JUNE 2024 | 41 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL presented annually by the Title Examination Standards Committee to the OBA Real Property Law Section at the section’s annual meeting, usually held in November.10 The next day, the section would forward any new or amended proposals to the OBA House of Delegates for their consideration and approval.11 The current practice is to only adopt standards if they receive almost unanimous approval from the Title Examination Standards Committee to ensure widespread acceptance by the bar at large. The Oklahoma Title Examination Standards are published as an appendix to Title 16 “Conveyances” of the Oklahoma Statutes and are, therefore, available in any current version of the Statutes.12 Although changes to the Title Examination Standards are effective immediately upon adoption by the OBA House of Delegates, until recently, West’s Oklahoma Statutes usually came out with the revised set of Title Examination Standards only one to two years after these changes were adopted, meaning they were not generally available. Therefore, in 1982, a freestanding handbook was created by the Title Examination Standards Committee to make a current version available within one to two months after their adoption (by February the following year) and has been kept current continuously since.13 Since 1946, the total number of standards has grown from 10 to 142 in 2023, separated into 35 topical chapters (including several reserved for future use). Since 1946, Oklahoma land owners, title examiners, title insurers, mineral owners and operators and lenders have benefited from the adoption, recognition and use of these standards. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kraettli Q. Epperson is of counsel with Nash Cohenour & Giessmann PC in Oklahoma City. He received his J.D. from the OCU School of Law in 1978 and focuses on mineral and surface title litigation and expert representation. Mr. Epperson chaired the OBA Title Examination Standards Committee from 1988 to 2020 and taught “Oklahoma Land Titles” at the OCU School of Law from 1982 to 2018. He edits and co-authors West/Epperson: Oklahoma Real Estate Forms. ENDNOTES 1. See 16 O.S. §§71-80, Marketable Record Title Act; 1 O.S. §§20 et seq, Oklahoma Abstractors Act. 2. 25 O.S. §§10-13; 16 O.S. §§15-16; 46 O.S. §7; 12 O.S. §§181, 706 and 2004.2; 16 O.S. §§31, 43, 62, 66, and 82-84; 19 O.S. §§263, 287, 291, 298(A), and 298.1; 43 O.S. §134; and 58 O.S. §§428, and 703; see also “Constructive Notice: Oklahoma’s Hybrid System Affecting Surface and Mineral Titles,” 89 OBJ 40 (January 2018) by Kraettli Q. Epperson. 3. 77 Am Jur 2d Vendor and Purchaser §79 (obligation to furnish good or marketable title). 4. 36 O.S. §5001(C). 5. 1983 OK AG 281, ¶6-7 (italics added). 6. But an opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals is a precedent if “it has been approved by the majority of the justices of the Supreme Court for publication in the official reporter.” 20 O.S. §30.5. 7. Knowles v. Freeman, 1982 OK 89, ¶16, 649 P.2d 532, 535; see also Blair v. Richardson, 2016 OK 96, ¶20, 381 P.3d 717, 723 (italics added). 8. 52 O.S. §570.10(D)(2a). 9. Okl. A.G. Opin. No. 79-230. 10. For 2024, the OBA Annual Meeting was moved from November back to July to combine the OBA Annual Meeting with the annual Oklahoma Judicial Conference and the OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference. 11. A brochure dated July 21, 2019, describes the “Authority and Procedure” the Oklahoma Title Standards Committee has followed for the last three decades, which was prepared by the longtime chairman of the Oklahoma Title Examination Standards Committee, Kraettli Q. Epperson, serving from 1988 to 2020. Roberto Seda took over as the chairman and has served since 2021. 12. A copy of the current Title Examination Standards is also available at this author’s website: www.EppersonLaw.com. 13. This handbook was originally created and edited by the then-current Title Examination Standards Committee chairman, Kraettli Q. Epperson, with the assistance of Dale Astle. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.
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