565.102 Unbroken chain of title to interest in land; conditions.

465 words·~2 min read·/mi/chapter-565/565-102

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Sec. 2.

(1)A person is considered to have an unbroken chain of title to an interest in land as provided in section 1 if the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the land is located discloses either of the following:

(a)A conveyance or other title transaction not less than 20 years in the past for mineral interests and 40 years for other interests, except as otherwise provided under section 3 for interests that may be preserved and kept effective by recording not later than 2 years after the effective date of the amendatory act that added section 5a, which conveyance or other title transaction purports to create the interest in that person, with nothing appearing of record purporting to divest that person of the purported interest.

(b)A conveyance or other title transaction not less than 20 years in the past for mineral interests and 40 years for other interests, except as otherwise provided under section 3 for interests that may be preserved and kept effective by recording not later than 2 years after the effective date of the amendatory act that added section 5a, which conveyance or other title transaction purports to create the interest in some other person and other conveyances or title transactions of record by which the purported interest has become vested in the person first referred to in this section, with nothing appearing of record purporting to divest the person first referred to in this section of the purported interest.

(2)If a person is considered to have an unbroken chain of title to an interest in land under this section, the interest in land is subject to all interests preserved under section 3 or excepted under section 4, including interests filed or recorded in accordance with the drain code of 1956, 1956 PA 40, MCL 280.1 to 280.630, or its predecessor.

(3)For purposes of this section, unless preserved under section 3 or excepted under section 4 and except as to mineral interests, a conveyance or other title transaction in the chain of title purports to divest an interest in the land only if it does either of the following:

(a)Purports to create the divestment.

(b)If recorded after March 28, 2019, and except as otherwise provided in section 5a(1), specifically refers by liber and page or other county-assigned unique identifying number to a previously recorded conveyance or other title transaction that purported to create the divestment.

History: 1945, Act 200, Eff. Sept. 6, 1945 ;-- CL 1948, 565.102 ;-- Am. 1997, Act 154 , Imd. Eff. Dec. 22, 1997 ;-- Am. 2018, Act 572 , Eff. Mar. 29, 2019 ;-- Am. 2025, Act 13 , Imd. Eff. Sept. 29, 2025