| Water and the
Law Are you ready to ROC ? by David B. Hartvigsen (Published in the Utah Water News, September 1999) The Division of Water Rights has been working hard over the past few years to address problem areas in the administration of water rights. These efforts have, for example, included streamlining the notice procedures, implementing mapping requirements to better address appurtenancy issues, and legislatively changing the recording statutes to promote more consistency and efficiency in obtaining copies of water right deeds from the various county recorders. The Division's latest effort is to improve the title updating process, which has become a huge problem in terms of volume, manpower demands, and complexity. Therefore, the Division is proposing legislation this month (H.B. 184) that will require the filing of ROCs ("Reports of Water Right Conveyances") in order to update water right ownership records at the Division. The ROC, which will be an official form provided by the Division, sets forth, in a standard format, all of the information needed to quickly and accurately update the ownership records. The advantages of this change are obvious -- increased efficiency and accuracy and reduced demands on Division staff. The major disadvantage to the water right owners is an additional cost in transferring water rights because these ROCs will need to be prepared by or under the direct supervision of, and certified by, licensed professionals. Approved professionals will include attorneys, professional engineers, professional land surveyors, and title insurance agents, if properly licensed in Utah. In the past, the legislature has authorized the Division to charge for its time in doing title work, but the Division has been unable to devise a fair, yet workable, means of doing this. Therefore, the Division is seeking to have this work done in the private sector beforehand. Three exceptions are proposed to the requirement that the ROC be prepared by a licensed professional. These exceptions include: (1) where the current owner on the Division's records uses a deed format developed by the Division (i.e., only one deed in a standard format is involved); (2) where there is merely a name change based on a marriage or divorce; and (3) where there is a death of an owner of a right held in joint tenancy. One additional point that is crucial to note is that an ROC will not be the equivalent of a title opinion. It will not provide any guarantee as to the actual owner that can be relied upon by any member of the general public. It merely certifies to the Division that there is evidence to support the information and ownership as set forth in the ROC. If someone needs a title opinion and/or title warrantees, they will need to commission a full title search and analysis by an appropriate professional in addition to the work needed to complete the ROC. Any comments or questions can be directed to the author at (801) 413-1600. |
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