706.05 Formal requisites for record.

(1) Subject to s. 59.43 (2m), every conveyance, and every other instrument which affects title to land in this state, shall be entitled to record in the office of the register of deeds of each county in which land affected thereby may lie.

(2) Except as different or additional requirements may be provided by law, every instrument offered for record shall:

(a) Bear such signatures as are required by law;

(b) Contain a form of authentication authorized by s. 706.06 or 706.07;

(c) Identify, to the extent that the nature of the instrument permits, and in form and terms that permit ready entry upon the various books and indexes publicly maintained as land records of such county, the land to which such instrument relates and the parties or other persons whose interests in such land are affected. Except as provided in sub. (2m), identification may be either by the terms of the instrument or by reference to an instrument of record in the same office, naming the document number of the record and, if the record is assigned a volume and page number, the volume and page where the record is recorded.

(2m)

(a) Except as provided in par. (b), any document submitted for recording or filing that is to be indexed in the real estate records, any document submitted for recording or filing that modifies an original mortgage or land contract, and any document submitted for recording or filing that is a subordination agreement shall contain the full legal description of the property to which the document relates if the document is intended to relate to a particular parcel of land. The legal description may be included on the document or may be attached to the document. The document shall also contain the document number of any original mortgage or land contract that the document affects and, if given on the original mortgage or land contract, the volume and page where the original mortgage or land contract is recorded or filed.

(b) The requirement of a full legal description under par. (a) does not apply to:

1. Descriptions of easements for the construction, operation, or maintenance of electric, gas, railroad, water, sewer, telecommunications, or telephone lines or facilities.

2. Descriptions of property that is subject to liens granted on property thereafter acquired by a rural electric cooperative organized under ch. 185, by a telephone cooperative organized under ch. 185 or 193, by a pipeline company under s. 76.02 (5), by a public utility under s. 196.01 (5), by a railroad under s. 195.02 (1), or by a water carrier under s. 195.02 (5).

(c) The requirement under par. (a) does not affect the validity of liens under par. (b) 2.

(3) In addition to the requirements under sub. (2), every conveyance of mineral interests offered for record shall:

(a) Fully disclose the terms and conditions of the agreement including both the financial arrangements and the exploration rights. Financial arrangements include the consideration exchanged for the interest in land, terms for payment, optional payments, royalty agreements and similar arrangements. Exploration rights include the conditions and extent of any surface and subsurface rights to the land, options to purchase further interest in the land, options to conduct mining operations and similar arrangements.

(b) Fully disclose the parties including any principal, parent corporation, partner or business associate with an interest in the conveyance. This paragraph shall be interpreted to provide maximum disclosure of any person with an economic interest in the transaction.

(4) Any person who anticipates becoming a party to a number of conveyances of a given form may cause a prototype of such form to be recorded, accompanied by a certificate declaring the intention of the recording party to incorporate the terms of such prototype in future recorded conveyances by reference.

(5) Copies of instruments affecting title to land in this state, authenticated by certificate of any public officer, either of this or any other state or foreign country, in whose office the original is filed or recorded pursuant to law, may be recorded in every case in which the original would be entitled to record under this section.

(6) Except as may otherwise be expressly provided, no instrument shall be denied acceptance for record because of the absence of venue, seals, witnesses or other matter of form.

(7) Every instrument which the register of deeds shall accept for record shall be deemed duly recorded despite its failure to conform to one or more of the requirements of this section, provided the instrument is properly indexed in a public index maintained in the office of such register of deeds and recorded at length at the place there shown.

(8) A duly recorded certificate signed by or on behalf of the holder of record of any mortgage or other security interest in lands, and authenticated as provided by s. 706.06 or 706.07 identifying the mortgage or other interest and stating that the same has been paid or satisfied in whole or in part, shall be sufficient to satisfy such mortgage or other interest of record.

(12) Every conveyance of any interest in real property offered for recordation shall be accompanied by the form under s. 77.22 (2).

History: 1971 c. 211; 1977 c. 217, 253, 447; 1979 c. 221; 1983 a. 492 s. 3; 1985 a. 174; 1991 a. 66, 269; 1993 a. 145, 486; 1995 a. 110, 201; 1997 a. 35; 1999 a. 96; 2005 a. 179, 441; 2013 a. 66; 2017 a. 59, 68, 102.

Under sub. (1), only instruments that affect an interest in land are entitled to be recorded. A land patent is the instrument by which the government conveys title to portions of the public domain to private individuals. “Land patents," “updates of land patent" and other, similarly-titled documents filed by private individuals that purport to be grants of private land from private individuals to themselves or other private individuals are not true land patents and are invalid on their face and not entitled to recording. OAG 4-12.