Titles - Indexes

Learning Outcomes

This article explains title index systems in the real property recording framework, including:

• the structure and operation of grantor-grantee and tract indexes, and how exam fact patterns signal which system is in use;
• how to conduct a chain-of-title search using the indexes, identify the root of title and relevant ownership periods, and spot instruments outside the chain;
• the relationship between indexing, constructive notice, and the three major recording statutes (race, notice, and race-notice), with emphasis on what counts as record notice on the MBE;
• how wild deeds arise from missing links, early or late recordings, wrong-county recordings, and indexing errors, and why such deeds typically fail to charge subsequent purchasers with notice;
• how courts treat misindexed or improperly recorded instruments when determining the rights of bona fide purchasers, and the majority rules you should apply on exam questions;
• strategies for approaching MBE priority disputes, including how to sequence conveyances, test for notice, and determine whether each instrument is properly recorded and within the chain of title.

MBE Syllabus

For the MBE, you are required to understand how title indexes operate within the recording system and their effect on notice and priority of interests, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

• The purpose and types of title indexes (grantor-grantee and tract indexes).
• How a title search is conducted using the indexes and how this constructs the chain of title.
• The relationship between indexing, constructive notice, and recording statutes (race, notice, and race-notice).
• The treatment of wild deeds, early and late recordings, misindexed instruments, and wrong-county recordings.
• The protection of bona fide purchasers where prior interests are recorded, unrecorded, or improperly indexed.

Test Your Knowledge

Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, remember to look more closely at that area during your revision.

1. Which of the following is most likely to give a subsequent purchaser constructive notice of a prior deed?
   1. The deed is properly recorded and indexed in the grantor-grantee index.
   2. The deed is recorded but misindexed under the wrong grantor.
   3. The deed is delivered but not recorded.
   4. The deed is recorded in a different county from the property.
2. In a jurisdiction using a grantor-grantee index, which of the following is a "wild deed"?
   1. A deed recorded before the grantor acquired title.
   2. A deed recorded after the grantor conveyed to a bona fide purchaser.
   3. A deed not referenced in the chain of title due to a break in indexing.
   4. All of the above.
3. If a deed is properly recorded but not indexed due to a clerk's error, what is the likely effect on a subsequent bona fide purchaser?
   1. The purchaser is charged with constructive notice.
   2. The purchaser is not charged with constructive notice.
   3. The purchaser must search all county records.
   4. The purchaser is protected only if the deed is in the tract index.

Introduction

Title indexes are essential tools in the public recording system for real property. They allow parties to trace the history of ownership and interests in land, forming the basis for determining the chain of title and providing constructive notice to subsequent purchasers. Understanding how indexes work, and their limitations, is critical for analyzing priority disputes and the effect of recording statutes on the MBE.

Recording systems are generally county-based. When an instrument affecting real property (such as a deed, mortgage, or easement) is presented to the recorder, it is time-stamped and entered into the appropriate index. It is this indexing that makes the document discoverable in a title search.

Key Term: Recording Statute
A law that sets priority rules between competing claimants to the same property interest, usually based on whether and when an instrument is recorded and whether a party had notice of prior interests.

Types of Title Indexes

The two main types of title indexes are the grantor-grantee index and the tract index.

Key Term: Grantor-Grantee Index
A set of alphabetical indexes listing property transfers by the name of the grantor (seller/transferor) and grantee (buyer/transferee), used to trace the chain of title in most U.S. jurisdictions.

In a grantor-grantee index system (the majority approach on the MBE):

• The grantor index lists all instruments where a person appears as grantor, usually arranged alphabetically by last name and then chronologically by recording date.
• The grantee index lists all instruments where a person appears as grantee, also alphabetically and chronologically.

A title searcher typically:

• Starts with the current owner and searches backwards in the grantee index to find the deed by which that owner acquired the property.
• Then searches the grantor index for that grantor, for the period that grantor owned the property, to see what interests the grantor conveyed out.

This alternating pattern of grantor and grantee searches is how the chain of title is reconstructed.

Key Term: Tract Index
An index organized by parcel or tract of land (often by lot and block or by metes and bounds description), listing all recorded documents affecting that specific parcel.

In a tract index system:

• Each parcel has a dedicated page or electronic entry.
• Every instrument affecting that parcel is recorded on that page, regardless of the parties’ names.
• A searcher can see the entire history of a parcel’s title by reviewing a single tract entry.

On the MBE, unless the question explicitly states otherwise, you should assume the jurisdiction uses a grantor-grantee index, because that system generates most of the tested chain-of-title and wild deed issues.

Function of Indexes in the Recording System

When a deed or other instrument is recorded, it is entered into the appropriate index. In most states, the grantor-grantee index is used. A title searcher must check the grantor index (to see what interests a prior owner conveyed) and the grantee index (to see what interests a prior owner acquired).

Proper indexing is essential for constructive notice. If a deed is recorded and correctly indexed, subsequent purchasers are charged with notice of its existence, even if they do not actually see it.

Key Term: Constructive Notice
The legal presumption that a person has knowledge of a recorded instrument because it is properly recorded and in the chain of title, regardless of whether the person actually examined the record.

Notice for recording statute purposes can be:

• Actual notice – the purchaser genuinely knows of the prior interest.
• Record (constructive) notice – the prior interest appears in the public records in a way that a reasonable search would uncover.
• Inquiry notice – facts known to the purchaser would prompt a reasonable person to investigate further, and that investigation would reveal the prior interest.

Key Term: Actual Notice
Knowledge that a person actually possesses about a fact or prior interest, however obtained (e.g., by being told directly or by reading the instrument).

Key Term: Inquiry Notice
Notice imputed to a purchaser when visible circumstances or known facts would lead a reasonable person to investigate further; the purchaser is treated as knowing whatever a reasonable inquiry would have uncovered.

Most MBE questions involving indexes focus on record (constructive) notice: whether an instrument was recorded in such a way that a reasonable title search would find it.

Indexes also interact with the recording statutes:

• In a race statute, the first to record wins, regardless of notice.
• In a notice statute, a later purchaser who takes without notice of a prior unrecorded interest prevails, even if the prior interest later records.
• In a race-notice statute, the later purchaser must both (1) lack notice at the time of the conveyance and (2) record first.

Key Term: Race Statute
A recording statute under which the party who records first prevails, regardless of whether that party had notice of earlier unrecorded interests.

Key Term: Notice Statute
A recording statute under which a subsequent bona fide purchaser prevails over prior unrecorded interests if the purchaser takes without notice of those interests, whether or not the purchaser records first.

Key Term: Race-Notice Statute
A recording statute under which a subsequent bona fide purchaser prevails only if the purchaser both (1) takes without notice of prior interests and (2) records before those interests are recorded.

For all three types, the question of whether a prior instrument is properly recorded and indexed determines whether it gives record notice.

Chain of Title and Indexes

The chain of title is the sequence of recorded documents tracing ownership of land from the original owner to the present. Title indexes are used to reconstruct this chain. A break in the chain, or a deed that is not properly indexed, can create problems for subsequent purchasers.

Key Term: Chain of Title
The chronological sequence of recorded conveyances and encumbrances affecting title to a parcel of real property, running from the original source of title to the current owner.

Key Term: Chain of Title Search
The process of using the grantor and grantee indexes, within defined time periods, to identify all instruments by which each owner acquired title and then conveyed interests in the property.

In a grantor-grantee system, a chain-of-title search rests on two key concepts:

• Root of title – the starting point of the search, usually the deed to the current owner from the immediate prior grantor.
• Ownership period – the time during which a person appears as record owner (from when the person acquired title of record until that person conveyed title of record away).

Key Term: Root of Title
The earliest deed or other instrument in a title search from which the chain of title is built forward, usually the conveyance by which the current owner’s predecessor acquired record title.

The searcher:

1. Finds the root of title: e.g., a deed from X to O, recorded in 2012.
2. Searches the grantor index under X’s name from 2012 back to when X acquired title to see what X conveyed out.
3. For each prior owner identified (e.g., W who conveyed to X), repeats the process, working backwards.

Documents recorded outside the time when a grantor appears as the record owner will not show up in this search and therefore fall outside the chain of title.

This timing is critical for MBE problems involving early-recorded and late-recorded deeds.

• Early-recorded deed – recorded before the grantor appears in the chain of title.
• Late-recorded deed – recorded after the grantor has already conveyed away record title.

Either can be a wild deed if a standard chain-of-title search would not find it.

Wild Deeds and Indexing Errors

A wild deed is a recorded deed that is not connected to the chain of title due to a break in indexing or a missing link. Because it is not discoverable by a standard title search, it does not give constructive notice to subsequent purchasers.

Key Term: Wild Deed
A recorded instrument that is outside the chain of title and therefore would not be discovered by a reasonable search of the indexes; it fails to provide record notice.

Classic situations that produce wild deeds in a grantor-grantee system:

• Missing prior deed (classic wild deed)
  A conveys to B, but B does not record. B then conveys to C, who records. Because there is no recorded A-to-B deed, C’s recorded deed from B is not linked to the chain starting with A. The B-to-C deed is a wild deed.

• Early recording (deed recorded before grantor has record title)
  O owns Blackacre but has not yet acquired title of record from X. X deeds Blackacre to A, and A immediately records. Later, X deeds Blackacre to O, who then conveys to B. When B searches, X’s grant to A is outside B’s chain because at the time of that recording, X did not appear as record owner.

• Late recording (deed recorded after grantor conveys away record title)
  O conveys Blackacre to A, but A does not record. O then conveys to B, who records. Years later, A records the earlier deed. A’s late-recorded deed is outside B’s chain, because B’s chain covers only the period when O had record title up to the date of the O-to-B deed. A’s deed, although earlier in time, appears in the index only after that date.

• Indexing gap or name error
  A deed is recorded but misindexed under a different grantor’s name or with a material spelling error that a reasonable search would not catch. Even though physically in the recorder’s office, the deed will not be discovered in a reasonable search and is treated as outside the chain of title.

Key Term: Indexing Error
A mistake by the recording office in entering a recorded instrument into the index (e.g., wrong name, wrong parcel, or omission), making the instrument undiscoverable in a reasonable title search.

On the MBE, a wild deed is treated the same as an unrecorded deed for purposes of constructive notice: it generally does not charge later purchasers with record notice.

Impact of Indexes on Recording Statutes

Recording statutes protect bona fide purchasers who search the public records. If a deed is not properly indexed, a purchaser may not be charged with constructive notice, depending on the jurisdiction. Some states hold that a misindexed deed does not provide constructive notice, while others place the risk of indexing errors on the purchaser.

Key Term: Bona Fide Purchaser (BFP)
A person who acquires an interest in property for value and without notice (actual, record, or inquiry) of a prior interest at the time of the conveyance.

A BFP’s status typically depends on:

• Whether the prior instrument was recorded in the proper place (correct county) and
• Whether it was recorded in a way that places it in the chain of title (properly indexed under the correct parties and within the proper time frame).

In most MBE-style questions, apply these majority rules unless the facts indicate otherwise:

• A deed gives record notice only when it is properly recorded and in the chain of title.
• A deed recorded in the wrong county does not give record notice to purchasers in the correct county.
• A misindexed deed ordinarily does not give record notice; the risk of clerical errors falls on the party relying on the recording.

Early vs. Late Recording and the Chain of Title

Two frequently tested chain-of-title problems arise from the timing of recording:

1. Deeds recorded too early (before the grantor appears in the chain).
2. Deeds recorded too late (after the grantor has conveyed away record title).

These problems arise even when the recorder indexes the documents correctly.

Deeds Recorded Too Early

Suppose X conveys Blackacre to A, and A records. But at that time, X has not yet acquired record title from O. Later, O conveys to X, and X then conveys to B, who records.

From B’s standpoint:

• B’s chain-of-title search looks at the period when O had record title, then X, and finally B.
• When B searches under O and then X, the X-to-A deed does not appear in the relevant period (X did not yet have record title when the X-to-A deed was recorded).

So even though A’s deed was recorded before B purchased, it is outside B’s chain and does not provide record notice to B.

Deeds Recorded Too Late

Suppose O conveys to A, but A delays recording. O later conveys to B, who pays value and records. B’s chain-of-title search covers:

• O’s period of record ownership from when O acquired title until the O-to-B deed.

A’s deed, recorded after B’s deed, falls outside that period. It is therefore not in the chain of title and does not give B record notice. On the MBE, A’s late-recorded deed is usually treated as a wild deed with respect to B.

Worked Example 1.1

A conveys Blackacre to B, who fails to record. B then conveys to C, who records. Later, A conveys Blackacre to D, who records. In a jurisdiction using a grantor-grantee index, D searches the records under A's name but does not find the B-to-C deed, because B never recorded his deed from A. Who has priority?

Answer:
D has priority. Because B never recorded the A-to-B deed, the B-to-C deed is not connected to A in the indexes. The B-to-C deed is a wild deed, outside the chain of title running from A to D. It does not give constructive notice to D, who took for value and recorded. In a notice or race-notice jurisdiction, D is protected as a bona fide purchaser.

Worked Example 1.2

Suppose a deed is recorded in the correct county but is misindexed under the wrong grantor's name due to a clerk's error. A subsequent purchaser searches the records but does not find the deed. Is the purchaser charged with constructive notice?

Answer:
In most jurisdictions (and on the MBE), the purchaser is not charged with constructive notice if the deed is not discoverable by a reasonable search of the appropriate index. Because the instrument is misindexed, it falls outside the chain of title. The risk of indexing errors typically falls on the party relying on the recording, so the subsequent bona fide purchaser prevails.

Worked Example 1.3 – Early Recording Wild Deed

O is the true owner of Blackacre, but the deed from X to O has not yet been recorded. X conveys Blackacre to A, who promptly records. Later, X conveys Blackacre to O, and O records. O then conveys to B, who pays value and records. A claims title based on the earlier X-to-A deed. In a notice jurisdiction, who prevails?

Answer:
B prevails. When B searched the records, X did not appear as record owner at the time of the X-to-A deed’s recording; O’s chain of title runs from X to O and then to B. The X-to-A deed was recorded before X acquired record title, so it is not in the chain of title and is treated as a wild deed with respect to B. Because B lacked actual, record, or inquiry notice of A’s interest when B purchased, B is a bona fide purchaser who prevails under the notice statute.

Worked Example 1.4 – Late Recording Wild Deed

O conveys Blackacre to A on January 1, but A does not record. On March 1, O conveys Blackacre to B, who pays value and records on March 5. On April 1, A records the January 1 deed. In a race-notice jurisdiction with a grantor-grantee index, A sues B to quiet title. Who wins?

Answer:
B wins. When B purchased, A had not recorded, and B had no actual or inquiry notice of A’s deed. B therefore lacked notice and paid value, satisfying the “bona fide” requirement. B also recorded first (March 5 versus April 1). A’s later recording is outside B’s chain of title because B’s search under O’s name would naturally stop at the March 1 deed to B. A’s deed is effectively a wild deed as to B and does not provide constructive notice. B prevails under the race-notice statute.

Worked Example 1.5 – Wrong County Recording

O owns Blackacre located in County 1. O conveys Blackacre to A, who mistakenly records the deed only in County 2. O then conveys Blackacre to B, who pays value and records in County 1. B has no actual knowledge of A’s deed. In a notice jurisdiction, who has priority?

Answer:
B has priority. A’s deed was recorded in the wrong county and thus is not in the chain of title for Blackacre in County 1. It does not give B record notice. Because B paid value and lacked actual or inquiry notice, B is a bona fide purchaser and prevails over A’s earlier but improperly recorded interest.

Worked Example 1.6 – Tract Index and Misindexed Names

In a jurisdiction that uses a tract index, O conveys Lot 5 to A. The recorder correctly enters the deed on the Lot 5 tract index page but misspells A's name in the grantor-grantee index. Later, O conveys Lot 5 to B, who pays value and searches only the tract index for Lot 5. B sees the O-to-A deed and the O-to-B deed. Who has priority?

Answer:
A has priority. The deed to A is properly recorded with respect to the parcel: it appears in the Lot 5 tract index, where a reasonable searcher would look. The mispelling in the grantor-grantee index does not prevent constructive notice because B actually found the deed in the tract index. B took with record notice of A’s prior interest and cannot be a bona fide purchaser as against A.

Exam Warning

In a race-notice jurisdiction, a deed must be both recorded and in the chain of title (i.e., properly indexed) to give constructive notice. A wild deed, a deed recorded in the wrong county, or a misindexed deed that a reasonable search would not uncover may not protect a prior purchaser. Treat such instruments as unrecorded when applying the recording statute.

Revision Tip

When analyzing a priority dispute on the MBE, always ask:

• Was the prior instrument recorded in the correct place (correct county)?
• Was it recorded at a time and under a name that puts it in the chain of title?
• Would a reasonable search of the applicable index have discovered it?
  If the answer to any of these is “no,” constructive notice may not apply.

Key Point Checklist

This article has covered the following key knowledge points:

• Title indexes make the public recording system searchable and are essential for tracing the chain of title.
• Most jurisdictions use a grantor-grantee index; some use a tract index organized by parcel.
• A chain-of-title search focuses on periods when each grantor holds record title; documents recorded too early or too late can fall outside the chain.
• Proper indexing is generally required for a recorded instrument to give constructive (record) notice.
• Wild deeds are recorded instruments outside the chain of title (e.g., due to missing links, early or late recording, or indexing errors) and ordinarily do not provide constructive notice.
• Deeds recorded in the wrong county or misindexed so that a reasonable search would not find them are usually treated as unrecorded as against subsequent purchasers.
• Recording statutes (race, notice, race-notice) interact with indexes: only properly recorded instruments in the chain of title typically count for purposes of notice.
• A bona fide purchaser must take for value without actual, record, or inquiry notice of prior interests; faulty indexing can preserve BFP status.
• On the MBE, analyze priority disputes by combining: (1) order of conveyances, (2) type of recording statute, and (3) whether prior instruments were properly recorded and indexed in the chain of title.

Key Terms and Concepts

• Grantor-Grantee Index
• Tract Index
• Recording Statute
• Race Statute
• Notice Statute
• Race-Notice Statute
• Constructive Notice
• Actual Notice
• Inquiry Notice
• Chain of Title
• Chain of Title Search
• Root of Title
• Wild Deed
• Indexing Error
• Bona Fide Purchaser (BFP)