Texas · Property Code §§5.027–5.031Texas correction deed: fixing errors in a recorded deed

Texas Property Code §§5.027–5.031 set out how a recorded deed or other conveyance can be corrected without a lawsuit. A correction instrument may fix an ambiguity or error, including one about the description or extent of the interest conveyed (§5.027). Nonmaterial corrections (§5.028) can be made by a person with personal knowledge of the relevant facts: clerical errors in a legal description – a distance, angle, bearing, plat reference, lot or block number, unit, subdivision or condominium name, county name – or in a party's name, marital status, the execution date, recording data or acknowledgment facts; inadvertent errors such as a legal description prepared for the deed but left out, or an omitted call in a metes and bounds description; and a missing acknowledgment. The person signing must state the basis for their personal knowledge, record the correction in every county where the original is recorded and, if not every original party signs, send a copy and notice to each of them or their heirs, successors or assigns. Material corrections (§5.029) – adding a buyer's disclaimer, a mortgagee's consent or subordination, or land to a conveyance that correctly conveys other land, removing land, or fixing a lot or unit number mixed up between properties of the same grantor – must be signed by every party to the original instrument or their successors and recorded in each county. A compliant correction instrument is effective as of the original instrument's date, is prima facie evidence of the facts it states, is presumed true but rebuttable, gives notice to later buyers and replaces the original; a good-faith purchaser can rely on it, but it is subject to the interests of creditors and purchasers for value without notice who acquired theirs between the original's recording and the correction's recording (§5.030).