Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 35-10-12 (2026)
Execution of Foreclosure by Power of Sale; Effect; Indexing of Deeds.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
Where a power to sell lands is given in any mortgage, the power is part of the security and may be executed by any person, or the personal representative of any person who, by assignment or otherwise, becomes entitled to the money thus secured. A conveyance of the lands sold under such power of sale to the purchaser at the sale may be executed by the mortgagee, their agents, attorneys or any person making the sale. Such conveyance vests the legal title of the lands sold under the power of sale to the purchaser at the sale. Probate judges shall index foreclosure deeds by the name of the original grantor and grantee in the mortgage, deed of trust, or other conveyance intended to secure the payment of money, and also by the names of the grantor and grantee in the foreclosure deed.
(Acts 1988, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 88-906, p. 479 §2.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 22
cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2009–2026 · leading case: Summerlin v. Shellpoint Mortg. Servs., 165 F. Supp. 3d 1099 (N.D. Ala. 2016).
Summerlin v. Shellpoint Mortg. Servs., 165 F. Supp. 3d 1099 (N.D. Ala. 2016). “Under Alabama Code § 35-10-12, 13 “any person or entity who, before initiating foreclosure proceedings, becomes a holderoí a promissory note secured by a mortgage and thereby is entitled to the payment of the mortgage debt may validly foreclose upon a borrower’s default.”
Byrd v. MorEquity, Inc., 94 So. 3d 378 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). “” Pursuant to § 35-10-12, Ala.Code 1975, “[w]here a power to sell lands is given in any mortgage, the power is part of the security and may be executed by any person, or the personal representative of any person who, by assignment or otherwise, becomes entitled to the money thus…”
Nelson v. Fed. Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n, 97 So. 3d 770 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). “This court has recently held that a foreclosing entity that, before it initiates foreclosure proceedings, obtains a note secured by a mortgage and becomes the holder of the note may execute the power of sale in the mortgage by virtue of § 35-10-12, Ala.Code, 1975. See Perry v.…”
Sturdivant v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, 159 So. 3d 15 (Ala. Civ. App. 2011). “Section 35-10-12, Ala.Code 1975, bestows that authority only to: (1) a person or entity owning a mortgage containing a specific grant of the power to sell; (2) a person or entity who has been conveyed, by assignment or otherwise, the right to the money secured by a mortgage…”
Turner v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 254 So. 3d 194 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016). “They cite § 35-10-12, Ala. Code 1975, which states that the power to sell lands given in a mortgage "is part of the security and may be executed by any person, or the personal representative of any person who, by assignment or otherwise, becomes entitled to the money thus…”
Harris v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co., 141 So. 3d 482 (Ala. 2013). “They cite § 35-10-12, Ala.Code 1975, which states that the power to sell lands given in a mortgage “is part of the security and may be executed by any person, or the personal representative of any person who, by assignment or otherwise, becomes entitled to the money thus secured.”
James Graveling v. Bank United N.A., 631 F. App'x 690 (11th Cir. 2015). “Ala.Code § 35-10-12. A mortgage note is a negotiable instrument subject to the provisions of Alabama’s Uniform Commercial Code (“U.”
Patterson v. GMAC Mortg., LLC, 176 So. 3d 845 (Ala. 2013). “This same language is now found as well in § 35-10-12, Ala.Code 1975, which'applies to mortgag'es executed after December 31, 1988.”
Coleman v. BAC Servicing, 104 So. 3d 195 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). “See § 35-10-12 and Hartón, supra. The Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages takes the position that a note and mortgage can be separated but that “[t]he mortgage becomes useless in the hands of one who does not also hold the obligation because only the holder of the…”
Sturdivant v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, LP, 159 So. 3d 47 (Ala. Civ. App. 2013). “This court has held that under § 35-10-12 any person or entity who, before initiating foreclosure proceedings, becomes a holder of a promissory note secured by a mortgage and thereby is entitled to the payment of the mortgage debt may validly foreclose upon a borrower’s default.”
Ed Orton v. Sandy Mathews, 572 F. App'x 830 (11th Cir. 2014). “Moreover, citing Ala.Code § 35-10-12, the Alabama Court of Civil *833 Appeals has held that the holder of a note secured by a mortgage need not have been assigned the mortgage in order to exercise the right of foreclosure in the mortgage.”
Thomas v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 116 So. 3d 226 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). “Sturdi-vant, which dealt with the timeliness of a mortgage assignment, is not controlling here because the trustee made a prima facie showing that, six months before the initiation of foreclosure proceedings, the trustee was the holder of the Thomases’ promissory note.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.