§5557.  Obligation to grant release of mortgage

A.  The provisions of this Section shall apply only to mortgages recorded prior to January 1, 2012.

B.  Upon extinction of the mortgage, the mortgagor or his successor may request the mortgagee to provide a written act of release directing the recorder to erase the mortgage from his records.  The mortgagee shall deliver the act of release to the mortgagor within sixty days of receiving the request.  If the mortgagee fails to deliver the act timely and in a form susceptible of recordation, the mortgagor may, by summary proceedings instituted against the mortgagee in the parish where the mortgaged property is located, obtain a judgment ordering the mortgage to be erased from the records and for the costs, reasonable attorneys fees, and any damages he has suffered from the mortgagee's default.

C.  This Section does not apply to a mortgage insofar as it secures payment of a note or other instrument paraphed for identification with the act of mortgage by the notary before whom it is executed.

Acts 1991, No. 652, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 2011, No. 342, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2012.