Geauga County Partial Release of Mortgage (Two Individuals) Form

When two people hold an Ohio mortgage in their own names, letting one parcel out of the lien is an act both of them perform. This form prepares a partial release of mortgage for exactly that configuration: two individual mortgagees, two signature blocks that are never left blank, two acknowledgment certificates, and a printed recital that neither person signs for anyone but themselves. Ohio's conveyancing chapter speaks of mortgages rather than deeds of trust, so a partial release of deed of trust is, in Ohio, a partial release of mortgage.

Two holders, two signatures, one release

The instrument is the separate instrument of partial release that Section 5301.32 of the Ohio Revised Code describes, acknowledged as Section 5301.01 provides and recorded in the county recorder's official records. Because the mortgage belongs to two people, the release is their joint act: the form carries a MORTGAGEE block and a SECOND MORTGAGEE block, each with a printed-name line under Section 317.11 and a date line, and an acknowledgment certificate in the Section 147.55(A) short form follows for each signer. Two certificates let the holders appear before different officers on different days, in Ohio or elsewhere. The layout is the form's design; Ohio's certificate statutes do not limit a certificate to one signer.

What the recital fixes

Section 1 of the form recites, as fixed text, that the two individuals named below hold the mortgage in their own names, each as an individual and not in any representative capacity, and together are the Mortgagees. The names and mailing addresses are the only blanks in that section. A married couple who lent their savings on a mortgage taken in both their names, two siblings who together financed a relative's purchase, and two co-investors named together as mortgagees present the two-holder pattern this instrument recites, whether as original mortgagees or as assignees of record under an assignment the form identifies. The form is not set up as a release by one holder, by three or more holders, or by a bank, company, trust, or estate, and it recites no signature by an agent, trustee, or personal representative, each a different configuration with its own acknowledgment form under Section 147.55.

The parcel that leaves the lien

The form fixes the mortgage by its mortgagor, date, original principal amount, county of recording, and recording reference, and it describes the land released by county, permanent parcel number, municipal corporation or township, street address, and legal description. The parcel number and the municipality are the indexing elements Section 5301.46 names for a release made by separate instrument, and omitting part of that description does not invalidate the instrument. The operative paragraph then does two things on the face of the record: it releases and discharges the described land from the lien and operation of the mortgage and no other land, and it states that the mortgage remains in full force on the land not released and that the secured debt is not released, satisfied, or affected. A full satisfaction after payment in full is the certificate Section 5301.34 describes, a different instrument.

Indexed against the mortgage it changes

A partial release is recorded in the county where the released land lies and indexed against the mortgage it affects, which is why the form carries the mortgage's recording reference. Section 317.32(C) sets a four dollar combined fee for each marginal reference a separate recorded instrument sets out, on top of the ordinary recording fee of thirty-four dollars for the first two pages and eight dollars for each page after that, plus any county preservation surcharge. The pages follow the Section 317.114 standard format, so the instrument records without the twenty dollar nonstandard-format fee, and a prepared-by block carries the name Section 317.111 places on an instrument that discharges a lien. No auditor transfer stamp is involved, because the release conveys no title.

The package includes the fillable partial release of mortgage form, a completed example filled in for a Summit County fact pattern in which a married couple holding the mortgage in both their names release one platted lot, and the guide that describes every section of the form, the two acknowledgments, and the recording rules. Neither this description nor the guide applies Ohio law to a particular mortgage or parcel, and neither is legal advice.