Section 5309.51. Assignment of lease, encumbrance, or lien upon registered land - registration of waivers of priority of lien

The holder of any mortgage, encumbrance, lease, charge, or lien upon registered land may execute to a transferee an assignment for the whole or any part of the mortgage, encumbrance, lease, charge, or lien, by endorsement of the assignment on the original instrument of encumbrance, the holder's duplicate, the mortgagee's certified copy of a mortgage, or by a separate instrument acknowledged as required by section 5301.01 of the Revised Code. The assignment of only a part of the mortgage, encumbrance, lease, charge, or lien shall state whether the part transferred is to be given priority, be deferred, or rank equally with the remaining part. When that assignment is filed with the county recorder and the assignor produces the instrument of encumbrance that the assignor holds, if that instrument is the original instrument or one of the original duplicates of the instrument, and in the case of a mortgage when the assignor produces the "mortgagee's certified copy," if that copy was issued and delivered, the recorder, being satisfied that the assignment is properly made and should be registered, shall register the assignment by entering a memorial of the part transferred, the date of transfer, the name, residence, and post-office address of the transferee, how the part transferred is to rank with the remaining part, and the file number upon the register in which the instrument creating the charge is registered, and in case of assignment by separate instrument, upon the original instrument. The recorder shall endorse on the instrument of assignment the exact time of filing and the volume and folium of the register in which the assignment is registered. If the original instrument of encumbrance, or one of the duplicates of the instrument, is recorded, the assignee, on payment of the recorder's fees, may have that assignment copied on the margin of the record of the instrument assigned, or copied in a separate volume and noted on the margin of the record of the instrument assigned, if the recorder keeps any such separate volume for the record of assignments and transfers. The record of that assignment shall be noted on the indexes of the instrument assigned. If the original instrument of encumbrance or one of the original duplicates of the instrument, endorsed by the recorder, or a mortgagee's certified copy of the mortgage, is outstanding in the hands of the encumbrancer, lessee, or their assigns, no entry or memorial of an assignment or transfer of that instrument or security of any part of the instrument shall be made by the recorder without the production of the original instrument, or the endorsed original duplicate of the instrument, or the mortgagee's certified copy.

Waivers of the priority of lien of mortgages may be registered subject to the requirements of this section as to assignments.

Effective Date: 02-01-2002