SB 587

Correction instruments

Current law provides a procedure whereby a court may, on satisfactory proof,

make an order correcting the description of real property in a recorded instrument

conveying the property. Current law also provides that correction instruments may

be recorded to make certain specified corrections to recorded plats or certified survey

maps. Although correcting an error in a previously recorded instrument conveying

real property by recording an affidavit making the correction but without court

action has been a common practice for many years, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals

determined in

Smiljanic v. Niedermeyer

, 2007 WI App 182, 737 N.W.2d 436, that

there is no statutory authority under current law for this method of correction.

This bill provides that an instrument (correction instrument) correcting

previously recorded instruments conveying real property may be executed,

generally, by a person with personal knowledge of the facts stated in the instrument

and recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the previously

recorded instrument is recorded. A correction instrument may correct a legal

description; add to, correct, or clarify other information, such as names, dates, and

marital status; add an acknowledgment or authentication; or add the consent or

subordination of a mortgagee. The bill specifies what information a correction

instrument must include and provides that the record of the correction instrument

is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in the correction instrument; is presumed

to be true, subject to rebuttal; and constitutes record notice affecting the property's

chain of title to any purchaser of the property. The bill also validates correction

instruments that were recorded before the effective date of the bill.

Lis pendens

Current law provides that any person who applies to a court or municipal

governing body for laying out, widening, vacating, or extending a street, alley, or

other specified public place must file a notice of pendency of the application and that

failure to comply renders all proceedings based on the application void. The bill

instead requires the person making the application to submit a lis pendens to the

register of deeds for filing or recording and removes the provision that failure to

comply renders all proceedings based on the application void.

Current law provides that any final order or resolution based on the application

has no effect and is not notice unless a certified copy of the order or resolution

contains a full and accurate description of the property and is recorded in the office

of the register of deeds. The bill provides that the final order must instead contain

a legal description of the property and is not notice unless it is recorded in the office

of the register of deeds. The bill also removes a provision in current law that a

resolution or order that affects land but for which no application was made has no