Deed Delivery

RPL § 244 – When does Title to Property actually transfer from Grantor to Grantee?
Today we wanted to focus your attention on the importance of promptly recording your Clients’ Deed to ensure that the Fee Title to their property is unequivocally transferred as they intended. We start by looking at NY RPL § 244 which states that “[A] grant takes effect, so as to vest the estate or interest intended to be conveyed, only from its delivery; and all the rules of law, now in force, in respect to the delivery of deeds, apply to grants hereafter executed.”

At a typical Real Estate closing, the Seller would execute the Deed at the Closing table and “deliver” or tender the document to the Purchaser by way of giving it to the Purchaser’s Attorney or Title Company with the express intention of transferring Title to the Purchaser. Once the parties confirm that all of the Contractual obligations have been satisfied, the transfer of Title is deemed complete; effective as of the Closing Date by virtue of the “delivery” of the Deed. As is customary, the Deed would then be submitted for recording by the Purchaser’s Attorney or Title Company to the applicable City Register or County Clerk, as the case may be, to memorialize the transfer of Title and made part of the Public Record.
Simple, Straightforward.

But what happens when a Grantor executes a Deed and, either the delivery or recording is not completed in such a timely manner or, worse yet, what if the Grantor dies during the intervening time period between an alleged Deed conveyance and the recording of the Deed? As we have seen in the last few years, Counties can take upwards of months to record documents. The answer to those questions may depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the delay in completing the delivery and the ability of the party in actual possession Deed to explain why the Deed was not delivered or recorded. This becomes significantly more concerning when the transfer is made for no consideration. Below are a few examples of situations where issues surrounding the delivery of a Deed were questioned, and, in certain cases, where Title to the property was deemed not to have been transferred due to the specific facts surrounding the failure to timely deliver or record the Deed.

1. Where decedent conveyed real property to his sister, which deed was unrecorded, and decedent continued in possession of the property after placing the deed in a safe deposit box held by the two parties as joint tenants, continued to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance and improvements to the property, such continuous joint custody of the deed in the safe deposit box until his death was inconsistent with the claim of a complete delivery and joint possession in the donor and done created no gift.https://casetext.com/case/matter-of-kennedy-13

2. Where the owner signs, seals and acknowledges a deed and places it in the hands of a third party to deliver to the grantee after the owner’s death, or to return the same to her at any time she may so desire, a delivery thereof by the depositor to the grantee after the death of the grantor is ineffectual to pass a title to the lands therein described.https://casetext.com/case/burnham-v-burnham-4

3. Party’s possession of deed creates presumption that deceased grantor delivered deed to him before grantor’s death.https://casetext.com/case/sofsky-v-rosenberg-1

4. Physical delivery of a deed by the grantor to his attorney, accompanied by directions to deliver it to grantee on death of grantor, and its subsequent delivery after grantor’s death pursuant to such directions, adequately satisfy the requirements of this section and the deed, so delivered, is valid and effective.https://casetext.com/case/hered-v-nemethy

The above scenarios certainly are not the norm, but they do serve to highlight the importance of completing delivery of Title pursuant to NY RPL §244 and timely recording the transfer package so that your Clients will have the peace of mind that Title to their property has been transferred as intended.