2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 2 - Recordation and Registration of Deeds and Other Instruments
Article 1 - Recording
Part 1 - Recording of Deeds and Other Real Property Transactions
§ 44-2-2. Duty of Clerk to Record Certain Transaction Affecting Real Estate and Personal Property; Priority of Recorded Instruments; Effect of Recording on Rights Between Parties to Instruments

1. 1. The clerk of the superior court shall file, index on a computer program designed for such purpose, and permanently record, in the manner provided constructively in Code Sections 15-6-61 and 15-6-66, the following instruments conveying, transferring, encumbering, or affecting real estate and personal property:
      1. Deeds;
      2. Mortgages;
      3. Liens as provided for by law; and
      4. Maps or plats relating to real estate in the county; and
      5. State tax executions and state tax execution renewals as provided for in Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 48.
   2. As used in this subsection, the term "liens" shall have the same meaning as provided in Code Sections 15-19-14, 44-14-320, and 44-14-602 and shall include all liens provided by state or federal statute.
   3. When indexing liens, the clerk shall index the names of parties in the manner provided by such rules and regulations adopted by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 15-6-61 as authorized by Code Section 15-6-97.
   4. When indexing maps or plats relating to real estate in the county, the clerk of superior court shall index the names or titles provided in the caption of the plat.
2. Deeds, mortgages, and liens of all kinds which are required by law to be recorded in the office of the clerk of superior court and which are against the interests of third parties who have acquired a transfer or lien binding the same property and who are acting in good faith and without notice shall take effect only from the time they are filed for record in the clerk's office.
3. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to affect the validity or force of any deed, mortgage, judgment, or lien of any kind between the parties thereto.

(Ga. L. 1889, p. 106, §§ 1, 4; Civil Code 1895, §§ 2778, 2781; Civil Code 1910, §§ 3320, 3323; Code 1933, §§ 67-2501, 67-2503; Code 1981 §44-2-2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44; Ga. L. 2002, p. 799, § 5; Ga. L. 2006, p. 334, § 1/SB 306; Ga. L. 2016, p. 193, § 3/HB 1004; Ga. L. 2017, p. 723, § 13/HB 337; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 44/HB 323; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1, § 7/HB 661.)

The 2016 amendment, effective January 1, 2017, deleted ", as required by paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of Code Section 15-6-67, as both the grantor and grantee" following "caption of the plat" at the end of paragraph (a)(4).

The 2017 amendments. The first 2017 amendment, effective January 1, 2018, substituted "as provided for by law" for "of all kinds" in subparagraph (a)(1)(C); substituted "; and" for a period at the end of subparagraph (a)(1)(D); added subparagraph (a)(1)(E); in paragraph (a)(2), substituted "As used in" for "For the purpose of" at the beginning, inserted "the term" near the middle, and substituted "have the same meaning" for "be defined" in the middle; added the second and third sentences in paragraph (a)(3); added subparagraphs (a)(3)(A) through (a)(3)(D); and deleted "the" preceding "superior court" near the middle of subsection (b). The second 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "As used in this subsection, the term 'liens' shall have the same meaning" for "For the purpose of this subsection, 'liens' shall be defined" at the beginning of paragraph (a)(2).

The 2018 amendment, effective February 20, 2018, rewrote paragraph (a)(3).

- Duty of clerk to obtain names and addresses of grantors and grantees prior to recording title transfer, § 15-6-63.

Duty of clerk of superior court to maintain grantor-grantee index, § 15-6-66.

- Ga. L. 2016, p. 193, § 3/HB 1004, which amended this Code section, purported to amend paragraph (b)(4) but actually amended paragraph (a)(4).

Ga. L. 2017, p. 723, § 1/HB 337, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'State Tax Execution Modernization Act.'"

- For note, "The Effect of Failure to Record Conditional Sale Contracts in Georgia," see 11 Mercer L. Rev. 358 (1960). For comment on Manchester Motors, Inc. v. Farmers & Merchants Bank, 91 Ga. App. 811, 87 S.E.2d 342 (1955), see 18 Ga. B.J. 82 (1955).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Applicability
• Docket
• Priorities
• Parties to Instrument

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Instruments effective against third parties only from date filed for record.

- Deeds, mortgages, and liens take effect against third parties acting in good faith and without notice only from the time those instruments are filed for record. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 120.

- Clerk of the superior court must keep the dockets identified and described in O.C.G.A. § 15-6-61(4) either by microfilm, photographic or photostatic process, or in well-bound books, except that all instruments evidencing the title to real property, including the docket identified and described in subsection (a), and title instruments for personal property if recorded for ten years or less, must be kept and recorded in well-bound books only. For real property instruments which identify a grantor and a grantee, either a duplex index book or a cross-reference card index system for indexing such instruments must be maintained. The clerk may use the computer services of the county in which the clerk's office is located as a supplemental means of providing access to the information contained in the dockets and indexes maintained by the clerk. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U88-26.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 66 Am. Jur. 2d, Records and Recording Laws, § 133 et seq.

- 76 C.J.S., Records, §§ 20, 37 et seq.

- Priority where senior instrument affecting real property is recorded after execution but before recording of junior instrument, 32 A.L.R. 344.

Constructive notice by record of instrument relating to specific chattels as affected by changes therein, 63 A.L.R. 1456.

Validity of unfiled chattel mortgage as against persons with actual notice thereof, 68 A.L.R. 274.

Purchase-money mortgage as within provision of statute defeating or postponing lien of unrecorded or unfiled mortgage, 137 A.L.R. 571; 168 A.L.R. 1164.

Priority between devisee under devise pursuant to testator's agreement and third person claiming under or through testator's unrecorded deed, 7 A.L.R.2d 544.

Priority, as between holder of unfiled or unrecorded chattel mortgage who secures possession of goods or chattels, and subsequent purchaser or encumbrancer, 53 A.L.R.2d 936.

Sale of real property as affecting time for filing notice of or perfecting mechanic's lien as against purchaser's interest, 76 A.L.R.2d 1163.

Right of vendee under executory land contract to lien for amount paid on purchase price as against subsequent creditors of, or purchasers from, vendor, 82 A.L.R.3d 1040.