creditors of the tenant for life or lives in possession after a possession of five years by such tenant, …

Except as may be otherwise provided by Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, all conveyances, mortgages, and other instruments executed hereafter for the purpose of transferring standing timber or trees, or cutting rights with respect thereto, or an interest therein, whether …

Personal property conveyed in consideration of marriage, when the possession remains with the husband or the husband and wife, must be taken as the property of the husband, in favor of purchasers without notice and creditors, unless such conveyance is recorded in the county of th…

All loans in writing, wills, or conveyances creating estates in personal property, on condition, in reversion or remainder, or in which the use is separated from the right, other than the conveyances hereinabove in this division specified and other than leases (including, without…

All loans of personal property, not in writing, vest an absolute estate in the person in possession under such loan, as to purchasers and creditors of such person, after three years from the commencement of such loan, unless within that time the lender commences a civil action, i…

All conveyances of personal property in favor of minor children, except by will, where the custody, control, and visible possession thereof is suffered to remain by the donor with the father or mother of such children, vest an absolute estate in such father or mother so in posses…

Parol gifts of personal property are inoperative until the custody, control, management, and use of the property passes from the donor to the donee and is possessed by such donee or his agent; when the donee is a minor living with his parents, or either of them, the possession of…

Such a conditional sales contract, when the execution thereof has been acknowledged or proved before an officer having authority to take and certify the acknowledgment of conveyances and when such contract has been duly recorded, must be received in evidence without other proof o…

The judge of probate of each county in this state shall keep in his office as a public record a suitable book, to be called a lis pendens record. (Acts 1915, No. 77, p. 122; Code 1923, §6877; Code 1940, T. 47, §65.)

(a) When any civil action or proceeding shall be brought in any court to enforce any lien upon, right to or interest in, or to recover any land, or where an application has been made to the probate judge of any county for an order of condemnation of land, or any interest therein,…

When a sheriff, constable, United States marshal, or other officer shall levy upon land by virtue of any process, he shall file with the judge of probate of each county where the land or any party thereof is situated a notice of the levy, showing the names of the parties to the p…

Any notice filed with the judge of probate under this article shall be recorded in such record in full, and the original of such notice shall bear the indorsement of the time of filing for record and the book and page wherein such notice is recorded. (Acts 1915, No. 77, p. 122; C…

The judge of probate, upon filing and recording each notice, shall index the same, both directly and indirectly, under the name of each party to the proceeding. (Acts 1915, No. 77, p. 122; Code 1923, §6880; Code 1940, T. 47, §68.)

If the notice required by Sections 35-4-131 and 35-4-132 shall not be entered in the lis pendens record, the action, proceeding, or application shall not affect the rights of a bona fide purchaser, lessee, or mortgagee of any interest in such land or any person then or thereafter…

Where the action, proceeding, or levy, notice of which has been entered in the lis pendens record, shall be terminated, whether on the merits or not, the court wherein the same was pending may direct the judge of probate who has custody of the record to make such entry thereof as…

When any lis pendens in an action or proceeding to enforce a lien has been filed and recorded in the office of the judge of probate, as prescribed in Sections 35-4-131 and 35-4-132, the person owning or claiming the land described in the lis pendens may at any time, before a judg…

The judge of probate, for the services required of him, shall receive a fee of $.15 for each 100 words for recording such notice, which fee shall be paid by the person filing the same. (Acts 1915, No. 77, p. 122; Code 1923, §6885; Code 1940, T. 47, §73.)

If any judge of probate shall fail to perform any of the duties required of him by this article, he shall be liable on his official bond to any party injured for all damages he may sustain; and, if any sheriff, constable, marshal, or other officer shall fail to file the notice pr…

Any person claiming title to land directly or remotely from the grantee in a deed, mortgage, or other conveyance containing an erroneous description, may maintain a civil action in a circuit court for the reformation of such deed, mortgage, or other conveyance and shall be entitl…

In order to authorize a person claiming title under the grantee in a deed, mortgage, or other conveyance containing an erroneous description to maintain a civil action for the reformation of the same, it shall not be necessary that there shall be any error in description in all t…

The grantors in any number of conveyances in the chain of title of the complainant may be made parties defendant to the civil action for the reformation of the description in any one or more of such conveyances, and the joining of the grantors in several conveyances in the chain …

When, through fraud, or a mutual mistake of the parties, or a mistake of one party which the other at the time knew or suspected, a deed, mortgage, or other conveyance does not truly express the intention of the parties, it may be revised by a court on the application of the part…

No estate or interest of any person can be defeated, discontinued, or extinguished by the act of any third person having a possessory or ulterior interest, except in the cases especially provided by this Code. (Code 1852, §1305; Code 1867, §1575; Code 1876, §2184; Code 1886, §183…

The tenant for life in personalty cannot remove it beyond the jurisdiction of this state without the consent of the remainderman. If he attempts to do so, the remainderman or reversioner is entitled to the writ of ne exeat to restrain him. (Code 1907, §3407; Code 1923, §6911; Cod…

Excepting in cases where the dower interest of the widow of a decedent is sold during process of administration of such decedent’s estate, in all cases where lands are sold for division among joint owners or tenants in common and where lands are taken under the power of eminent d…

(a) The application referred to in Section 35-4-190 shall set out the names and places of residence of all the persons interested in the funds in which such dower or life interest exists, stating which, if any, are infants or persons of unsound mind. If any of the parties or thei…

Any party feeling aggrieved by the finding of the court may invoke an appeal therefrom to the Supreme Court or the Court of Civil Appeals within 30 days from the date of such order or judgment by giving security for costs to be approved in the same manner as now provided for in a…

As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning: (1) ESTATE IN REMAINDER. One limited to be enjoyed after another estate is determined or at a time specifi…

Remainders are either vested or contingent. A vested remainder is one limited to a certain person at a certain time or upon the happening of a necessary event. A contingent remainder is one limited to an uncertain person or upon an event which may or may not happen. (Code 1907, §…

No estate in lands can be created by way of contingent remainder; but every estate created by any will or conveyance, which might have taken effect as a contingent remainder, has the same properties and effect as an executory devise. (Code 1852, §1301; Code 1867, §1571; Code 1876…

Where a remainder in real or personal property is limited to take effect on the death of any person without heirs, or heirs of his body, or without issue, the word “heirs” or “issue” must be construed to mean heirs or issue living at the death of the person named as ancestor. (Co…

Where a remainder created by a deed or will is limited to the heirs, issue, or heirs of the body of a person to whom a life estate in the same property is given, the persons who, on the termination of the life estate, are the heirs, issue, or heirs of the body of such tenant for …

An estate during the life of a third person, whether limited to his heirs or otherwise, is a freehold only during the life of the grantee or devisee; but after his death it is a chattel real. (Code 1852, §1594; Code 1867, §1915; Code 1876, §2279; Code 1886, §1950; Code 1896, §424…

A conveyance made by a tenant for life or years, purporting to convey a greater interest than he possesses or can lawfully convey, does not work a forfeiture of his estate but passes to the grantee all the estate which the tenant could lawfully convey. (Code 1852, §1317; Code 186…

No use, trust, or confidence can be declared of any land, or of any charge upon the same, for the mere benefit of third persons; and all assurances declaring any such use, trust, or confidence must be held and taken to vest the legal estate in the person or persons for whom the s…

When a trust is created or declared by any such instrument in writing, the recording thereof in the county where the lands lie is equivalent to actual notice to every person claiming under a conveyance made or lien created after such recording. (Code 1852, §1322; Code 1867, §1592…