Bill > S745

This bill, titled the Landowner's Title Protection Act, aims to simplify and clarify land ownership by establishing a system where landowners with an unbroken chain of title for a specified period are considered to have clear and marketable title to their property, subject to certain exceptions. The "sufficiency period" for this clear title is generally 50 years, but can be extended to 75 years if there have been no title transactions within the preceding 50 years, excluding inheritances or probate court decrees. The bill defines key terms like "decree" (court orders affecting land), "deed" (any instrument transferring ownership, with some exceptions), "land" (unregistered property and its improvements), "origin of title" (the most recent transaction that established ownership before the sufficiency period), and "recorded" (filed in the appropriate registry). While this act generally makes older, unrecorded claims void, it preserves certain interests, including those created by recent transactions, specific prior encumbrances clearly referenced in later documents, easements for private ways, rights of way for public utilities, government interests, rights from adverse possession, conservation restrictions, and interests related to environmental cleanup liens. The bill also includes a provision to extend certain existing sufficiency periods to January 1, 2017, and it takes effect on January 1, 2016, applying to all instruments regardless of when they were executed.