Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No, a request for a copy of the original grant deed will NOT postpone, delay, nor disrupt the foreclosure process. The original grant deed was copied/filed by the county recorder and then the original was returned to whoever was designated in the "Mail to:" box on the form.

What you may be thinking of is the "Show me the Note" process that originated out of Florida, a judicial foreclosure process state. Here in California, we have a non-judicial foreclosure that is used 99.9999% of the time. California's non-judicial process is very difficult to intercede or prevent, not impossible but very difficult.

The promissory note is the key to the process. The note is not recorded at the county recorders office. For the last 10 years most of the residential financing has utilized a securitization process where the transfer, sale, and endorsment of the note as a negotiable instrument may or may not have been done properly. If not done properly, it is argued that the note and the Deed of Trust may have been split or separated leaving the note as unsecured or unperfected and therefore the power of sale granted in the Deed of Trust can not be effected by the current servicer. NOW THIS would disrupt the non-judicial foreclosure process.

MERS is a third party player that may or may not have been used to facilitate the securitization process. The MERS registration is gathering a whole lot of attention and is beginning to falter as a short cut to the county recorder filings for the traditional transfers of the Note and Deed of Trust.

There are serious questions about the companies that are producing post closing and transfer documentation and the resulting litigation.

No, the Grant Deed is not the issue.

Mr. Lockhart is right, in that the grant deed is where the borrower took title. You would be looking for the promissory note. That is not recorded, as Mr. Lockhart stated. If you are the borrower, you are what isk nown as an "entitled person" and may request a beneficiary or his agent to deliver to you a copy of the notice or other evidence of indebtedness, pursuant to Civil Code section 2943. The request for the promissory note may be made at aty time before or within the two (2) month period fiollowing the recording of a notice of default.