MERS: The Unreported Effects of Lost Chain of Title on Real Property Owners

Authors

David E. Woolley
Lisa D. Herzog

Abstract

A Mortgage Electronic Registry System ("MERS") keeps electronic records on half of the home mortgages in the United States. The author analyzes the destructive effect that the MERS system will have on 400 years of recorded property rights in the United States, explains how junior and senior property rights are determined in the face of a boundary dispute, and discusses the robo-signer scandal. The article explains how the lost chain of title affects homeowners with or without mortgages in the MERS system, including the ramifications on the ground for determining property boundaries and proof of ownership in order to obtain title insurance and financing.

Recommended Citation

David E. Woolley and Lisa D. Herzog, MERS: The Unreported Effects of Lost Chain of Title on Real Property Owners, 8 Hastings Bus. L.J. 365 (2012).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_business_law_journal/vol8/iss2/3