Knox County Mortgage Form

An Ohio mortgage grants real property as security for a debt; it is not a sale. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.12 the mortgagor grants the land to the mortgagee with mortgage covenants and upon the statutory condition, and once the debt is paid the mortgage is void. This Ohio Mortgage prepares that statutory-form instrument for a loan between individuals: one or two borrowers grant Ohio real estate to one or two lenders to secure payment of a promissory note of the same date. A private lender's loan against a house, a seller's financing of a sale, and a loan within a family present that pattern.

Two phrases that carry the whole instrument

Chapter 5302 keeps an Ohio mortgage short by giving two phrases a statutory meaning. Mortgage covenants, under Section 5302.13, are the mortgagor's covenants of seisin in fee simple, freedom from encumbrances, good right to sell and convey, and warranty against the lawful claims of all persons. The statutory condition, under Section 5302.14, is the condition on which the mortgage becomes void: payment of principal and interest, performance of the other secured obligations and of any prior mortgage, payment of taxes and assessments when due, fire and extended coverage insurance for the mortgagee's benefit, and no waste. The form uses both phrases as the statutory form does: the grant is made with mortgage covenants, and the mortgage is given upon the statutory condition, followed by the statutory form's own summary of that condition.

Effective the moment it reaches the recorder

Section 5301.23(A) makes an Ohio mortgage take effect when it is delivered to the county recorder for record in the county where the premises lie, and two mortgages on the same land presented the same day take effect in the order presented. Priority is a matter of minutes at the counter. The form is built to Section 317.114's page standards: a three-inch blank first-page top margin for the recorder's endorsement, one-inch side and bottom margins, and a one and one-half inch top margin on later pages. Its body type is twelve point, above the section's ten-point minimum. The mortgagee block collects the current mailing address Section 5301.23(B) asks for, and a mortgage does not pass through the county auditor's transfer desk.

Dower and the spouse who signs

Ohio still recognizes dower. Section 2103.02 gives a spouse a life estate in one third of the real property the other spouse owned during the marriage, an interest that survives a mortgage signed by the owner alone unless released. The statutory mortgage form answers with one sentence, printed here as Section 7: the named spouse, wife or husband of the mortgagor, releases to the mortgagee all rights of dower in the described real property. The release is the spouse's own act, so the form carries a SPOUSE OF MORTGAGOR signature block with its own certificate; where both spouses sign as mortgagors, each signs a mortgagor block instead, and an unmarried mortgagor leaves Section 7 blank. The form carries one spouse release; where two mortgagors each have a spouse who is not a mortgagor, the second spouse's release of dower is a separate instrument, prepared separately and not included in this package.

One or two mortgagors, one or two mortgagees

The form recites nothing about the parties beyond what is typed in. The mortgagor block is open space for one or two natural persons with their marital status in their own words, as the statutory form's marital status blank contemplates, and the mortgagee block receives one or two lenders: one mortgagor to one mortgagee, one to two, two to one, or two to two, with the second mortgagor block left blank on a single-borrower loan. Three signature blocks follow, MORTGAGOR, SECOND MORTGAGOR, and SPOUSE OF MORTGAGOR, each with the Ohio statutory short form of acknowledgment under Section 147.55(A), so signers may appear before different notaries on different days. The mortgagee signs nothing. The form is not set up as a mortgage by a company, trust, fiduciary, or attorney in fact, for three or more mortgagors, or as an open-end mortgage under Section 5301.232.

What stays in the note

The mortgage secures a stated number of dollars with interest as provided in a note of the same date; the rate, the installments, and the maturity date belong to the note, which is prepared separately and is not part of this package. The mortgage carries no power of sale; Section 2323.07 puts an Ohio foreclosure sale under court order. When the debt is paid, Section 5301.36 gives the mortgagee ninety days to record the release Section 5301.34 describes, recorded separately and not included here.

The package includes the fillable Ohio Mortgage form, a completed example for a fictional Franklin County loan, and a guide covering every section, the signing and dower rules, and recording. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.