Chapter 4 - Garrett Changed the Land Records
My attorney was Rachel Kim, a Bozeman property lawyer Garrett and I had
used when we refinanced the cabin.
I sent her everything.
The quitclaim deed.
The eviction notice.
Evan’s information.
The missing survey.
Rachel called within an hour.
“First, they cannot evict you with a homemade notice simply because they
say the trust owns the land.”
“I figured.”
“Second, do not sign anything.”
“I figured that too.”
“Third, Nora…”
Her tone changed.
“The deed history is interesting.”
The original Mercer ranch had been almost six hundred acres.
Garrett’s grandfather divided it among his children decades earlier.
Garrett’s father received ninety acres.
Twenty were sold before Garrett inherited the remainder.
The seventy acres had been deeded to Garrett individually.
Then, in 2019, Garrett executed a new deed.
I was added as joint owner with survivorship rights.
I sat down.
“He never told me.”
“You signed.”
“I signed refinancing papers.”
Rachel sent the scanned document.
There was my signature.
Not forged.
I remembered signing a stack at a title office.
Garrett had explained we were cleaning up estate planning.
I had trusted him.
Too casually, perhaps.
But the document was valid.
When Garrett died, his interest passed to me under the recorded deed,
subject to any valid encumbrances.
Wade’s family trust did not own the seventy acres.
At least not according to the current county record.
“So why would Wade bring me a quitclaim?”
May you like
Rachel asked the better question.
“Why would he think you might sign one before checking?”
