Any person who has an unbroken chain of title of record to any interest in land for forty years or more, shall be deemed to have a marketable record title to such interest as defined in section 614.29, subject only to the matters stated in section 614.32. A person shall be deemed to have such an unbroken chain of title when the official public records disclose a conveyance or other title transaction, of record not less than forty years at the time the marketability is to be determined, which said conveyance or other title transaction purports to create such interest, either in:
1. The person claiming such interest, or
2. Some other person from whom, by one or more conveyances or other title transactions of record, such purported interest has become vested in the person claiming such interest; with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of such purported interest. [C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §614.31] Referred to in §257B.28, 455I.9, 457A.2, 614.29, 614.30 \n
Notes of Decisions
Stecklein v. City of Cascade, 693 N.W.2d 335 (Iowa 2005).
· cites it 14× “Iowa Code § 614.31 . This statute has no application here because the plaintiffs cannot show “an unbroken chain of title of record” to the platted streets.”
City of Marquette v. Gaede, 672 N.W.2d 829 (Iowa 2003).
· cites it 4× “The Forty-Year Chain of Title Act ( Iowa Code § 614.31 ). The Gaedes argue that the facts reveal that they enjoy an unbroken chain of title of record for more than forty years.”
Fencl v. City of Harpers Ferry, 620 N.W.2d 808 (Iowa 2000).
· cites it 2× “Iowa Code § 614.31 (emphasis added). The city concedes that Fencl has a forty-year unbroken chain of record title to the disputed property.”
Mulhern v. Kruger (Iowa Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 10× “Iowa Code § 614.31 (2022). The estate contends that the clerk of court’s certificate of change of title was such a conveyance or title transaction that gave Schimmel absolute title to the land because it did not identify that her interest was only for life or that the remainder…”
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