As used in this act:

1. “Apparent cloud” means an effect, without a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, which in the good faith opinion of a requestor results in a condition of title to real property located in the State of Oklahoma that fails to meet the standard of “marketable title” as defined by the “Oklahoma Title Examination Standards” as adopted and revised by the House of Delegates of the Oklahoma Bar Association;

2. “Certified mail” means that method of transmitting items through the United States Post Office pursuant to which the addressee of the item mailed is either required to indicate an acceptance of delivery or refusal or which results in a record by the United States Post Office that the addressee was contacted regarding the item, but refused delivery or refused to claim the item;

3. “Conveyance” means an instrument, recorded in the real property records of a county of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to which a grantor makes a transfer of an estate in real property;

4. “Corrective action” means some procedure, other than the execution and delivery of a curative instrument, identified in a notice and communicated to a respondent with the intended effect of removing a cloud or an apparent cloud on the title to real property;

5. “Curative instrument” means a conveyance or instrument identified by a requestor that the requestor in good faith believes has the effect of curing a title defect;

6. “Entity” means a person, firm, partnership, general partnership, limited partnership, corporation, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or other legally constituted entity;

7. “Estate” means a quantity or duration of ownership in real property located in the State of Oklahoma whether in fee simple absolute or some lesser quantity or duration and includes both the surface estate and mineral estate;

8. “Execute” means to subscribe an instrument or a conveyance as either a natural person acting in an individual or a representative capacity;

9. “Good faith” means having a basis in facts ascertainable to a requestor or which should be ascertainable with the exercise of reasonable diligence and the reasonable application of law to facts known or which, through the exercise of reasonable diligence, should be known to a requestor regarding the effect of an instrument upon the title to real property located in the State of Oklahoma;

10. “Instrument” means a document, executed with formalities authorized or required by law, pursuant to which either a conveyance is made or pursuant to which some aspect of the title to real property located in the State of Oklahoma is affected or may be affected;

11. “Interest” means either legal title or an equitable claim which is made in good faith;

12. “Notice” means the document described in Section 3 of this act;

13. “Parcel” means real property capable of separate description from any other real property located in the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to a description which is adequate for a conveyance pursuant to the requirements of the laws of the State of Oklahoma;

14. “Person” means a natural person acting in an individual capacity or a natural person acting in a representative capacity;

15. “Quiet title action” means a civil action filed pursuant to the authority of Section 1141 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes and in which the plaintiff requests a determination or judgment from the court regarding the title to a parcel of real property;

16. “Real property” means land and fixtures and includes the surface estate and the minerals underlying lands located in the State of Oklahoma;

17. “Refuse” means that the respondent either will not take the action specified in a notice or that the respondent will not take action which the requestor communicates as an acceptable response to the notice;

18. “Requestor” means any person or entity transmitting a notice to a respondent pursuant to Section 3 of this act or if the requestor engages the services of an agent or fiduciary to prepare the notice, the agent or fiduciary of the requestor;

19. “Respondent” means the person or entity to whom a notice is transmitted pursuant to Section 3 of this act or, if the respondent engages the services of an agent or fiduciary to prepare a response to a requestor, the agent or fiduciary of the requestor;

20. “Response” means the document transmitted by the respondent to the requestor within the time prescribed by Section 4 of this act;

21. “Subject parcel” means the specific real property identified in a notice transmitted to a respondent as provided by Section 3 of this act;

22. “Title” means the judicial or nonjudicial conclusion regarding either legal or equitable ownership of real property or an estate in real property located in the State of Oklahoma; and

23. “Title defect” means a deficiency, as measured or determined by reference to the statutes of the State of Oklahoma, cases decided by the courts of the State of Oklahoma or by reference to the Title Examination Standards published by the Real Property Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association, in the legal or equitable title of real property located in the State of Oklahoma.

Added by Laws 2000, c. 147, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2000.