§ 44-2-20 - Recorded affidavits relating to land as notice of facts cited therein; admissibility of such affidavits in evidence; presumption as to facts recited; filing and recording - Georgia Statutes

O.C.G.A. 44-2-20 (2010)
44-2-20. Recorded affidavits relating to land as notice of facts cited therein; admissibility of such affidavits in evidence; presumption as to facts recited; filing and recording

(a) Recorded affidavits shall be notice of the facts therein recited, whether taken at the time of a conveyance of land or not, where such affidavits show:

(1) The relationship of parties or other persons to conveyances of land;

(2) The relationship of any parties to any conveyance with other parties whose names are shown in the chain of title to lands;

(3) The age or ages of any person or persons connected with the chain of title;

(4) Whether the land embraced in any conveyance or any part of such land or right therein has been in the actual possession of any party or parties connected with the chain of title;

(5) The payment of debts of an unadministered estate;

(6) The fact or date of death of any person connected with such title;

(7) Where such affidavits relate to the identity of parties whose names may be shown differently in chains of title;

(8) Where such affidavits show the ownership or adverse possession of lands or that other persons have not owned such lands nor been in possession of same; or

(9) Where such affidavits state any other fact or circumstance affecting title to land or any right, title, interest in, or lien or encumbrance upon land.

Any such affidavits may be made by any person, whether connected with the chain of title or not.

(b) In any litigation over any of the lands referred to and described in any of the affidavits referred to in subsection (a) of this Code section in any court in this state or in any proceedings in any such court involving the title to such lands wherein the facts recited in such affidavits may be material, the affidavits or certified copies of the record thereof shall be admissible in evidence and there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the statements in said affidavits are true. The affidavits or certified copies thereof shall only be admissible as evidence in the event the parties making the affidavits are deceased; they are nonresidents of the state; their residences are unknown to the parties offering the affidavits; or they are too old, infirm, or sick to attend court.

(c) Affidavits referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section shall be filed by the clerk of the superior court of the county where the land is located and shall contain a caption referring to the current owner and to a deed or other recorded instrument in the chain of title of the affected land. The clerk of the superior court shall record such affidavits, shall enter on the deed or other recorded instrument so referred to the book and page number on which such affidavit may be recorded, and shall index same in the name of the purported owner as shown by such caption in both grantor and grantee indexes in deed records as conveyances of lands are recorded and indexed; and he shall receive the same compensation therefor as for recording deeds to lands.