SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall be
construed only prospectively and may not be applied or interpreted to have any effect
on or application to any distribution of an estate of a decedent that occurs before the
effective date of this Act.

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
October 1, 1999.

Approved May 27, 1999.

CHAPTER 665
(House Bill 783)

AN ACT concerning

Recordation of Releases of Mortgages and Deeds of Trust - Copies of

Canceled Checks

FOR the purpose of permitting a clerk to receive and record certain copies of a
canceled check as a release of a mortgage or deed of trust; providing that under
certain circumstances a copy of a canceled check has the same effect as a release
on property for which a mortgage or deed of trust is a security; and generally
relating to the recordation of instruments showing a release of a mortgage or
deed of trust.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Real Property
Section 3-105(d)(3)
Annotated Code of Maryland

(1996 Replacement Volume and 1998 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article - Real Property

3-105.

(d) (3) When the debt secured by a mortgage or deed of trust is paid fully or
satisfied, and the canceled check evidencing final payment OR, IF THE CANCELED
CHECK IS UNAVAILABLE, A COPY OF THE CANCELED CHECK ACCOMPANIED BY. A
CERTIFICATE FROM THE INSTITUTION ON WHICH THE CHECK WAS DRAWN STATING
THAT THE COPY, IS A TRUE AND GENUINE IMAGE OF THE ORIGINAL CHECK is
presented, it may be received by. the clerk and indexed and recorded as any other
instrument in the nature of a release. The canceled check OR COPY ACCOMPANIED BY
THE CERTIFICATE has the same effect as a release of the property for which the
mortgage or deed of trust is the security, as if a release were executed by the
mortgagee or named trustees, if: