An Act To Update the Validation of Miscellaneous Defects and Defective Acknowledgments in the Conveyance of Real Estate
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0776
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: HOBBINS
Amends: 33 MRSA §352, 33 MRSA §353-A

Legislative Document 
No. 776 
H.P. 529 
House of Representatives, March 10, 2015 
An Act To Update the Validation of Miscellaneous Defects and 
Defective Acknowledgments in the Conveyance of Real Estate 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative HOBBINS of Saco. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  33 MRSA §352, first ¶, as amended by PL 2001, c. 275, Pt. B, §1, is 
further amended to read: 
A record of a deed or other instrument, including a power of attorney, made prior to 
January 1, 2000 2013 for the conveyance of real property, or of any interest in the 
property, and recorded in the registry of deeds of the county in which the real property is 
located is valid and enforceable even if: 
Sec. 2.  33 MRSA §353-A, as amended by PL 2001, c. 275, Pt. B, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
§353-A.  Miscellaneous defects 
1.  Omission of consideration; failure to seal.  A deed or other instrument, 
including a power of attorney, made prior to January 1, 2000 2013 for the conveyance of 
real property, or any interest in real property, in this State and otherwise valid, except that 
the deed or instrument does not state any consideration for the real property or was not 
sealed by the grantors, is valid. 
2.  Discharge or assignment of mortgage.  A duly recorded satisfaction piece or 
instrument made prior to January 1, 2000 2013 with the intent to cancel and discharge or 
assign a mortgage of real estate, fully identifying the mortgage intended to be canceled 
and discharged or assigned, but not drawn in accordance with statutory requirements is 
considered valid. 
3.  Corporations organized or attempted to be organized; validation of deeds 
and other instruments.  A corporation organized or attempted to be organized under the 
laws of this State more than 20 years prior to January 1, 2000 2013 and not declared to be 
invalid prior to January 1, 2000 2013 is for all intents and purposes a lawful corporation.  
The deeds or other instruments of the corporation, given in its corporate name, that affect 
or convey real estate or any interest in the real estate and that prior to January 1, 2000 
2013 were recorded in the registry of deeds in the county where the real estate is located 
may not be held invalid by reason of: 
A.    The lack of authority for or informality in their execution or delivery if executed 
or delivered in good faith by the acting officers of the corporation; 
B.  The failure to disclose the corporation's authority for the conveyance of real 
estate; 
C.  The failure to bear the corporate seal; 
D.  A person executing or acknowledging a deed or instrument in that person's 
individual capacity; 
E.  The failure to disclose the official capacity of the person executing the deed or 
instrument; or 
F.  The failure of the duly authorized corporate officer to sign the deed or instrument. 
4.  Omission of authorization for conveyance of real estate.  A deed or other 
instrument for the conveyance of real property, or any interest in the real property 
executed by a person or persons purporting to act as the agent or attorney of the grantors 
or their spouses, that has been recorded in the registry of deeds for the county in which 
the real property is located more than 40 years prior to January 1, 2000 2013 is valid even 
if no power of attorney authorizing and empowering an agent or attorney to make the 
conveyance or execute and deliver the deed or instrument appears of record, but the real 
property has in the meantime been occupied, claimed or treated by the grantees or their 
heirs as their own property. 
5.  Discharge of mortgage.  An instrument written or recorded in the registry of 
deeds more than 40 years prior to January 1, 2000 2013 that is signed or executed by a 
person or persons purporting to act as the agent or attorney of a mortgagee of real estate 
and purporting to discharge the mortgage is valid even if no power of attorney 
authorizing an agent or attorney appears of record. 
6.  Failure to secure bond or comply with licensing.  In all cases in which an 
executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, trustee, master, receiver or similar officer 
has been authorized or ordered by a court of probate or other court to sell or exchange 
real estate and has sold or exchanged the real estate, or any interest in the real estate, in 
accordance with the authority, without first having filed a bond covering the faithful 
administration and distribution of the sale when a bond was required by law or has failed 
to comply with any other prerequisite for the issuance of the license authorizing the sale 
or exchange and has given a deed to the purchaser of the real estate or to the person with 
whom an exchange was authorized or ordered or when the executor, administrator, 
guardian, conservator, trustee, master, receiver or other officer appointed has acted in that 
capacity under a decree of any court appointing that person to the office, but the decree of 
appointment erroneously or inadvertently excused the person from giving bond in that 
capacity when a bond was required by law and was not in fact given, the deeds and acts 
previously done are valid. 
7.  Foreclosure by publication.  In all cases of foreclosure of real estate mortgages 
by publication, a certificate of the publication of foreclosure made by the mortgagee or by 
an officer of the mortgagee, if the mortgagee is a corporation, or made by an officer or 
employee of the newspaper that published the notice recorded on or before January 1, 
2000 2013 is prima facie evidence of the publication of foreclosure to the same extent as 
if the certificate had in fact been made by the register of deeds and recorded; certificates 
made by the mortgagee or by an officer of the mortgagee, if the mortgagee is a 
corporation, or made by an officer or employee of the newspaper that published the 
notice recorded on or before January 1, 2000 2013 have the same force and effect as if 
made by the register of deeds and are valid. 
8.  Foreclosure by civil action.  All foreclosures commenced on or after October 1, 
1975 of real estate mortgages executed on or prior to October 1, 1975 using the method 
of foreclosure set forth in Title 14, sections 6321 to 6324 for which the period of 
redemption allowed was not less than one year and that would be valid but for the date of 
execution of the mortgage are valid and effective according to their terms. 
9.  Abstracts of divorce decrees.  An abstract of a divorce decree recorded in any 
registry of deeds prior to March 24, 1987 and otherwise valid that failed to state the 
residence of any party to the divorce action is valid and has the force and effect of a 
quitclaim deed releasing all interest in the real estate described in the decree or abstract. 
SUMMARY 
This bill updates the laws that validate real estate titles despite the presence of certain 
technical defects in related documents to cure defects occurring between January 1, 2000 
and December 31, 2012.