(a) If an instrument was recorded before January 1, 1973, any failure of the instrument to comply with the formal requisites listed in this section has no effect, unless the defect was challenged in a judicial proceeding commenced by July 1, 1973.
(b) If an instrument is recorded on or after January 1, 1973, whether or not the instrument is executed on or after that date, any failure to comply with the formal requisites listed in this section has no effect unless it is challenged in a judicial proceeding commenced within six months after it is recorded.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the failures in the formal requisites of an instrument are:
(1) A defective acknowledgment;
(2) A failure to attach any clerk’s certificate;
(3) An omission of a notary seal or other seal;
(4) A lack of or improper acknowledgment or affidavit of consideration, agency, or disbursement;
(5) An omission of an attestation;
(6) A failure to name any trustee in a deed of trust; or
(7) A lack of or defective witness attestation to a power of attorney.
Structure Maryland Statutes
Title 4 - Requisites of Valid Instruments
Section 4-101 - What Deeds Sufficient; Seal or Attestation Not Required
Section 4-103 - Presumption of Validity
Section 4-104 - Livery of Seisin and Indenting Not Necessary
Section 4-105 - Words of Inheritance Unnecessary to Create Fee Simple or Easement
Section 4-106 - Affidavits of Consideration and Disbursement
Section 4-107 - Powers of Attorney
Section 4-108 - Abolition of Straw Deeds in Certain Cases; Grant of Property Held by the Entireties
Section 4-109 - Defective Grants
Section 4-110 - Validating Deeds Conveying Land in Unapproved Subdivision