CHAPTER 4. NOTICE OF CLAIM
IC 32-20-4
Chapter 4. Notice of Claim
IC 32-20-4-1
Notice of claim; filing
Sec. 1. (a) A person claiming an interest in land may preserve and
keep effective that interest by filing for record during the fifty (50)
year period immediately following the effective date of the root of
title of the person whose record title would otherwise be marketable,
a notice in writing, verified by oath, setting forth the nature of the
claim. A disability or lack of knowledge of any kind on the part of
anyone does not suspend the running of the fifty (50) year period.
Notice may be filed for record by the claimant or by a person acting
on behalf of any claimant who is:
(1) under a disability;
(2) unable to assert a claim on the claimant's behalf; or
(3) one (1) of a class whose identity cannot be established or is
uncertain at the time of filing the notice of claim for record.
(b) If the same record owner of any possessory interest in land has
been in possession of the land continuously for a period of at least
fifty (50) years, during which period:
(1) title transaction with respect to the interest does not appear
of record in the record owner's chain of title;
(2) notice has not been filed by the record owner or on behalf
of the record owner as provided in subsection (a); and
(3) possession continues to the time when marketability is being
determined;
the period of possession is considered equivalent to the filing of the
notice immediately preceding the termination of the fifty (50) year
period described in subsection (a).
(c) If:
(1) a person claims the benefit of an equitable restriction or
servitude that is one (1) of a number of substantially identical
mutual restrictions on the use of tracts in a platted subdivision,
the plat of which is recorded as provided by law; and
(2) the subdivision plan provides for an association,
corporation, committee, or other similar group that is
empowered to determine whether the restrictions are to be
terminated or continued at the expiration of a stated period not
exceeding fifty (50) years, and, by the terms of this provision,
it is determined that:
(A) the restrictions are not to be terminated; or
(B) the restrictions are to be continued because no
determination to terminate has been made;
then the officer or other person authorized to represent the
association, corporation, committee, or other similar group may
preserve and keep in effect all the restrictions by filing a notice as
provided in subsection (a) on behalf of all owners of land in the
subdivision for the benefit of whom the restrictions exist.
As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.5.
IC 32-20-4-2
Notice of claim; contents; indexing by county recorder
Sec. 2. (a) To be effective and to be entitled to be recorded, the
notice referred to in section 1 of this chapter must contain the
following:
(1) An accurate and full description of all land affected by the
notice in specific terms. However, if the claim is founded upon
a recorded instrument, then the description in the notice may be
the same as that contained in the recorded instrument.
(2) The name and address of the claimant.
(3) The name and address of the person preparing the notice if
other than the claimant.
This notice must be filed for record in the office of the recorder of a
county where the land described is situated.
(b) A county recorder shall accept all notices presented to the
recorder that describe land located in the county that the recorder
serves. The recorder shall enter and record full copies of the notice
in the same way that deeds are recorded. Each recorder shall charge
the same fees for recording a notice as are charged for recording
deeds.
(c) Each recorder shall index the notices in the same manner that
deeds are indexed. Until the notice is recorded and correctly indexed,
a notice does not comply with section 1 of this chapter regarding
notice.
As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.5.
IC 32-20-4-3
Notice of claim; effect of failure to file on lease or easement
Sec. 3. (a) Failure to file the notice required under this chapter
does not bar:
(1) a lessor or the lessor's successor as a reversioner of the
lessor's right to possession on the expiration of any lease; or
(2) a lessee or the lessee's successor of the lessee's rights in and
to any lease.
(b) Failure to file the notice required under this chapter does not
bar or extinguish any easement, interest in the nature of an easement,
or any rights appurtenant to an easement granted, excepted, or
reserved by the instrument creating the easement or interest,
including any rights for future use, if the existence of the easement
or interest is evidenced by the location beneath, upon, or above any
part of the land described in the instrument of any pipe, valve, road,
wire, cable, conduit, duct, sewer, track, pole, tower, or other physical
facility and whether or not the existence of the facility is observable.
However, equitable restrictions or servitudes on the use of land are
not considered easements or interests in the nature of easements as
that phrase is used in this section.
As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.5.