On March 6, 2012 Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) approved VA HB 761. This Bill amended, in part, Va. Code Ann. §17.1-223(A) to allow clerks to reject any deeds submitted for recording, “unless the deed states on the first page of the document that it was prepared by the owner of the real property or by an attorney licensed to practice law in [Virginia] where such statement by an attorney shall include the name and Virginia State Bar number of the attorney who prepared the deed.”
Chapter 2, Title 17.1 of the Virginia Code does not define “deeds” nor gives any guidance as to whether the term exclusively refers to conveyance deeds or deeds of trust. Conflicting answers to questions about this issue from a couple of Virginia County Circuit Courts have also added to the ambiguity.
Due to this, DocuTech will be taking a conservative approach and will be including the bar number of the attorney who prepared the security instrument and assignment in the “Prepared By” sections on the following Virginia documents:
1. VA Deed of Trust (Cx354)
2. VA Deed of Trust FHA (Cx407)
3. VA Deed of Trust Second (Cx512)
4. VA HELOC Deed of Trust (Cx1335)
5. VA Deed of Trust Second – Federal Home Loan Bank Set-Aside Program (Cx16536)
6. VA Assignment of Deed of Trust (Cx1552)
7. VA Assignment from MERS (Cx4352)
8. VA Assignment – INV BLANK (Cx4510)
The bar number will print on these documents with the label “VIRGINIA BAR #:” if the field “Documents Prepared By Attorney Bar Roll Number” is completed. The new field will be prompted for in ConformX for all Virginia Closings. If the field is left empty, the document contents will continue to print the same as they do now.
These changes will take effect June 30, 2012. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
June 29, 2012
DR 125867
P.S.
In addition to HB 761, HB 731 was also approved by Gov. McDonnell on April 4th. This Bill amended Va. Code Ann. §58.1-802(A), requiring all deeds, instruments, and other writing subject to the tax imposed by such section, to disclose the amount of its consideration on the first page of the document.
Unlike the ambiguity surrounding HB 761, such deeds, instruments, and other writing do not include deeds of trust, according to 23 Va. Admin. Code §10-320-30(E)(4) and the responses received from the Virginia Circuit Courts. Therefore, the amount of consideration will not be added to the first page of DocuTech’s Virginia security instruments.