§ 16-53. Recorded signed documents - Rebuttable presumptions.

EVIDENTIARY EFFECT OF RECORDED DOCUMENT

A.  A recorded signed document relating to title to real estate creates a rebuttable presumption with respect to the title that:

1.  The document is genuine and was executed as the voluntary act of the person purporting to execute it;

2.  The person executing the document and the person on whose behalf it is executed are the persons they are purported to be and the person executing it was neither incompetent nor a minor at any relevant time;

3.  Delivery occurred notwithstanding a lapse of time between dates on the document and the date of recording;

4.  Any necessary consideration was given;

5.  The grantee, transferee, or beneficiary of an interest created or claimed by the document acted in good faith at all relevant times up to and including the time of the recording;

6.  A person purporting to act as an attorney-in-fact pursuant to a recorded power of attorney held the position he purported to hold and acted within the scope of his authority.  It shall also be presumed that the principal was alive and was neither incompetent nor a minor at any relevant time;

7.  A person purporting to act as:

a.one of the officers listed in Section 93 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma Statutes on behalf of a corporation,

b.a partner of a general partnership,

c.a general partner of a limited partnership,

d.a manager of a limited liability company,

e.a trustee of a trust,

f.any officer or member of the board of trustees of a religious corporation,

g.a court-appointed trustee, receiver, personal representative, guardian, conservator, or other fiduciary, or

h.an officer or member of any other entity,

held the position he purported to hold, acted within the scope of his authority (unless limitations of authority were previously filed of record and indexed against the property in question), and the authorization satisfied all requirements of law;

8.  All entities that are parties to the document are in good standing in their jurisdiction of organization;

9.  If the document purports to be executed pursuant to or to be a final determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or to be executed pursuant to a power of eminent domain, the court, official body, or condemnor was acting within its jurisdiction and all steps required for the execution of the title document were taken;

10.  Recitals and other statements of fact in a conveyance are true if the matter stated was relevant to the purpose of the document;

11.  Persons named in, signing, or acknowledging the document and persons named in, signing, or acknowledging another related document in a chain of title are identical, if the persons appear in those conveyances under identical names, or under variants thereof, including inclusion, exclusion, or use of:

a.commonly recognized abbreviations, contractions, initials, or colloquial or other equivalents,

b.first or middle names or initials,

c.simple transpositions that produce substantially similar pronunciations,

d.articles or prepositions in names or titles,

e.descriptions of entities as corporations, companies or abbreviations or contractions of either, or

f.name suffixes, such as Senior or Junior, unless other information appears of record indicating that they are different persons; and

12.  All other requirements for its execution, delivery, and validity have been satisfied.

B.  The presumptions stated in subsection A of this section arise even if the document purports only to release a claim or convey any right, title, or interest of the person executing it or the person on whose behalf it is executed.

C.  If presumptions created by subsection A of this section are inconsistent, the presumption applies that is founded upon weightier considerations of policy.  If considerations of policy are of equal weight, neither presumption applies.

Added by Laws 1994, c. 238, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.