Deeds of real estate, or any interest therein, in this state, except leases for one year or for a less time, if executed in this state, must be signed by the grantor or grantors, being of lawful age, and be acknowledged or proved and recorded as directed in sections 76-216 to 76-237.

The use of private seals upon all deeds, mortgages, leases, bonds, and other instruments and contracts in writing, is abolished, and the addition of a private seal to any such instrument or contract in writing shall not affect its equity or legality in any respect.

All deeds, mortgages, or other instruments in writing, for the conveyance or encumbrance of real estate, or any interest therein, which have been made and executed without the use of a private seal are declared to be legal and valid in all courts of law and equity in this state and elsewhere.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, every grantee who has a deed to real estate recorded and every purchaser of real estate who has a memorandum of contract or land contract recorded shall, at the time such deed, memorandum of contract, or land contract is presented for recording, file with the register of deeds a completed statement as prescribed by the Tax Commissioner. For all deeds and all memoranda of contract and land contracts recorded on and after January 1, 2001, the statement shall not require the social security number of the grantee or purchaser or the federal employer identification number of the grantee or purchaser. This statement may require the recitation of any information contained in the deed, memorandum of contract, or land contract, the total consideration paid, the amount of the total consideration attributable to factors other than the purchase of the real estate itself, and other factors which may influence the transaction. If a death certificate is recorded as provided in subsection (2) of this section, this statement may require a date of death, the name of the decedent, and whether the title is affected as a result of a transfer on death deed, a joint tenancy deed, or the expiration of a life estate or by any other means. This statement shall ask whether the affidavit described in section 76-2,141 is required with respect to the deed, memorandum of contract, or land contract and, if so, whether such affidavit has been completed. This statement shall be signed and filed by the grantee, the purchaser, or his or her authorized agent. The register of deeds shall forward the statement to the county assessor. If the grantee or purchaser fails to furnish the prescribed statement, the register of deeds shall not record the deed, memorandum of contract, or land contract. The register of deeds shall indicate on the statement the book and page or computer system reference where the deed, memorandum of contract, or land contract is recorded and shall immediately forward the statement to the county assessor. The county assessor shall process the statement according to the instructions of the Property Tax Administrator and shall, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Tax Commissioner, forward the statement to the Tax Commissioner.

(2)(a) The statement described in subsection (1) of this section shall be filed at the time that a certified or authenticated copy of the grantor's death certificate is filed if such death certificate is required to be filed under section 76-2,126 and the conveyance of real estate was pursuant to a transfer on death deed.

(b) The statement described in subsection (1) of this section shall not be required to be filed at the time that a transfer on death deed is filed or at the time that an instrument of revocation of a transfer on death deed as described in subdivision (a)(1)(B) of section 76-3413 is filed.

(3) Any person shall have access to the statements at the office of the Tax Commissioner, county assessor, or register of deeds if the statements are available and have not been disposed of pursuant to the records retention and disposition schedule as approved by the State Records Administrator.

(4) The statement described in subsection (1) of this section shall not be required if the document being recorded is an easement or an oil, gas, or mineral lease, or any subsequent assignment of an easement or such lease, except that such statement shall be required for conservation easements and preservation easements as such terms are defined in section 76-2,111 and recreational trail easements used to qualify for the property tax exemption provided by the Recreational Trail Easement Property Tax Exemption Act.

Any person who fails to obey the provisions of subsection (1) of section 76-214 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars nor exceeding five hundred dollars.

The grantor must acknowledge the instrument with an acknowledgment as defined in section 64-205.

The acknowledgment must be made or proved, if in this state, before a judge or clerk of any court, United States Magistrate or notary public therein; but no officer can take any such acknowledgment or proof out of his territorial jurisdiction.

No deed, mortgage, affidavit, power of attorney or other instrument in writing shall be invalidated because of any defects in the wording of the seal of the notary public attached thereto.

Every officer within this state authorized to take the acknowledgment or proof of any conveyance, and every county clerk, who shall be guilty of knowingly stating an untruth, or guilty of any malfeasance or fraudulent practice in the execution of the duties prescribed for them by law, in relation to the taking or the certifying of the proof or acknowledgment, or the recording or certifying of any record of any such conveyance, mortgage or instrument in writing, or in relation to the canceling of any mortgage, shall upon conviction be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to punishment by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding one year, and shall also be liable in damages to the party injured.

If the instrument is executed and acknowledged or proved in any other state, territory or district of the United States, it must be executed and acknowledged or proved either according to the laws of such state, territory or district or in accordance with the law of this state, and if acknowledged out of this state it must be before some court of record or clerk or officer holding the seal thereof, or before some commissioner to take the acknowledgment of deeds, appointed by the Governor of this state, or before some notary public.

If such deed be executed in a foreign country, it may be executed according to the laws of such country, and the execution thereof may be acknowledged before any notary public therein, or before any minister plenipotentiary, minister extraordinary, minister resident, charge d'affaires, commissioner, commercial agent, or consul of the United States appointed to reside therein, which acknowledgment shall be certified thereon by the officer taking the same, under his hand, and if taken before a notary public, his seal of office shall be affixed to such certificate.

The acknowledgment of legal instruments, the attestation of documents, the administration of oaths and other notarial acts, heretofore or hereafter taken before any duly commissioned officer of the army, navy, marine corps, coast guard, or any other component part of the armed forces of the United States are hereby declared legal, valid and binding, and such instrument and documents shall be admissible in evidence and eligible to record in this state under the same circumstances, and with the same force and effect as if such acknowledgment, attestation, oath, affidavit, or other notarial act had been made or taken before a notary public within this state. If the signature, rank and branch of service of any such officer appear upon such instrument or document, no further proof of the authority of such officer to so act shall be required.

If the grantor dies before acknowledgment, or if for any cause his attendance cannot be procured in order to make the same, or, having appeared, he refused to acknowledge it, proof of the execution and delivery of the deed may be made by any competent subscribing witness thereto before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment. The witness must state, upon oath, his own place of residence, that he set his name to the deed as a witness, that he knew the grantor in such deed, and saw him sign or heard him acknowledge he had signed the same. Such proof shall not be taken unless the officer is personally acquainted with such subscribing witness, or has satisfactory evidence that he is the same person who was a subscribing witness to such deed.

The officer has power to issue the necessary subpoenas for the subscribing witnesses, residing in the same county, to appear before him for the purpose stated in section 76-228.

Every person served with a subpoena and tendered the fees of a witness who, without reasonable cause, refuses or neglects to appear, or appearing, refuses to answer upon oath touching the matters referred to in section 76-228, shall forfeit to the party injured one hundred dollars and may also be committed to prison by the officer who issued such subpoena, there to remain without bail until he or she shall submit to answer upon oath as aforesaid.

If all the subscribing witnesses shall be dead, or out of the state, such death or absence is first to be proved, and then the execution of the deed may be proved before such officer by proving the handwriting of the grantor and of any subscribing witness to such deed.

Any person interested in a deed that is not acknowledged, may, at any time before or during the proceedings before such officer, file, in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the lands lie, a copy of the deed, compared with the original by the register of deeds, which shall, for the space of thirty days thereafter, have the same effect as the recording of the deed, if such deed shall within that time be duly proved and recorded.

Every officer, who shall take the acknowledgment or proof of any deed, shall endorse a certificate thereof signed by himself on the deed, and in such certificate shall truly and specifically set forth the matters hereinbefore required to be done, known or proved, on such acknowledgment or proof, together with the names of the witnesses examined before such officer, and their places of residence, and the substance of the evidence by them given.

No acknowledgment of any conveyance shall be taken by any officer, unless the officer taking it shall know or have satisfactory evidence that the person making such acknowledgment is the person described in and who executed such conveyance.

Every deed acknowledged or proved, and certified by any of the officers named in sections 76-217, 76-219, 76-220, 76-226 and 76-227, and authorized to take acknowledgments, including the certificate specified in section 76-242, whenever such certificate is required by law, may be read in evidence without further proof, and shall be entitled to be recorded. The record of a deed duly recorded, or a transcript thereof duly certified, may also be read in evidence with the like force and effect as the original deed, whenever by the party's oath or otherwise the original is known to be lost, or not belonging to the party wishing to use the same, nor within his control. Neither the certificate of the acknowledgment or the proof of any deed, nor the record or transcript of the record of such deed, shall be conclusive, but may be rebutted, and the force and effect thereof may be contested by any party affected thereby. If the party contesting the proof of a deed shall make it appear that such proof was taken upon the oath of an interested or incompetent witness, neither such deed nor the record thereof shall be received in evidence until established by other competent proof.

The certificate of the proof or acknowledgment of every deed, and the certificate of the genuineness of the signature of any officer, in the cases where such last-mentioned certificate is required, shall be recorded together with the deed so proved or acknowledged; and unless the certificates be so recorded, neither the record of such deed nor the transcript thereof shall be read or received in evidence.

Every deed, entitled by law to be recorded, shall be recorded in the order and as of the time when the same shall be delivered to the register of deeds for that purpose, and shall be considered recorded from the time of such delivery.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in sections 76-3413 to 76-3415, all deeds, mortgages, and other instruments of writing which are required to be or which under the laws of this state may be recorded, shall take effect and be in force from and after the time of delivering such instruments to the register of deeds for recording, and not before, as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers in good faith without notice. All such instruments are void as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers without notice whose deeds, mortgages, or other instruments are recorded prior to such instruments. However, such instruments are valid between the parties to the instrument. The transfer of any debt secured by a mortgage shall also operate as a transfer of the security of such debt.

(2) For purposes of this section, possession of agricultural real estate or residential real estate by a party related to the owner of record of the real estate within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity shall not serve as notice to a creditor or subsequent purchaser in any case in which such party is claiming rights in such real estate pursuant to a lease (a) entered into on or after July 16, 2004; (b) purporting to extend beyond a term of one year; and (c) which has not satisfied the requirements of section 76-211, unless the creditor or subsequent purchaser, in advance of recording a deed, mortgage, or other instrument, has received a written copy of such lease.

(3) For purposes of this section:

(a) Agricultural products includes grain and feed crops; forages and sod crops; and animal production, including breeding, feeding, or grazing of cattle, horses, swine, sheep, goats, bees, or poultry;

(b) Agricultural real estate means land which is primarily used for the production of agricultural products, including waste land lying in or adjacent to and in common ownership with land used for the production of agricultural products;

(c) Related within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity includes parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and spouses of the same and any partnership, limited liability company, or corporation in which all of the partners, members, or shareholders are related within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity; and

(d) Residential real estate means real estate containing not more than four units designed for use for residential purposes. A condominium unit that is otherwise residential real estate remains so even though the condominium development contains more than four dwelling units or units for nonresidential purposes.