PROPERTY CODE

TITLE 3. PUBLIC RECORDS

CHAPTER 12. RECORDING OF INSTRUMENTS

Sec. 12.001.  INSTRUMENTS CONCERNING PROPERTY.  (a)  An instrument concerning real or personal property may be recorded if it has been acknowledged, sworn to with a proper jurat, or proved according to law.
(b)  An instrument conveying real property may not be recorded unless it is signed and acknowledged or sworn to by the grantor in the presence of two or more credible subscribing witnesses or acknowledged or sworn to before and certified by an officer authorized to take acknowledgements or oaths, as applicable.
(c)  This section does not require the acknowledgement or swearing or prohibit the recording of a financing statement, a security agreement filed as a financing statement, or a continuation statement filed for record under the Business & Commerce Code.
(d)  The failure of a notary public to attach an official seal to an acknowledgment, a jurat, or other proof taken outside this state but inside the United States or its territories renders the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof invalid only if the jurisdiction in which the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof is taken requires the notary public to attach the seal.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3489, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.  Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 162, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1989;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 603, Sec. 2, eff. June 14, 1995.