Senate Bill No. 585
(By Senators Kessler, Chafin and Minard)
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[Introduced February 16, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §38-12-1 and §38-12-8 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to requiring
lienholders to record a release in the county clerk's office
within sixty days after the lien has been satisfied; and
requiring that liens be removed from record upon satisfaction.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §38-12-1 and §38-12-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. RELEASE AND ASSIGNMENT OF LIENS.
§38-12-1. When release of lien required; requisites thereof.
(a) Every person entitled to the benefit of any lien on any
estate, real or personal, or to the money secured thereby, whether
the lien was created by conveyance, judgment, decree, lis pendens,
notice of attachment, deed of trust, contract or otherwise,
shall be is required to furnish and execute an apt and proper written
release
thereof of the lien free of charge to the debtor whose
obligation secured by
such the lien has been fully paid and
satisfied, if the lien is of record in the proper county.
Such The
release shall be executed and furnished to the debtor within thirty
days after the debt has been satisfied.
(b)
Such The release of lien shall be executed by the
lienholder and acknowledged before the clerk of the county
commission in whose office the lien is recorded or before
such
other another person authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds
within sixty days after the lien has been satisfied. Such The
written release
shall be deemed is sufficient if it
describe
describes the lien to be released by any words that
will identify
and show an intent to discharge the
same lien. Releases may also
be made according to the provisions of section two of this article.
§38-12-8. Recordation of release; effect.
When the release has been
so signed and acknowledged, it may
be presented for record to the clerk in whose office the lien
thereby intended to be released is recorded or docketed, and from
and after the time
the same it is
so left for record (which time
the clerk shall indorse thereon)
such the lien shall be discharged,
and extinguished
and removed from the record, unless the lienholder
files an extension, and the estate, of whatever kind, bound or
affected
thereby, shall be deemed to be by the lien is vested in
the former owner or those claiming under him
or her, as if
such the lien had never existed.
Liens that have been satisfied as of July
1, 2005, and have not been removed from the record may be removed
by the county clerk's office and the county tax department.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to:
(1) Require lienholders to record a release in the county
clerk's office within sixty days after the lien has been satisfied;
and
(2) Require that liens be removed from record upon
satisfaction.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.