Understanding (Without Abusing) the Texas Correction Deed

San Antonio Texas Real Estate Attorney Trey Wilson wrote:

In my practice as a real estate attorney in San Antonio, Tx, I have probably been more entertained and perplexed by "Correction Deeds" than any other document (except, perhaps, the Contract for Deed). Over the years, Clients and opposing parties, alike, have presented me "Correction Deeds" drafted and recorded for all manner of improper purposes, including to change the name of the grantee, to change the property being conveyed, and to add additional (or even new) grantees who were not parties to the original deed.

While the term "Correction Deed" would tend to indicate that this document is a "cure-all," Texas law narrowly limits the the proper use and scope of the Correction Deed. 

The historical purpose of Correction Deeds is to reform and correct erroneous deeds without undertaking the hassle and expense of court proceedings (i.e. lawsuits). See Doty v. Barnard, 92 Tex. 104, 47 S.W. 712, 713 (1898) (stating that use of a correction deed was proper "to correct the defects and imperfections of the deed above referred to, and had the same effect upon the rights of the parties that a judgment of court would have had"). Even upon recognition of this historical purpose, Texas courts have routinely held that the proper use of a correction deed is narrow in scope. See, e.g., Adams v. First Nat'l Bank of Bells/Savoy, 154 S.W.3d 859, 871 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2005, no pet.) ("A correction deed is filed for the sole purpose of correcting some facial imperfection in the title."). Stated differently, substantive changes to an original deed are not appropriately made through a Correction Deed.

Courts in Texas have recognized that preserving the narrow circumstances for acceptable use of a correction deed is important, among other reasons, because a proper correction deed may relate back to the date of the original deed it corrects. See Doty, 47 S.W. at 714. see also Wilson v. Dearing, Inc., 415 S.W.2d 475, 479 (Tex. Civ.App.-Eastland 1967, no writ) ("The correction instrument related back to and became effective as of the time of the instrument it purported to correct."); Adams, 154 S.W.3d at 871 ("Ordinarily, a correction deed relates back to the date of the document that it purports to express more accurately.").

Some examples of PROPER uses of correction deeds are:

•  to correct a defective description of a single property when a deed recites inaccurate metes and bounds. E.g., Doty, 47 S.W. at 712 (enforcing a deed correcting an improper acreage description). 
• to correct a defective description of a grantor's capacity. E.g., Humble Oil & Refining Co. v. Mullican, 144 Tex. 609, 192 S.W.2d 770, 771-72 (1946) (enforcing a correction deed stating that a grantor was "community administrator" of an estate under the probate code, not "independent executor" as stated in the original deed).

By contrast, Courts have held that the following uses of correction deeds are IMPROPER:

• to convey an additional, separate parcel of land not included in the original deed See Smith v. Liddell, 367 S.W.2d 662, 666 (Tex.1963) (refusing to enforce a correction deed purporting to convey a mineral interest in an additional 71.446-acre tract from a separate survey where the first deed mistakenly conveyed only an interest in a 152.11-acre tract); 
• To correct a mistake of omitting a second property from a Substitute Trustee's Deed following a foreclosure. see Myrad Props., Inc. v. LaSalle Bank Nat'l Ass'n, 300 S.W.3d 746, 753 (Tex.2009).
• to change the fractional interest of a mineral estate, or change a mineral interest to a royalty interest Halbert v. Green,156 Tex. 223, 293 S.W.2d 848, 852-53 (1956).

It is worth noting that an invalid Correction Deed that purports to convey an ownership interest in realty is VOID. A void instrument does not and connote convey interest in real estate.  Thus, even where the parties to a transaction intended otherwise, defective Correction Deeds are legal nullities, that accomplish no transfer of title.

Texans should use the Correction Deed sparingly, and view title conveyed by such deeds with a slight degree of skepticism. Form over substance is the general rule when determining which defects in an original deed may be corrected by a Correction Deed.