Connecticut General Statutes/Title 47/Chapter 821/Section 47-5

CGS § 47-5. Requirements re conveyances of land. Conveyance pursuant to power of attorney.

(a) All conveyances of land shall be: (1) In writing; (2) if the grantor is (A) a natural person, subscribed, with or without a seal, by the grantor with his own hand or with his mark with his name annexed to it or by his agent authorized for that purpose by a power (i) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the manner provided for conveyances, or (ii) executed, acknowledged and witnessed in the same manner provided for in section 1-350d, and subsection (a) of section 1-350r; or (B) a corporation, limited liability company or partnership, subscribed by a duly authorized person; (3) acknowledged by the grantor, his agent or such duly authorized person (A) to be his free act and deed, or (B) in any manner permitted under chapter 6 or chapter 8; and (4) attested to by two witnesses with their own hands.

(b) A document conveying land shall also include the current mailing address of the grantee.

(c) In addition to the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, the execution of a deed or other conveyance of real property pursuant to a power of attorney shall be deemed sufficient if done in substantially the following form:

Name of Owner of Record

By: (Signature of Agent) L.S.

Name of Signatory

His/Her Agent

(d) Nothing in subsection (c) of this section precludes the use of any other legal form of execution of deed or other conveyance of real property.

Short History

(1949 Rev., S. 7085; P.A. 75-309, S. 3; P.A. 79-602, S. 1; P.A. 87-265; P.A. 96-77, S. 16; P.A. 05-288, S. 160; P.A. 06-196, S. 176; P.A. 11-206, S. 1; P.A. 13-87, S. 1; P.A. 15-240, S. 50; P.A. 16-40, S. 9; P.A. 21-39, S. 9.)

Long History

History: P.A. 75-309 made grantor's seal optional rather than mandatory, specified that duly authorized person may subscribe to conveyance where grantor is a corporation or partnership and deleted detailed listing of persons before whom acknowledgment may be made; P.A. 79-602 restated provisions and added Subdiv. indicators; P.A. 87-265 added Subsec. (b) re form for execution of deed or other conveyance of real property pursuant to a power of attorney and Subsec. (c) re use of other legal forms of deed execution or property conveyance; P.A. 96-77 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to add “limited liability company”; P.A. 05-288 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective July 13, 2005; P.A. 06-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (b), effective June 7, 2006; P.A. 11-206 amended Subsec. (a)(3) to designate existing provisions re free act and deed as Subpara. (A) and add Subpara. (B) to permit acknowledgment in any manner permitted under Ch. 6 or 8; P.A. 13-87 added new Subsec. (b) re conveyance of land to include current mailing address of the grantee, redesignated existing Subsecs. (b) and (c) as Subsecs. (c) and (d) and made a technical change in redesignated Subsec. (d); P.A. 15-240 amended Subsec. (a) by substituting “agent” for “attorney” and amended Subsec. (c) by substituting “Agent” for “Attorney-in-Fact”, effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 16-40 changed effective date of P.A. 15-240, S. 50, from July 1, 2016, to October 1, 2016, effective May 27, 2016; P.A. 21-39 amended Subsec. (a)(2) by designating existing provision re natural person as Subpara. (A) and amending same to designate existing provision as clause (i) and add clause (ii) re executed, acknowledged and witnessed as provided in Secs. 1-350d and 1-350r(a), designating existing provision re corporation, limited liability corporation or partnership as Subpara. (B) and making a technical and conforming change.

Citations

When an unacknowledged deed is admissible in evidence. 3 D. 500; 3 C. 398. What defect in certificate of acknowledgment is fatal. 2 C. 527; 3 C. 406; 11 C. 129. Whether a deed attested by only one witness was valid under the colony laws of 1672. 3 C. 35. The acknowledgment cannot be proved by parol. Id., 406; 11 C. 129. When chancery will supply defects in attestation. 4 C. 344; 5 C. 468; 8 C. 549. Cancellation of a deed, duly executed and delivered, does not revest the title. 4 C. 550; 5 C. 86, 262. Record of deed, defectively attested, not constructive notice. 5 C. 468; 87 C. 369. General agent of manufacturing company cannot execute deed of company's real estate. 7 C. 214. Material alteration makes a new attestation necessary. 8 C. 289. Corporation may by vote, without power of attorney, empower agent to convey its real estate; such agent must affix corporate seal to deed. Id., 191; 27 C. 538. Signature must be made by party's own hand. 13 C. 192. Vote of corporation authorizing execution of deed need not be under corporate seal nor recorded with deed. 14 C. 594. Witnesses must be disinterested. 26 C. 195. When “personally appeared ... signer and sealer”, etc., a sufficient acknowledgment. 30 C. 344. Unsigned recorded mortgage absolutely void. 44 C. 321. In equity, an absolute deed can by parol be proved to be a mortgage. 72 C. 720; 74 C. 252; 79 C. 340; 85 C. 46; 89 C. 178; 93 C. 66. Acknowledgment taken by agent of grantee. 77 C. 276. Deed conveys title but does not purport to express agreement of parties; counterclaim for deficiency in acreage. 97 C. 350. Delivery and acceptance necessary; leaving with maker's own attorney is inoperative where no instructions given; requisites for valid gift inter vivos. Id., 483. Applies, by reference, to chattel mortgages. 105 C. 772. Effect of validating acts. 109 C. 312. The attestation clause of a deed which is in the possession of the grantee is prima facie proof of delivery. 146 C. 307. In proceeding to set aside a conveyance, the burden of proof on issue of undue influence rests on the one alleging it, except when it appears that a stranger, holding toward the grantor a relationship of trust and confidence, is the principal beneficiary to the exclusion of others who are the natural objects of grantor's bounty. 147 C. 474. Agreement to divide money representing income from property or proceeds from its sale was a contract and not a conveyance of land and it was not necessary it be executed in accordance with section. 156 C. 12. Cited. 207 C. 555; 218 C. 512; 232 C. 645.

Cited. 5 CA 435; 31 CA 1. Section does not indicate that a flaw in the instrument or its recordation would make it inadmissible as evidence; when read together with Sec. 47-10, indicates that only when a natural person attempts to convey property through a power of attorney must the instrument creating the power be filed with the conveyance, or have been previously filed, to have legal effect. 51 CA 733. Deed was invalid because it lacked the signature of two witnesses. 87 CA 337.

A restrictive covenant and zoning restrictions are two entirely separate and unrelated limitations on the use of property; where the deeds to all the lots sold under a general development scheme contain the same restrictive covenants, each grantee is entitled to enforce them in the absence of conduct on his part constituting laches, waiver or abandonment. 22 CS 235. Where an owner of land causes a map to be made of it showing separate lots, and parks or other open areas and then sells the lots, referring in his conveyances to the map, the lot owners acquire the right to have the parks thereafter kept open for use in connection with their lands. Id., 499. A purchase of property in the name of a husband by money supplied by his wife raises a rebuttable presumption of a gift. 23 CS 1. Restrictive covenants are to be narrowly construed and are not to be extended by implication. Id., 89. Cited. Id., 298. A reservation or other restriction in a deed is the proper subject of an action for a declaratory judgment; reservation should be construed so as to confer a practical right and will include by implication that which is necessary to the reasonable enjoyment of the thing reserved, so long as it is not contrary to ascertained intent of parties. Id, 486. Cited. 30 CS 56; 41 CS 225.

Subsec. (a):

Cited. 221 C. 77.

Cited. 38 CA 639. Lack of adherence to the formalities in Subsec. rendered the subject deed of conveyance voidable, but not void; in the case of the subject deed, where plaintiff gave permission to or granted authority to his father to sign his name on the deed, plaintiff waived directive of Subsec. 67 CA 447. A grantor or a grantee of a deed cannot act as one of the two attesting witnesses required for the conveyance of property because allowing the parties to act as witnesses would negate the purpose of the witness requirement. 134 CA 265.