I completed a title where the property was held in a family trust. In Massachusetts trusts have to be recorded. I could not find the Trust anywhere in the indices. Nothing under the settlors; the trustees; the name of the Trust. The owners also had many other realty trusts on record. In this particular registry it is not possible to search by property address.
I wrote a lengthy title report detailing the problem and red flagged the title to the client as without the trust there were some major title problems. When the recording package arrived I expected to see a mass of corrective documents; but the only thing that was included was a corrective affidavit from the attorney who did the prior owner's closing noting the book & page of the Trust.
Honestly I nearly had heart failure. This is a big client and I felt like a total dummy- I pulled up the book & page reference provided and there indeed was the Trust. However, the Registry had managed to index it without naming the settlors, trustees or the name of the trust. The only note in the Registry index was the word *document*.
Even if there were index books, which there aren't, I still wouldn't have found it because who would think to look under the word "document".
The debate, then, is whether or not to make the Registry aware of the mistake. In the days of paper indices we would get a certified copy of the index page and then make the Registry aware of the problem. That way there would be a paper trail. On computerized systems- there's no way to do that. Personally, I did not bring this to the Registry's attention; the next examiner down the line will find the attorney's affidavit & find the Trust that way. I do call the Registry when I find a social security number that needs to be redacted; but that's the only thing I will do. So, what do you all think- report it to the Registry or not??
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