An Act To Specify Information Required in a Divorce Decree
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0736
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: NORBERT, PENDLETON, MILLS, SIMPSON, TARDY
Amends: 19-A MRSA §953

Legislative Document 
No. 736 
H.P.542 
House of Representatives, February 14,2003 
An Act To Specify Information Required in a Divorce Decree 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative NORBERT of Portland. 
Cosponsored by Senator PENDLETON of Cumberland and 
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MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: MILLS of Farmington, SIMPSON of Auburn, TARDY of Newport . 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 19-A MRSA §953~ sub-§7, 
Pt. 
B, 
§2 
and affected by Pt. 
following enacted in its place: 
as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, 
E, 
§2, 
is repealed 
and 
the 
7. 
Decree or abstract as deed. 
All rights acquired under 
former Title 19, section 721 or 723 on or before December 31, 
1971 and all rights acquired under this section by a party in the 
real estate of the other party Cl,J'e effective against a perso:q 
when the decree of divorce or an abstract of the decree is filed 
in the registry of deeds for the county or registry district 
where the real estate is situated. The decree or abstract, at a 
minimum, must contain: 
A. 
The caption of the case, including the names of the 
parties, and any change s to the parties' names after the 
decree; 
B. 
The date the judgment is final and the court that issued 
the decree; 
C. 
An adequate description of the real estate, such as by 
reference to the volume and page number of an instrument 
recorded in the registry of deeds or 
the probate court 
record, or an adequate description by metes and bounds or by 
reference to the volume and page number of the registry of 
deeds' records of a survey plan of the property; 
D. 
Any provision of the decree intended by the court to 
constitute an encumbrance against real estate, including any 
conditions pertaining to the encumbrance, in the verbatim 
language 
used by 
the 
court. 
If the abstract does 
not 
contain 
the 
prov1S1on 
required 
by 
this 
paragraph, 
an 
encumbrance may not be considered effective against a 3rd 
party unless the encumbrance has been memorialized in a 
separate, duly recorded instrument; and 
E. 
A clear statement of the ownership interest of the 
parties in the real estate intended by the court to result 
from that decree. 
An inconsequential failure to provide all the details requirec1 
pursuant to paragraphs A to E does not create an invalid abstract 
for purposes of this section. 
The failure of a party to record the decree or an abstract of the 
decree within 
a 
time period prescribed by 
former Title 19, 
section 725 does not affect the rights of that party as against 
the other party or the other party's heirs or devisees. 
The 
Page l-LR1161(1) 
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recording of the decree or abstract of the decree has the force 
and effect of a quitclaim deed releasing all interest in the real 
estate described in the decree or abstract of the decree, whether 
the interest is in fee or by statute. 
SUMMARY 
This bill clarifies that a decree of divorce or an abstract 
of a decree for divorce involving rights to real property must be 
filed in the registry of deeds for the county or the district 
where the real property is located for the decree to have any 
effect. 
This bill also expands the information that is required 
to be contained in the abstract or decree .