706.08 Nonrecording, effect.
(1)
(a) Except for patents issued by the United States or this state, or by the proper officers of either, every conveyance that is not recorded as provided by law shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, of the same real estate or any portion of the same real estate whose conveyance is recorded first.
(b) A conveyance of mineral interests which is not recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the land is located, within 30 days after it is signed by the lessor, is void.
(2) Where a public tract index or abstract of title index is maintained, an instrument properly indexed therein and recorded at length at the place there shown shall be deemed to be duly recorded for purposes of this section, despite any error or omission in the process of including the instrument, or prior instruments in the same chain of title, in other records. Where an instrument is not properly indexed in such tract or abstract of title index, or where such index is not publicly maintained, the instrument shall be deemed to be duly recorded only if the instrument, together with prior instruments necessary to trace title by use of alphabetical indexes by names of parties, are properly indexed in such alphabetical indexes, and recorded at length at the places there shown. Wherever an instrument is duly recorded hereunder, its record shall be effective as of the date and hour at which it is shown by the general index to have been accepted for record.
(3) When an express trust is created, but its existence is not disclosed in a recorded conveyance to the trustee, the title of the trustee shall be deemed absolute as against the subsequent creditors of the trustee not having notice of the trust and as against purchasers from such trustee without notice and for a valuable consideration.
(4) It shall be conclusively presumed that a person is a trustee of a valid express trust and has full power of conveyance if all of the following occur:
(a) The person is designated as trustee and holds an interest in land as trustee.
(b) The person's authority and powers as trustee are not set forth in a recorded instrument.
(c) The person conveys an interest in land as trustee to a good faith purchaser, as defined in s. 401.201 (2) (qm).
(5) When a conveyance purports to be absolute in terms, but is made or intended to be made defeasible by force of another instrument for that purpose, the original conveyance shall not be thereby defeated or affected as against any person other than the maker of the defeasance or the maker's heirs or devisees or persons having actual notice thereof, unless the instrument of defeasance has been recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the lands lie.
(6) The recording of an assignment of a mortgage shall not in itself be deemed notice of such assignment to the mortgagor so as to invalidate any payment made to the mortgagee without actual notice of such assignment.
(7) No letter of attorney or other instrument containing a power to convey lands, when executed and recorded under this chapter, shall be deemed to be revoked by any act of the party by whom it was executed unless the instrument containing such revocation is also recorded in the same office in which the instrument containing the power was recorded, and such record shall import notice to all persons, including the agent named in said letter of attorney of the contents thereof. The death of the party executing such letter of attorney shall not operate as a revocation thereof as to the attorney or agent until the attorney or agent has notice of the death, or as to one who without notice of such death in good faith deals with the attorney or agent.
History: 1977 c. 253; 1989 a. 231; 1993 a. 486; 1999 a. 85; 2009 a. 320.
An unrecorded conveyance, if delivered, is valid against judgment creditors since they are not bona fide creditors for value. West Federal Savings & Loan v. Interstate Investment, 57 Wis. 2d 690, 205 N.W.2d 361 (1973).
A purchaser having constructive notice that there may have been an unrecorded conveyance was not a “purchaser in good faith" under sub. (1) (a). Kordecki v. Rizzo, 106 Wis. 2d 713, 317 N.W.2d 479 (1982).
An original mortgagee's knowledge of a prior mortgage not properly of record will not be imputed to an assignee of the mortgage with no knowledge of the prior mortgage and does not render the assignee not a purchaser in good faith under sub. (1) (a) who cannot claim priority. The Bank of New Glarus v. Swartwood, 2006 WI App 224, 297 Wis. 2d 458, 725 N.W.2d 944, 05-0647.
“Good faith" for purposes of sub. (1) (a) exists only when there is no notice under s. 706.09. Anderson v. Quinn, 2007 WI App 260, 306 Wis. 2d 686, 743 N.W.2d 492, 06-2462.