Arizona Laws 11-480. Requirements for form of instruments
A. Only an instrument that, on presentation to a county recorder for recordation, fails to meet any of the following conditions may be rejected for recordation at the time of presentation for recordation:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 11-480
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Document: means information that is both of the following:
(a) Inscribed on a tangible medium or stored in an electronic or other medium, and retrievable in perceivable form. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
1. Each instrument shall have a caption briefly stating the nature of the instrument, such as warranty deed, release of mortgage and like captions. The county recorder shall have no obligation to index any instrument under any subject index category maintained by the county recorder unless that category is included in the caption to the instrument.
2. Each instrument shall be an original and shall be sufficiently legible for the recorder to make certified copies from the photographic or micrographic record.
3. Each instrument shall have original signatures except when otherwise provided by law.
4. Each instrument dated and executed on or after January 1, 1991, shall be not larger than eight and one-half inches in width and not longer than fourteen inches and shall have a print size not smaller than ten-point type.
B. Each instrument dated and executed on or after January 1, 1991, shall have at least a one-half inch margin across the top, bottom and the left and right sides from the top to the bottom. Any markings, entries or text that are within the one-half inch margin shall be deemed not to impart the notice otherwise imparted by recordation unless such markings, entries or text appear in the reproduction produced under the direction and control of the county recorder. Failure to meet the one-half inch margin requirement of this subsection may affect notice imparted by the document but shall not constitute grounds for rejection for recordation pursuant to subsection A of this section.
C. The first page shall have a top margin of at least two inches, which shall be reserved for recording information. The left three and one-half inches of the top margin of the first page or sheet may be used by the public to show the name of the person requesting recording and the name and address to which the document is to be returned following recording. If the first page of the instrument does not comply with the top margin requirements, a separate sheet that meets the requirements and that reflects the title of the document as required by subsection A, paragraph 1 of this section shall be attached to the front of the document by the party requesting recording.
D. Any instrument presented to a county recorder for recordation that modifies in any way the provisions of a previously recorded document must state the date of recordation and the docket and page of the document being modified.
E. Any instrument accepted for recordation is not subject to a later claim of invalidity for failure to comply with the requirements of this section.