It should be manifest from the face of the document that the grantor is the same as the grantee in the instrument conveying title to the grantor. Generally, this means that the name of the grantor will be the same as the prior grantee; or, a subsequent deed contains a recital that the grantor in such deed and the grantee in a prior deed are the same person. Notwithstanding, a greater degree of liberality should be indulged with the greater lapse of time and in the absence of circumstances appearing in the land records which raise reasonable doubt as to the identity of the parties.
Comment 1. Identity of parties should be accepted as sufficiently established where: (a) common abbreviations, derivatives or nicknames are used for first names; (b) differently spelled names sound alike, or their sounds cannot be distinguished easily, or common usage by corruption or abbreviation has made their pronunciation identical; or (c) in one instance a first name or names of a person is or are used, and in another instance the initial letter or letters only of any such first name or names is or are used but the surnames are the same or idem sonans; (d) in one instance a first name or initial letter is used, and in another instance is omitted, but in both instances the other first names or initial letters correspond and the surnames are the same or idem sonans.
Comment 2. In the event of a change in the name or status of an owner of an interest in real estate, including a merger or consolidation, the examining attorney should assure himself/herself that the requirements of 27 V.S.A. §350 have been met.
Comment 3. This Standard shall not expand the scope of the examining attorney’s duty to include the search of every variation of a name.
History
March 29, 2000:
- The second and third sentence of the Standard were combined for clarity.
- Comment 1 and original Comment 2 and Comment 3 were combined into a single Comment identified as Comment 1. Comment 4 was renumbered to Comment 2 and Comment 5 was renumbered to Comment 3.