Opinion ID: 1922029
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Marketable Record Title Act

Text: The Marketable Record Title Act, G.L.1956 chapter 13.1 of title 34, is a statutory scheme created by the Legislature that purports to extinguish an interest or claim in real estate under certain circumstances. The declared purpose of the act is to facilitate and simplify land title transactions; and as such, the Legislature had declared that the act should be construed liberally to effectuate this purpose. See § 34-13.1-10. The defendants argue that the easement granted to plaintiff's predecessor in title in the deed of June 29, 1953, was extinguished by the operation of law. The defendant's reliance on the Marketable Record Title Act is misplaced however, because plaintiff's right-of-way in Bayberry Lane was established by the trustees in the January 1953 conveyance to Helen P. Barker. By selling lots with reference to the recorded plat, the trustees made an incipient dedication of Bayberry Lane to the owners in the plat. Kotuby, 721 A.2d at 884. Although an easement in the roadway was reserved to the heirs and assigns of Helen P. Barker through the defendants' root deed and, but for the applicability of the act, if any, this easement would pass to her assigns, plaintiff's right-of-way in Bayberry Lane does not depend on the reservation in the deed to the 1953 buyers. We therefore conclude that the Marketable Record Title Act does not apply to the issues before this Court.