TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Deeds May Not Be Corrected if Doing So Would Harm Lien Holders

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 26, 2020

The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously held that courts may not retroactively correct — or “reform” — deeds when doing so would harm parties with valid recorded liens on the property and would benefit others who bought the property with notice of the liens. In Tennessee, courts have the authority to correct an error in a written agreement if it was caused by the mutual mistake of the parties. To correct such a mistake, the parties must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the document does not accurately reflect their agreement and the error was not caused by the gross negligence of the party seeking to correct it. But in the case at hand, the court found that two banks would be deprived of their property liens if an unintended error was corrected.

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