Georgia § 44-2-144 - Freeing land from further registration; certificates as conclusive source of title; notation of encumbrances; when land automatically freed; registered land free of further registration; exception.

§ 44-2-144. Freeing land from further registration; certificates as conclusive source of title; notation of encumbrances; when land automatically freed; registered land free of further registration; exception.

The registered owner of the fee simple title to land may cause a transfer of the title to be registered to "himself, his heirs and assigns, free from further registration." Thereupon the land and the title thereto shall be free from the necessity of subsequent registration and shall, as to subsequent transactions, be exempt from this article so far as the interest of the person thus freeing it from registration and subsequent holders under him are concerned; but, as to such interest, the certificate of title and owner's certificate registered and issued on the last transfer shall stand as a conclusive source of subsequent title to the same extent as if it were a grant from the state. However, if the interest thus freed is, according to the title register, subject to liens, exceptions, encumbrances, trusts, or limitations of any kind, such liens, exceptions, encumbrances, trusts, or limitations shall not be affected but shall be noted on the owner's certificate as issued on the last transfer and shall be effective as long as they shall exist. If the fee simple is registered undividedly in the name of more than one person such as tenants in common or other like relationship of joint or common interest, it shall not be freed from registration except upon the unanimous action of the owners of the entire fee. A decree of registration rendered on or after February 15, 1952, shall operate to free the registered land from further registration unless it expressly provides that the land shall remain subject to this article. All lands heretofore registered in this state are declared to be free of further registration unless the order registering said title shall provide otherwise. The certificate of title and owner's certificate registered and issued on the last transfer shall stand as conclusive source of subsequent title. If the previously registered land has been devised, conveyed, or otherwise transferred by the last registered owner or said owner's representative, title shall vest in the party to whom the land was transferred or that party's heirs, successors, and assigns, notwithstanding the failure to have had the same transferred on the title register as provided in prior statutes; provided, however, if the land or interest freed is subject to a valid outstanding lien, exception, encumbrance, trust, or limitation according to the title register, the same shall not be affected but shall be effective as long as the same shall validly exist. (Ga. L. 1917, p. 108, § 65; Code 1933, § 60-422; Ga. L. 1952, p. 164, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 563, § 4.) Law reviews. - For note on 1989 amendment to this Code section, see 6 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 315 (1989).