Bulletin: CA000020

Dear Associates:

Witness acknowledgments have long been a source of claims and losses in the title insurance industry. By their very nature, they invite fraud and forgery. If you are not already aware, please be advised that the California legislature has done a favor for the entire title and escrow industry by enacting a change in Government Code 27287 to be effective January 1, 1995. The change extends the existing prohibition against using witness acknowledgments on deeds of trust and mortgages to include grant deeds other than trustee's deed and deed of reconveyance.

The language of the statute is unclear. It clearly prohibits using witness acknowledgment on grant deed and then proceeds to exclude reconveyance and trustee's deeds from the category of grant deeds. Trustee's deeds are not true grant deeds in the first place because they re made without warranty, express or implied. Likewise, most deeds of reconveyance do not contain the word ?grant? to trigger the statutory warranties implied through Civil Code Section 1113. If these are not grant deeds why are they excluded from the operation of this law? This raises the questions whether the legislature intended to include quitclaim, interspousal transfer, administrator's or other deeds in the prohibition. A request is currently pending in the CLTA Legislative Committee to sponsor legislation amending the statute by clarifying the language.