Chapter 10 - Marketable Titles
CHAPTER 10 - MARKETABLE TITLES
34-10-101. Definitions.
(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Marketable record title" means a title ofrecord, as indicated in W.S. 34-10-103 which operates to extinguish suchinterests and claims, existing prior to the effective date of the root oftitle, as are stated in W.S. 34-10-105;
(ii) "Records" includes probate and other officialpublic records, as well as records in the office of the county clerk;
(iii) "Recording", when applied to the official recordsof a probate or other court, includes filing;
(iv) "Person dealing with land" includes a purchaserof any estate or interest therein, a mortgagee, a levying or attachingcreditor, a land contract vendee, or any other person seeking to acquire anestate or interest therein, or impose a lien thereon;
(v) "Root of title" means that conveyance or othertitle transaction in the chain of title of a person, purporting to create theinterest claimed by the person, upon which he relies as a basis for themarketability of his title, and which was the most recent to be recorded as ofa date forty (40) years prior to the time when marketability is beingdetermined. The effective date of the "root of title" is the date onwhich it is recorded;
(vi) "Title transaction" means any transactionaffecting title to any interest in land, including title by will or descent,title by tax deed, or by trustee's, referee's, guardian's, executor's,administrator's, master in chancery's, or sheriff's deed, or decree of anycourt, as well as warranty deed, quitclaim deed, deed of trust or mortgage;
(vii) "This act" means W.S. 34-10-101 through34-10-109.
34-10-102. Purpose.
Thisact shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative purpose ofsimplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons torely on a record chain of title as described in W.S. 34-10-103, subject only tosuch limitations as appear in W.S. 34-10-104.
34-10-103. Effect of unbroken chain of title; marketable record title.
Anyperson having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who has an unbrokenchain of title of record to any interest in land for forty (40) years or more,shall be deemed to have a marketable record title to such interest subject onlyto the matters stated in W.S. 34-10-104. A person shall be deemed to have suchan unbroken chain of title when the official public records disclose aconveyance or other title transaction of record not less than forty (40) yearsat the time the marketability is to be determined, which conveyance or othertitle transaction purports to create the interest, either in the personclaiming the interest, or some other person from whom, by one (1) or moreconveyances or other title transactions of record, the purported interest hasbecome vested in the person claiming the interest, so long as nothing appearsof record, in either case, purporting to divest the claimant of his purportedinterest.
34-10-104. Effect of unbroken chain of title; exceptions.
(a) Marketable record title is subject to:
(i) All interests and defects which are inherent in the chainof record title. However, a general reference in the chain, to easements, userestrictions or other interests created prior to the root of title is notsufficient to preserve them, unless specific identification is made therein ofa recorded title transaction which creates the easement, use restriction orother interest;
(ii) All interests preserved by the filing of proper notice orby possession by the same owner continuously for a period of forty (40) yearsor more, in accordance with W.S. 34-10-106;
(iii) The rights of any person arising from prescriptive use orperiod of adverse possession or user which was in whole or in part subsequentto the effective date of the root of title;
(iv) Any interest arising out of a title transaction which hasbeen recorded subsequent to the effective date of the root of title from whichthe unbroken chain of title of record is started. However, the recording doesnot revive or give validity to any interest which has been extinguished priorto the time of the recording by the operation of W.S. 34-10-105;
(v) The exceptions stated in W.S. 34-10-108(a) as to rights ofreversioners in leases, as to apparent easements and interests in the nature ofeasements, as to water rights, as to mineral interests and as to interests ofthe state of Wyoming and of the United States.
34-10-105. Certain interests null and void.
Subjectto matters stated in W.S. 34-10-104, marketable record title shall be held byits owner and shall be taken by any person dealing with the land free and clearof all interests, claims or charges whatsoever, the existence of which dependsupon any act, transaction, event or omission that occurred prior to theeffective date of the root of title. All such interests, claims or charges,however denominated, whether legal or equitable, present or future, whetherasserted by a person sui juris or under a disability, whether such person iswithin or without the state, whether such person is natural, corporate, privateor governmental, are null and void.
34-10-106. Perpetuation of interest.
(a) Any person claiming an interest in land may preserve andkeep effective his interest by filing for record during the forty (40) yearperiod immediately following the effective date of the root of title of theperson whose record title would otherwise be marketable, a notice in writing,duly verified by oath, setting forth the nature of the claim. No disability orlack of knowledge of any kind on the part of anyone shall suspend the runningof the forty (40) year period. Notice may be filed for record by the claimantor by any other person acting on behalf of any claimant who is:
(i) Under a disability;
(ii) Unable to assert a claim on his own behalf; or
(iii) One (1) of a class, but whose identity cannot beestablished or is uncertain at the time of filing the notice of claim forrecord.
(b) If the same record owner of any possessory interest in landhas been in possession of the land continuously for a period of forty (40)years or more, during which period no title transaction with respect to theinterest appears of record in his chain of title, and no notice has been filedby him or on his behalf as provided in subsection (a) of this section, and hispossession continues to the time when marketability is being determined, theperiod of possession is equivalent to the filing of the notice immediatelypreceding the termination of the forty (40) year period described in subsection(a) of this section.
34-10-107. Contents of notice of claim.
Tobe effective and to be entitled to record, the notice of claim shall contain anaccurate and full description of all lands affected by the notice which shallbe set forth in particular terms and not by general inclusions. However, if theclaim is founded upon a recorded instrument, then the description in the noticemay be the same as that contained in the recorded instrument. Notice shall befiled for record in the office of the county clerk of the county or countieswhere the land described is situated. The recorder of each county shall acceptall such notices presented to him which describe land located in the county inwhich he serves and shall enter and record full copies thereof in the same waythat deeds and other instruments are recorded. Each recorder shall charge thesame fees for the recording thereof as are charged for recording deeds. Inindexing the notices in his office each recorder shall enter the notices underthe grantee indexes of deeds under the names of the claimants appearing in thenotices.
34-10-108. Application.
(a) Notwithstanding a failure to file a notice of claim, thisact shall not be applied:
(i) To bar any lessor or his successor as a reversioner of hisright to possession on the expiration of any lease;
(ii) To bar or extinguish the title to any railroad right-of-wayor station grounds or to any easement created or held for any pipeline,highway, railroad or public utility purpose the existence of which is clearlyobservable by physical evidence of its use;
(iii) To bar or extinguish any water rights, whether evidenced bydecrees, or by certificates of appropriation;
(iv) To bar or extinguish any title, estate or interest in andto any timber or any minerals (including without limiting the generality ofthat term, oil, gas and other hydrocarbons) and any development, mining,production or other rights or easements related thereto or exercisable inconnection therewith; or
(v) To bar any right, title or interest of the state of Wyomingand of the United States.
(b) Nothing contained in this act shall be construed to extendthe period for the bringing of an action or for the doing of any other requiredact under any statutes of limitations, nor, except as herein specificallyprovided, to affect the operation of any statutes governing the effect of therecording or the failure to record any instrument affecting land.
(c) If the forty (40) year period specified in this act expiresless than two (2) years after the effective date of this act the period shallbe extended two (2) years after the effective date of this act.
34-10-109. Prohibition against filing notices for purpose of slanderingtitle to land.
Noperson shall use the privilege of filing notices hereunder for the purpose ofslandering the title to land, and in any action brought for the purpose ofquieting title to land, if the court shall find that any person has filed aclaim for that reason only, the court shall award the plaintiff all costs ofsuch action as the court may allow to the plaintiff, and in addition, shalldecree that the defendant asserting such claim shall pay to plaintiff alldamages that plaintiff may have sustained as the result of such notice of claimhaving been so filed for record.