Highland County Mortgage Instrument and Promissory Note Form

An Ohio mortgage puts the borrower's real estate behind a promissory note. This fillable form prepares that mortgage in the statutory form of Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.12, for one or two owners who grant the property as security to one or two lenders, with the dower release the statutory form prints and a separate acknowledgment certificate for every signer.

Two defined phrases that carry the whole instrument

Two phrases defined by statute do most of the work. "Mortgage covenants" (Section 5302.13) means the mortgagor covenants that the mortgagor is lawfully seized in fee simple, that the premises are free from encumbrances, that the mortgagor has good right to sell and convey, and that the mortgagor warrants and will defend the premises against all lawful claims. "Statutory condition" (Section 5302.14) means that if the mortgagor pays the principal and interest, performs the other secured obligations and any prior mortgage, pays the taxes and assessments, keeps the buildings insured for the mortgagee's benefit, and commits no waste, the mortgage is void. The form grants with mortgage covenants and upon the statutory condition, prints the statute's own summary of the condition, and secures a stated sum with interest as provided in a note of the same date.

A lien that dates from delivery to the recorder

Under Section 5301.23, a properly executed Ohio mortgage takes effect when it is delivered to the county recorder for record, and two mortgages on the same land presented the same day take effect in the order of presentation. The same section requires the mortgagee's current mailing address on the instrument, and the form carries one. A mortgage is presented straight to the recorder; the county auditor's transfer stamp and conveyance fee statement that an Ohio deed of absolute conveyance passes through do not reach it.

The dower release on the face of the form

Ohio keeps dower. Under Section 2103.02 the spouse of an owner holds an inchoate life estate in one third of the real property of which the owner is seized during the marriage, and a mortgage signed by a married owner alone leaves that interest in place. The statutory mortgage form answers with a sentence releasing dower to the mortgagee, and this form carries that sentence with a name blank, a SPOUSE OF MORTGAGOR signature block, and a third acknowledgment certificate, so a spouse who is not an owner can release dower on the same instrument. Where every owner signs as a mortgagor, or the owner is unmarried, those entries stay blank.

One or two mortgagors, one or two mortgagees

The form is the general configuration of the Ohio mortgage: free-form party blocks with nothing preprinted about marital status, vesting, or capacity. The mortgagor block recites one or two natural persons who hold title in their own names, each with a status recital; the mortgagee block recites one or two natural persons who lend in their own names. Two mortgagor signature blocks and two matching acknowledgment certificates follow, so a single mortgagor leaves the second pair blank. A sibling pair borrowing against an inherited house from a private lender, and a married owner borrowing from relatives while the non-owner spouse releases dower, present the patterns this form recites. The form is not set up as an entity or trustee mortgage, an attorney-in-fact signing, an open-end mortgage under Section 5301.232, or a mortgage for three or more owners or lenders.

Signing and recording in Ohio

Each mortgagor signs and acknowledges before a notary public or another officer Section 5301.01 names; the mortgagee does not sign. The instrument is built to the Section 317.114 standard format, with the three-inch blank top margin on the first page, one-and-one-half-inch top margins on later pages, and twelve-point type, and it carries the preparer statement Section 317.111 requires. Recording fees under Sections 317.32 and 317.36 run $34 for the first two pages and $8 for each additional page before any county surcharge. Ohio enforces a mortgage through a foreclosure action in which the court orders the sale (Section 2323.07); the form carries no power of sale.

The package includes the fillable mortgage form, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County fact pattern with two mortgagors, two mortgagees, and a spouse's dower release, and a guide that walks through every section, the dower rules, and the recording process. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.