Trolling through the morass of documents involved in a "simple" transfer these days is like walking through a mine field with blinders on.  So when your transaction is not so "cookie cutter" why would you file a "cookie cutter" deed?  And why, when asked to do a simple confirmatory Deed would you put your arrogance in front of your good sense and absolutely refuse to help a fellow title agent?

The case at hand involves a transaction in which there are THREE (3) OPEN MORTGAGES/DEEDS OF TRUST on the property, one of which gave rise to a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure.  The Deed of record from record owners back to bank is a simple Special Warranty Deed that makes no reference at all to the fact that the bank took the property back in lieu of foreclosure, it does not make reference to which of the three open mortgages/deeds of trust the bank held except for a vague reference as to the actual consideration paid, which consideration "sorta" matched on the original loan amounts shown on the open security instruments.

A call to the title agent who prepared and filed the Deed in Lieu on behalf of the bank netted absolutely no help at all.  When I asked the title agent to prepare a confirmatory deed that at least referred to which of the 3 open security instruments the bank held I was told that the deed of record was perfectly sufficient to effectuate the transfer of the property and that a confirmatory deed would not be necessary.  Now, I never said it was not sufficient to effectuate the transfer, I simply said that it was too vague for those of us who are not mind readers to try to figure out. 

After some back and forth between myself and the actual seller (the Bank) I determined which instrument gave rise to the deed in lieu and which instruments I need to get releases for.    I was able to have the deed from Bank to my purchaser prepared in such a way as to clarify how the bank came to be in title, etc.specifically referring to the Deed of Trust that had been defaulted upon     Now at least when the next abstractor/title agent has to review the chain of title there will be a recorded document that actually explains the back title. 

Has everyone suddenly decided that their's is the last deed that will ever be needed to be recorded for that particular property and that no clarity is necessary?   I ask because this was one of two files on my desk last week that required clarity and clean up to correct/clarify the chain in order for others to be able to make sense of it in the future.

I'm sure that over the years I have probably filed a deed or two that was drafted in a less than stellar way, but you can be sure that if anyone were to call me to ask for help with clarification I would not respond by suggesting that they were being nit-picky, nor would I absolutely refuse to assist. 

Well, in the instant cases the sellers ended paying a fee for title clearance and document preparation which could have been avoided had their title agent simply agreed to assist.  Both balked initially until I explained the issues and then both were more than willing to pay the fee. 

Try to remember that others are/will be relying upon your work product in the future.  Let's not make it harder and more expensive for everyone by insisting on taking the easy way out.  Sometimes form deeds just don't work.