Under recording statutes, which party is entitled to protection?

• A. A grantee who pays value
• B. Any grantee
• C. A donee
• D. The grantor

Answer: (A)

Recording statutes reward those who invest value in the property and publicly record their interest. A grantee who pays value is a bona fide purchaser for value, and if they take without notice of prior unrecorded claims and then record, they get priority over later, unrecorded interests. That combination of paying value and recording provides the protection the statutes are designed to grant.

A grantee who takes for free typically does not receive that protection, because the lack of consideration signals less reliance on public notice for the world, and the grantor is not the protected party either.