Opinion ID: 2543820
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Owners of Record

Text: ¶ 19 Owner of record is a legal term that denotes a property owner in whose name the title appears in the public records. Black's Law Dictionary 1131 (7th ed.1999). Under most circumstances, such records are located in the place designated by the applicable recording act. In Utah, for instance, landowners record title to their property in the office of the recorder of the county where the real property is located, Utah Code Ann. § 57-3-101(1) (2000), and this act of recording serves the purpose of impart[ing] notice to all persons of the owner's interest in the property. Id. § 57-3-101. Where state sovereign lands are involved, however, notice by recording with a designated government official is unnecessary because ownership of the property is vested in the state upon entrance into the Union, and the state's designation of those lands in its constitution, statutes, or otherwise therefore becomes the state's public record of its sovereign ownership. [4] As the United States Supreme Court has stated, It is settled law in this country that lands underlying navigable waters within a state belong to the State in its sovereign capacity.... United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49, 54, 46 S.Ct. 197, 70 L.Ed. 465 (1926). Consequently, a party qualifies as an owner of record under section 27-12-102.4 of the Utah Code if (1) the party has recorded title to the land at issue with the county recorder, or if (2) the land at issue is state sovereign land and is designated as such by public record.