Title Error

In Arizona: After a JTD is recorded, under what circumstances is it legal for the grantee to change the deed without the signature of the grantor? This was done three times, the last recording was after the death of the grantor, and his signature was attached. A local Title company did the recordings, are they liable?

[HomeGuru]

Explain because once a property is deeded from Grantor to Grantee, any subsequent changes would be via a new deed and Grantee would be the new Grantor and the original Grantor would be out of the picture and does not need to sign anything.

As it should be! This is very complicated so hang onto you hat. In 1994 owner A convey to buyer B “Parcel One” which excepted from it a 30 foot piece of land, (they were expecting a Quit-claim from the owner of that piece of land). The JT deed is signed in May 1994 and the Quitclaim to A was signed in June 1994. Also included in the JT Deed is “Parcel Two” an easement granted, also from the other owner, to the new buyers, this being the same land as the Quit-claim and is signed the same day in June. We believe the deed is written to accommodate having either the Quit- claim or easement granted from the other owner, as they were landlocked, but not both. If the Quitclaim is given the Title Agency should record it, remove the exception from “Parcel One” and remove “Parcel Two”, as it is not needed. The Title Agency recorded everything without making any changes. A year later the new buyers were notified by the Assessors office that they did not own the excepted out parcel. They contacted the Title Agency and they re recorded the deed with the exception removed. The problem is the next re recording 4 years later. The buyers getting ready to sell their land hired the same surveyor as the old seller had and he convinced them parcel two (the easement) was incorrect as it contained legal wording at the end of it “excepting any portion lying within Parcel One”. Once again the buyers had the Title Agency re record the deed, removing this exception. The new problem is the surveyor told a neighbor the easement was to benefit them and the fact that the buyers removed the exception has led him to file a lawsuit claiming this easement.

[HomeGuru]

It is difficult to tell exactly who is liable and at what stages.
An attorney needs to be hired to review the chain of title and the deeds.
It apeears that the title company recorded correction deeds but the deeds may not have corrected anything but instead screwed things up.

Thank you HomeGuru for your reply,
We have consulted 3 attorneys, all of which were very confused, we’re on our third one now.
Once again thanks for your response.
Redtrac

[HomeGuru]

On behalf of the 3 attorney's, thanks for the confusion.