Opinion ID: 2296365
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicability of Section 772 of the Short Form Deeds Act

Text: [¶ 11] We review a court's interpretation and application of a statute de novo as a question of law. Blue Yonder, LLC v. State Tax Assessor, 2011 ME 49, ¶ 7, 17 A.3d 667. [¶ 12] Enacted in 1967, the Short Form Deeds Act abolished the common law requirement that technical terms of inheritance must be used in a deed to create an interest of perpetual duration. [6] 33 M.R.S.A. § 772 (Supp.1967 & 1999); see Wentworth v. Sebra, 2003 ME 97, ¶ 8 n. 4, 829 A.2d 520; Stickney v. City of Saco, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 34, 770 A.2d 592. Effective September 18, 1999, this provision was made retroactive to all conveyances and reservations of real estate. See P.L.1999, ch. 69, § 1 (effective Sept. 18, 1999) (codified at 33 M.R.S. § 772(1)). The stated purpose of the 1999 legislation is to clarify[] title to land currently encumbered by ancient deeds that lacked technical words of inheritance or an habendum clause. 33 M.R.S. § 772(5). [¶ 13] Section 772(1) thus provides, in relevant part, that a conveyance of real property, whether made before or after the September 18, 1999, effective date of the statute, must be construed as granting a property interest in fee simple, even if the conveyance fails to contain technical words of inheritance or an habendum clause, unless a different intention clearly appears in the deed. 33 M.R.S. § 772(1). [7] We liberally construe section 772(1), as required by section 772(5), as applying to conveyances that create an easement. See Stickney, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 30 n. 11, 770 A.2d 592 (rejecting a party's argument that section 772(1) is inapplicable to the conveyance of easements). [¶ 14] In accordance with its plain language, section 772(1) applies to the facts of this case, and thus, Wesson Realty cannot prevail based solely on the argument that, because the 1925 deed fails to contain technical words of inheritance in conveying the easement, it created only an easement in gross. [¶ 15] Contrary to Wesson Realty's contention, section 772(2) does not alter this conclusion. Section 772(2) constitutes a savings clause that provides: A person claiming an interest in real estate by reason of the omission of technical words of inheritance or the lack of an habendum clause in a deed that conveyed or reserved a property interest before October 7, 1967 may preserve that claim by commencing a civil action for the recovery of that property in the Superior Court or the District Court in the county or division in which the property is located on or before December 31, 2002. See Wentworth, 2003 ME 97, ¶ 8 n. 5, 829 A.2d 520 (holding in a case nearly factually identical to the present case that section 772(1) did not apply because the defendant, owner of the servient estate, availed herself of the savings clause of 33 M.R.S. § 772(2) by filing a timely counterclaim arguing that the 1917 deed that originally created the right of way over her property did not contain technical words of inheritance); see also 33 M.R.S. § 772(3) (stating that a person may not commence a civil action for the recovery of property as described in § 772(2) after December 31, 2002). [¶ 16] In short, subsections 772(2) and (3) describe the limited circumstances under which a party could have asserted and recovered a property interest on the grounds that a conveyance or reservation of real property failed to contain technical words of inheritance. Those subsections cannot be interpreted to invite Wesson Realty to raise and prevail on an argument based on a lack of technical words of inheritance in the 1925 deed because, prior to December 31, 2002, Wesson Realty did not commence a civil action for the recovery of property or enter that property under a claim of right pursuant to section 772(3).