Requirements for a Valid and Recordable Deed in Texas

San Antonio Texas Real Estate Attorney Trey Wilson wrote:

Having litigated numerous disputes over title to land and/or real estate purchase contracts, I have encountered all variety of "deeds" purporting to convey some interest in real property in Texas.

Some of the more interesting of these "deeds" are hand-written or obvious 'cut and paste' jobs taken from the Internet.  Some were recorded, others not. Many failed because they lacked sufficient information to meet even the minimum standards for deeds under Texas law.

In Texas, Deeds for the conveyance of real estate are not required to take any particular format.* However, in order for a deed to be legally valid and recordable in Texas, it must meet several basic criteria:

• be in writing (TPC 5.021, Tex Bus & Comm Code 26.01)
• be signed by the grantor (TPC 5.021, 12.001)
• be acknowledged or sworn to by the grantor before two credible witnesses, or a notary public, who also sign the document (TPC 12.001
• be in English  (TPC 11.002)
• contain all grantees' addresses (TPC 11.003)
• include within itself or by reference to another existing writing, the means or data to identify the particular property with reasonable certainty. Wilson v. Fisher, 144 Tex. 53, 188 S.W.2d 150 (1945). See also Kmiec v. Reagan, 556 S.W.2d 567 (Tex. 1977); Pick v. Bartel, 659 S.W.2d 636, 637 (Tex. 1983); Morrow v. Shotwell, 477 S.W.2d 538, 539 (Tex. 1972).
• be delivered to and accepted by grantee (the grantee need not sign the deed)

* There is a statutorily-suggested format for a general warranty deed in Section 5.022 of the Texas Property Code.

If you are a party to a real estate transaction in which the deed fails to meet these criteria, or may otherwise be invalid or fraudulent, you should seek the assistance of an experienced real estate lawyer. Texas law provides stiff civil (and possibly even criminal) penalties for real estate fraud. In other instances, failed conveyances can be corrected.