Sterling County Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty Form
Last validated August 12, 2026 by our Forms Development Team
Sterling County Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty Form
Fill in the blank Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty form formatted to comply with all Texas recording and content requirements.

Sterling County Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty form.

Sterling County Completed Example of the Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty Document
Example of a properly completed Texas Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty document for reference.
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Additional Texas and Sterling County documents included at no extra charge:
Where to Record Your Documents
Sterling County Clerk
Sterling City, Texas 76951
Hours: 8:30 to 4:30 Mon - Thu; 8:30 to 2:00 Fri
Phone: (325) 378-5191
Recording Tips for Sterling County:
- Check that your notary's commission hasn't expired
- Recorded documents become public record - avoid including SSNs
- Recording fees may differ from what's posted online - verify current rates
- Make copies of your documents before recording - keep originals safe
Cities and Jurisdictions in Sterling County
Properties in any of these areas use Sterling County forms:
- Sterling City
Hours, fees, requirements, and more for Sterling County
How do I get my forms?
Forms are available for immediate download after payment. The Sterling County forms will be in your account ready to download to your computer. An account is created for you during checkout if you don't have one. Forms are NOT emailed.
Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Sterling County?
Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable formatting requirements used for recording in Sterling County, including margin requirements, font requirements, and other layout standards. This guarantee applies to formatting, not to the legal sufficiency of information entered by the user or the suitability of a form for a particular transaction.
Can I reuse these forms?
Yes. You can reuse the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have multiple properties in Sterling County you only need to order once.
What do I need to use these forms?
The forms are PDFs that you fill out on your computer. You'll need Adobe Reader (free software that most computers already have). You do NOT enter your property information online - you download the blank forms and complete them privately on your own computer.
Are there any recurring fees?
No. This is a one-time purchase. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.
How much does it cost to record in Sterling County?
Recording fees in Sterling County vary. Contact the recorder's office at (325) 378-5191 for current fees.
Questions answered? Let's get started!
Texas homestead law voids most liens the moment they touch a homestead, and the short list of exceptions in Article XVI, Section 50 of the Texas Constitution is famously hard to get onto. An owelty of partition is on that list. When co-owned property is divided unequally, so that one co-owner keeps the whole property and owes the other for the surrendered share, the constitution permits that equalizing debt to be secured against the entirety of the property, homestead included. This deed of trust is the security instrument for exactly that debt.
A Lien That Reaches the Whole Property
Section 50(a)(3) excepts from homestead protection an owelty of partition imposed against the entirety of the property by a court order or by a written agreement of the parties to the partition, including a debt of one spouse in favor of the other spouse resulting from a division or an award of a family homestead in a divorce proceeding. Property Code Section 41.001(b)(4) repeats the rule on the statutory side. The doctrine is older still: in Sayers v. Pyland (Tex. 1942), the Texas Supreme Court described an owelty as being in the nature of purchase money secured by a vendor's lien and enforced one against a homestead fixed by voluntary agreement. The form recites the constitutional and statutory provisions, states that the lien attaches to the entirety of the property including any homestead interest, and identifies the specific decree or partition agreement that imposed the owelty, the connection on which the exception depends.
Divorce Buyouts and Co-Owner Partitions
The most common owelty arises in divorce: the decree awards the home to one spouse and imposes an owelty in favor of the other, payable over time or at a refinance or sale. The same structure carries a voluntary partition among co-owners, such as siblings who inherited a property and signed a written agreement setting it aside to one of them. In either setting, the co-owner keeping the property signs a promissory note and this deed of trust; the departing co-owner holds a recorded lien on the whole property rather than an unsecured promise. Where a married grantor encumbers homestead property in a co-owner partition, the form carries a joining spouse signature block and separate acknowledgment for the joinder Family Code Section 5.001 describes.
The Note, the Source Instrument, and the Power of Sale
The form identifies the note by date, amount, maker, payee, interest, and maturity, conveys the property to a trustee in trust with power of sale, and states the remedy path on default: acceleration after any required notice and cure period, then a trustee sale conducted under the notice, timing, and place requirements of Property Code Section 51.002, with substitute trustees appointed under Section 51.0075. The notice of confidentiality rights required by Property Code Section 11.008 appears at the top of the first page, and the instrument is formatted for Texas recording standards with space reserved for the clerk's stamp.
What Comes With the Form
The download includes the fillable deed of trust, a guide that walks through all fourteen sections with the statutes and cases behind them, and a completed example documenting a realistic divorce owelty from decree to acknowledgment. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.
Important: Your property must be located in Sterling County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.
This Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty meets all recording requirements specific to Sterling County.
Our Promise
The documents you receive here are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable Sterling County recording format requirements. If there is a rejection caused by our formatting, we will correct the issue or refund your payment. This guarantee applies to document formatting only and does not extend to information entered by the user, the selection of the form, or the legal effect of the completed document.
Save Time and Money
Get your Sterling County Deed of Trust to Secure Owelty form done right the first time with Deeds.com Uniform Conveyancing Blanks. At Deeds.com, we understand that your time and money are valuable resources, and we don't want you to face a penalty fee or rejection imposed by a county recorder for submitting nonstandard documents. We constantly review and update our forms to meet rapidly changing state and county recording requirements for roughly 3,500 counties and local jurisdictions.
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October 22nd, 2021
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August 21st, 2019
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March 10th, 2022
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September 22nd, 2020
Absolutely recommend Deeds.com! The process to recording your document is explained step by step. If you have any questions, you just send a message and almost instantly a staff member will reply. Super quick processing. I uploaded my document late Friday afternoon, it was reviewed by Deeds.com staff and sent to the county for recording on Monday. By Tuesday, my document was successfully recorded by the County Recorder's Office and a copy of my recorded document was available for me, as well!
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William P.
October 31st, 2019
I was very pleased with the end results regarding Quitclaim deeds.
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ERHAN S.
February 3rd, 2023
amazing time and cost saving service for me. Thank you.
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Annelie A.
April 22nd, 2020
Unfortunately the forms were not useful to me, I still had to go pay a lawyer to create a deed for me.
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Carlin L.
March 14th, 2019
I have yet to have my Certification of Trust notarized nor have I gone to my bank to see if it's acceptable I hope it will be it was rather easy to do thank you so much.
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Lenore B.
January 13th, 2019
Thank you for making this deed available. The guide was such a big help.
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Ray L.
February 8th, 2019
Thank you, I am very satisfied with the process and will provide a final review after the documents are completed and accepted by the state.
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Viola G.
November 2nd, 2023
no as easy as anticipated but convenient.
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David B.
June 26th, 2023
fast and easy.
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Darrell P.
February 23rd, 2019
My legal description exceeds the avaiable space in the one page Exhibit A...any way to add a second page as 'Exhibit A (continued)'?
It is not required to use the included exhibit page. Simply label your printed legal description as the appropriate exhibit.
Dina O.
December 29th, 2023
easy to use and efficient i like that they give you an example to compare your work to
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Matthew T.
September 9th, 2020
I am a litigator based in Lee County that rarely needs to record deeds or mortgages. However, at times, the settlement or resolution of a dispute results in the conveyance of real property. I ended up in a situation where a deed to real property in Bradford County needed to be recorded on behalf of a client. My usual e-recording vendor does not include that County. Registering with Bradford County's regular e-recording vendor would have required an expensive and unnecessary annual fee. Deeds.com was easy to use, inexpensive and fast. I highly encourage its use, especially for lawyers that occasionally need to record instruments but do not do so regularly.
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