Deeds of Conveyance

Joby Castine

© 2019

Deeds of Conveyance - Table of Contents

Deeds of Conveyance is a comprehensive survey of the statutory and case law concerning all aspects of transfer of title by deeds in South Carolina. It is a valuable tool and handy reference for any attorney who may be drafting or reviewing deeds. Deeds permeate almost every area of the practice of law. It is not a “boutique” concept limited just to real estate practitioners. Knowledge of how to properly draft and review deeds is even more essential for those who do not practice in the arena of title law on a regular basis; e.g. family law attorneys whose clients own real estate with a spouse; estate planners and tax specialists whose clients own considerable wealth in real property; general practitioners asked to prepare deeds transferring title to real property subject to life estates or restrictive covenants; business transaction attorneys whose corporate clients buy and sell real estate assets; lawyers assisting clients with the administration of an estate where the decedent died owning real property assets, or representing a purchaser from the estate of a decedent; and litigators retained to prosecute or defend lawsuits where ambiguous or improperly executed deeds create title disputes.

As noted in the Preface, many deeds being executed and recorded today contain errors rendering them invalid to transfer title, or are so vague and indefinitive as to require litigation to construe their effect.  Deeds of Conveyance contains a full seventeen chapters and an appendix of information to assure that lawyers drafting deeds will be scriveners of instruments and not “scribblers”, and clients and appellate courts will never use the following words of Shakespeare in describing deeds lawyers draft:

This is a sorry sight. Macbeth, II, ii

What a poor instrument. Anthony and Cleopatra, V, ii

That ever blotted paper. Merchant of Venice, III, ii

O! who hath done this deed? Othello, V, ii

Inkhorn about his neck. Henry VI, Part 2, IV, ii

 

 

Deeds of Conveyance begins with a historic perspective on how the law of deeds/conveyancing developed in England and later in South Carolina. Much of the law concerning deeds has not changed in hundreds of years so this information is not just academic, it is still practical and useful.

 

Deeds of Conveyance also addresses the type of estates which may conveyed by a properly executed deed before going into the types of exceptions, reservations, conditions and restrictions which may be included in a deed. The appendix sets out samples of deed forms for the practitioner.

 

Deeds of Conveyance offers guidance in drafting and reviewing deeds where rights to water, minerals and railroad tracks are involved, as well as deeds concerning air rights. Issues related to timber deeds, whether creating timber rights or analyzing a timber deed in the chain of title are also included. The publication offers insights and observations on how deeds should be reviewed during a title examination in order to verify that good title has been conveyed in the past, and may be transferred in the future. The chapter on deeds documents the rights of parties to installment purchase contracts and deeds executed pursuant thereto.

All in all, Deeds of Conveyance will be an extremely useful desk reference for any attorney who deals with deeds in any way.