GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 396

Short Title:  Punctuation on Reg. Instruments.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representatives Redwine; Hill and Nichols.
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Referred to:  Judiciary II.
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March 8 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CLARIFY THE REQUIREMENT THAT A REGISTER OF DEEDS STATE THE NAME OF ALL PARTIES TO A REGISTERED INSTRUMENT.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 161-22(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The register of deeds shall provide and keep in her or his office alphabetical indexes of the names of the parties to all liens, grants, deeds, mortgages, bonds, and other instruments required or authorized to be registered, and such indexes shall state the names of all parties. For purposes of this section, a 'party' to an instrument means any person transferring an interest in real or personal property, any person to whom an interest in real or personal property is transferred, any person upon whom a legal duty or obligation is imposed, or any person required by some other statute to be indexed.  For purposes of this section, the name of a party may exclude punctuation such as commas, hyphens, dashes, slashes, apostrophes, and periods that may appear in the name.  If the register of deeds chooses to exclude such punctuation in the indexes, this exclusion shall be consistent for each party and shall be posted pursuant to G.S. 161-22(g).  The name of a party may also include abbreviations, which shall be consistent for each party and shall be posted pursuant to G.S. 161-22(g).  Corporate, partnership, or firm names beginning with the word 'the' may be indexed with the word 'the' placed at the end of the name or omitted entirely.  Reference shall be made, opposite each name, to the book and page or other location where the instrument is registered. All instruments shall be indexed on either the temporary or permanent index within 24 hours of registration.  The register of deeds shall not be required to index an instrument that is part of a document containing multiple instruments, as defined in G.S. 161-10(a)(1), unless the title of that instrument is shown on the first page of the document and the additional registration fee is paid as required by G.S. 161-10(a)(1)."
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.  Entries made pursuant to the requirements of G.S. 161-22(a) prior to the effective date of this act that exclude punctuation such as commas, hyphens, dashes, slashes, apostrophes, and periods in the full names of parties are hereby validated.