Quiet Title - Make Sure That Property is Yours

You are excited to inherit the hunting camp your grandfather bought so many years ago. It has been passed down in your family for the past two generations, and now it's your turn to take care of the land. Your family looks to you as their patriarch to keep this land in the family. Your father passed the land to you using a quitclaim deed. He was the grantor in the situation, making you the grantee. When your father put the paperwork through he "quit" his claim to the land and passed it on to you. Following tradition, you went along with the quitclaim deed until you had a talk with your lawyer the following week.

Your lawyer was pretty savvy with the deed, he tipped you off right away that the quitclaim deed does not have title covenant. Without title covenant, the transfer of property occurred without the warranty of the claim status of the property. If your father, the grantor, was not `aware of competing claims against his property, then the transfer could prove invalid, because the grantor can only give away what is truly his in title at the exact time of transfer. If the title to the land were challenged after this transfer occurred, the grantee would have little to no legal recourse in recovering the property. Your lawyer couldn't believe that your family was not passing the title down through processes like grant deeds or warranty deeds, which protect the grantor and grantee from encumbrances by third parties. Instead, your family insists on treating the personal property as a business entity. The only time your lawyer advises using quitclaim deeds is in circumstances surrounding divorce, typically one spouse will use a quitclaim deed to revoke claim on the shared marital home.

Unfortunately, it's too late to restart the process using a grant deed or a warranty deed, so you and your lawyer have to investigate the property properly on paper to make sure no third lending parties or institutions such as banks have any outstanding liens or encumbrances invested. The best legal mechanism in your arsenal to rid yourself of these worries would be to hire a title company to investigate the property thoroughly. If any other parties have a minor interest in the property, you must weigh your rights against theirs to establish that you have the major interest in keeping the hunting camp in your family. You must "quiet" all other claims.

The best offense to have when taking on other institutions that have invested in your property at some point is an amazing defense built on research and paperwork. Your lawyer is well versed in local property disputes, he is aware that ordinances and statues in the surrounding area are on your side in this case. Your lawyer will gain a decree from the local court. You must gather all the proof you can that you and your family have occupied the land in question for the past sixty years or so, any documents or photos could come in handy when building a case. It is important that you prove that your claim to the property is the most legitimate.