Title 47, Property

Any instrument affecting the title to or possession of real property may be recorded as provided in this chapter.

The following instruments may be recorded without acknowledgment or further proof: 1. An instrument issued by an agency, bureau, department, or the judiciary of the United States, this state or a political subdivision of this state, or an Indian tribe recognized by the United Sta…

Before an instrument can be recorded, unless it belongs to a class provided for in section 47-19-02 or 47-19-40, its execution must be established: 1. If executed by an individual, by acknowledgment by the person executing the same; 2. If executed by a corporation or limited liab…

1. The recorder may not record a deed or contract for deed containing a metes and bounds legal description which affects the title to or possession of real property that otherwise may be recorded under this chapter unless the name and address of the individual who drafted the leg…

Transfers of or liens on property by way of mortgage are required to be recorded in the cases specified in title 35.

No deed in which real estate is described shall be received for record by any recorder in this state if the post-office address, and any known or existing street address if within the corporate boundaries of a city, of each grantee named in such deed is not shown. Failure to have…

In all cases of joint tenancy in lands, and in all cases where an estate, title, or interest in, or lien upon, lands has been or may be created, which estate, title, interest, or lien was or is to continue only during the life of any person named or described in the instrument by…

An instrument entitled to be recorded must be recorded by the recorder of the county in which the real property affected thereby is situated. The recorder in each case must endorse the amount of the fee for the recording on the instrument recorded.

An instrument is deemed to be recorded when, whether entitled to record or not, it is deposited with the proper officer for record, if such instrument is subsequently recorded.

Any unorganized county of the state, for the purpose of filing and recording all deeds, mortgages, and other instruments, shall be attached to and made a part of the county to which it is attached for judicial purposes as long as such county remains unorganized.

Grants, absolute in terms, are to be recorded in one set of records and mortgages in another.

Wherever in the record of title to real estate, there appears in the chain of title any variation in the spelling of the name of any person appearing in such chain of title, in any instrument affecting the title to the real estate, or where any grantor, mortgagor, vendor, lessor,…

The affidavit provided for in section 47-19-11, duly verified according to law and containing a description of the land to which it relates, may be recorded in the office of the recorder of any county in this state, and such affidavit, when so recorded, shall be prima facie evide…

The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made at any place within this state before a judge, or the clerk, of the supreme court, or a notary public.

The proof or acknowledgment of an instrument may be made in this state within the judicial district, county, subdivision, or city for which the officer was elected or appointed, before: 1. A judge or clerk of a court of record; 2. A mayor of a city; 3. A recorder; 4. A United Sta…

When any officer mentioned in section 47-19-14 is authorized by law to appoint a deputy, the acknowledgment or proof may be taken by such deputy in the name of the principal as deputy, or by such deputy as deputy.

The record of any instrument shall be notice of the contents of the instrument, as it appears of record, as to all persons.

The acknowledgment of an instrument must not be taken unless the officer taking it knows or has satisfactory evidence on the oath or affirmation of a credible witness that the person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described in and who executed the instrument, …

Proof of the execution of an instrument when not acknowledged may be made: 1. By the party executing it; 2. By a subscribing witness; or 3. By other witnesses in cases mentioned in sections 47-19-23 and 47-19-24.

If proof of the execution of an instrument is made by a subscribing witness, such witness must be known personally to the officer taking the proof to be the person whose name is subscribed to the instrument as a witness or must be proved to be such by the oath of a credible witne…

The execution of an instrument may be established by proof of the handwriting of the party and of a subscribing witness, if there is one, in the following cases: 1. When the parties and all the subscribing witnesses are dead; 2. When the parties and all the subscribing witnesses …

The evidence taken under section 47-19-23 must prove to the officer satisfactorily the following facts: 1. The existence of one or more of the conditions mentioned therein; 2. That the witness testifying knew the person whose name purports to be subscribed to the instrument as a …

An officer taking proof of the execution of an instrument must set forth in the officer's certificate, endorsed thereon or attached thereto: 1. All the matters required by law to be done or known by the officer; 2. All the matters required by law to be proved before the officer o…

An officer taking an acknowledgment of an instrument within this state must endorse on, or attach to, the instrument a certificate substantially in the forms prescribed in sections 47-19-27, 47-19-28, 47-19-29, and 47-19-30 or in subsections 1 and 2 of section 44-06.1-19.

A certificate of acknowledgment, unless otherwise provided in this chapter, must be in substantially the following form: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ) County of ___________ ) On this _____ day of __________, in the year _________ before me personally appeared _____________, known to me…

The certificate of acknowledgment of an instrument executed by a corporation must be substantially in the following form: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ) County of ___________ ) On this ______ day of __________, in the year _________ before me (here insert the name and quality of the off…

The certificate of acknowledgment of an instrument executed by a limited liability company must be substantially in the following form: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ) County of ___________ ) On this ______ day of __________, in the year _________ before me (here insert the name and qual…

The certificate of acknowledgment by an attorney in fact must be substantially in the following form: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ) County of ___________ ) On this _____ day of _____________, in the year _________ before me (here insert the name and quality of the officer), personally …

All acknowledgments of deeds or other instruments in writing made by any deputy sheriff of this state shall be made substantially in the following form: STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ) County of ___________ ) On this _____ day of __________, in the year ______ before me, a ________, in a…

An officer taking and certifying an acknowledgment or proof of an instrument for record must authenticate the officer's certificate by affixing thereto: 1. The officer's signature followed by the name of the officer's office; and 2. The officer's seal of office, if by the laws of…

An individual authorized by law to take or receive the proof or acknowledgment of the execution of an instrument or affidavit and to certify to the same may not take or receive the proof, acknowledgment, or affidavit or certify to the same if that individual is a party to the ins…

No provision in any of the laws of this state, relating to the proof and acknowledgment of instruments and the taking of affidavits, shall be construed to invalidate or affect the proof or acknowledgment, affidavit, or the certificate thereof, of any instrument to which a corpora…

All officers and persons, authorized by law to take the proof or acknowledgment of an instrument or affidavit and to certify thereto, may take such proof or acknowledgment and certify to the same in any case not prohibited by this chapter.

Officers authorized to take the proof of instruments are authorized in such proceedings: 1. To administer oaths or affirmations; 2. To employ and swear interpreters; and 3. To issue subpoenas, obedience to which may be enforced as provided by title 28.

When the acknowledgment or proof of execution of an instrument is made properly but is defectively certified, any party interested may institute an action in the district court to obtain a judgment correcting the certificate.

Any person interested under an instrument entitled to be proved for record may institute an action in the district court against the proper parties to obtain a judgment proving such instrument.

A certified copy of the judgment in a proceeding instituted under sections 47-19-38 and 47-19-39 showing the proof of the instrument and attached thereto entitles the instrument to record with like effect as if acknowledged.

An unrecorded conveyance of real estate is void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, of the same real estate or any part of the same real estate, regardless of whether recorded in the form of a warranty deed or deed of quitclaim and…

The term "conveyance" as used in section 47-19-41 shall include every instrument in writing by which any estate or interest in real property is created, aliened, mortgaged, or encumbered, or by which the title to any real property may be affected, except a will or power of attorn…

A conveyance is not void or voidable solely because the grantee in the conveyance is a trust, rather than the trustee of the trust, or is an estate, rather than the personal representative of the estate, if the identity of the grantee is reasonably ascertainable from the conveyan…

The word "purchaser" as used in section 47-19-41 shall include every person to whom any estate or interest in real estate is conveyed for a valuable consideration, and also every assignee of a mortgage, lease, or other conditional estate.

No instrument containing a power to convey or execute instruments affecting real property, which has been recorded, is revoked by any act of the party by whom it was executed, unless the instrument containing such revocation also is acknowledged or proved, certified, and recorded…

The depositing with the proper officer for record of any instrument shall be constructive notice of the execution of such instrument to all purchasers and encumbrancers subsequent to such depositing, if such instrument is subsequently recorded. All instruments entitled to record,…

An unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof. Knowledge of the record of an instrument out of the chain of title does not constitute such notice, provided, however, that the record of a mortgage, deed, or other conveyance prio…

Any owner of a farm in the state may have the name of the person's farm, together with a description of the person's land to which said name applies, recorded in a register kept for that purpose in the office of the recorder of the county in which said farm is located. The record…

When any owner of a farm, the name of which has been recorded as provided in section 47-19-47, the owner's heirs, executors, or administrators, transfers by deed or otherwise, the whole of such farm, such transfer may include the registered name thereof. If it is desired to trans…

Whenever any owner of a registered farm, or the owner's heirs, executors, or administrators, desires to cancel the registered name thereof, it shall be accomplished in the same manner as is provided for cancellation of real estate mortgages.

A bill of sale or other instrument transferring the title to personal property shall be entitled to be filed in the office of the recorder of the county where the property, or any part thereof, covered by such instrument is at the time situated when: 1. The instrument is signed b…

The filing of a bill of sale or other instrument which transfers the title to personal property shall operate as notice thereof to all subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers of so much of said property as is situated, at the time of such filing, in the county wherein such instru…

The recorder shall cancel and discharge, upon the records in the recorder's office, any bill of sale, upon the filing of a release executed by both parties to the instrument.