A memorandum of contract is a short recordable document that puts the public on notice that a purchase contract already exists for a specific property. It doesn't publish your price or your assignment fee — it references the underlying agreement so that anyone running title sees your equitable interest. In Texas, when the property is residential, that filing runs through §12.020, and the statute's requirements are what separate an enforceable notice from one a title company will ignore.
What §12.020 governs
§12.020 is the Texas rule for recording a memorandum that gives notice of a residential real estate contract. It matters because it lets the buyer under contract place lawful constructive notice on the county real property records — so a later buyer, lender, or title company is deemed to know your contract exists, even if no one tells them directly. That's the entire point of recording: notice of something true, in the public record, where title searches actually look.
The statute also sets guardrails. Because a residential memo can be recorded by the buyer alone, Texas pairs that power with duties — notify the owner, swear to the mailing, and release the filing promptly. Meet those duties and the memo is a routine notice. Ignore them and you've recorded a defective instrument that can create a wrongful cloud on title and expose you to liability.
Why a residential memo is "unilateral"
On most recorded instruments — a deed, a release of lien — the person whose rights are affected signs. A §12.020 residential memorandum is different: the buyer records it without the seller signing the memo itself. That's why it's called a unilateral memorandum. The trade-off for being able to file alone is that the statute front-loads the seller's protection into the notice and release rules below. A unilateral memo is not a lis pendens and does not require a pending lawsuit — it stands on the executed contract alone, which is why that contract has to be genuine and signed.
The certified-mail notice
The first compliance pillar is notice to the owner. Before or when the memorandum is recorded, a copy of it must be sent to the property owner of record by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the mailing address shown on the most recent county appraisal-district tax roll. This is the step most DIY filers skip — and the one that most often gets a memo challenged later. Certified mail creates a dated, trackable paper trail proving the owner was told, on a specific day, that a memorandum referencing their property was being placed on record.
Jurably pulls the tax-roll mailing address for you to confirm, then sends the certified-mail notice as part of every Texas filing — you never have to stand in line at the post office or guess at the right address.
The sworn certificate of mailing
Notice you can't prove is notice you didn't give. §12.020's second pillar is a sworn certificate of mailing: a signed statement, made under oath before a notary, attesting that the certified-mail notice was in fact sent to the owner at the tax-roll address on a stated date. Because it's a sworn statement rather than an acknowledgment of a signature, it's executed as a jurat — the notary administers an oath — not the acknowledgment used on the memorandum itself. A complete filing therefore usually involves both notarial acts.
Jurably records that sworn certificate right alongside the memorandum, so the proof of notice lives in the public record next to the notice itself — not in a shoebox where it can't help you.
The two notarial acts
The memorandum is acknowledged (the notary confirms you signed it). The certificate of mailing is sworn (the notary puts you under oath that the notice went out). Both can be done in one sitting by remote online notarization in a few minutes.
The 45-day owner release window
A residential memorandum is meant to protect a live deal, not haunt a title forever — so §12.020 builds in a fast exit for the owner. Once the underlying contract terminates, expires, or closes — or once the owner delivers a written demand to release — the buyer is expected to record a release of the memorandum within 45 days. That window is the seller's protection: it guarantees a clean, quick path to clear title when the buyer no longer has an interest. Failing to release on time is where a legitimate notice curdles into a wrongful cloud on title, with real exposure attached.
Two safeguards keep you on the right side of that deadline. Every Jurably memo carries a 90-day auto-expiration with one-click renewal, so a forgotten filing lapses on its own rather than lingering. And the File + Release bundle ($249) pre-loads the release from day one — when the deal ends, one click clears it, well inside the 45-day window. Property owners on the other side of a filing can start a release directly through Owner Release.
What makes a §12.020 filing compliant
A residential memorandum built to the statute generally needs all of these:
- A genuine, fully executed residential purchase or option contract behind it.
- The parties' exact legal names, matching how the seller holds title.
- The property's full legal description — lot/block and subdivision or metes-and-bounds, not just a street address.
- A notarial acknowledgment on the memorandum so the county will record it.
- Certified-mail notice to the owner at the tax-roll address, return receipt requested.
- A sworn certificate of mailing, executed as a jurat and recorded with the memo.
- A plan to release within 45 days once the contract ends.
Do it the easy way
Jurably handles all of it: you upload the signed contract, verify the parties and legal description, confirm the tax-roll mailing address, notarize the memo and swear the certificate online, and we certified-mail the notice and record both instruments — then hand you the county instrument number.
Where it records in Texas
A memorandum records in the county where the property sits — never where the buyer or seller lives. Jurably files instantly by e-recording in the eight major Texas metros — Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, Collin, Denton, and Hidalgo — often returning an instrument number within hours, and handles the paper rail in every other Texas county. Check your county on the coverage map.
How a §12.020 filing goes wrong
- No certified-mail notice. The most common defect — the owner was never properly notified.
- Notice sent, but never sworn. Without the certificate of mailing, you can't prove notice.
- Street address only. Missing the legal description gets the memo rejected at the county.
- No real contract. Recording notice of a deal that doesn't exist invites a slander-of-title claim.
- Blowing the 45-day release. Leaving a stale memo on title is where liability starts.
Done to the statute — real contract, proper notice, sworn certificate, timely release — a Texas §12.020 memorandum is a clean, defensible way to protect the interest you actually have. That's the whole design: notice of something true, recorded properly, and cleared when it's done.
Jurably is a self-help filing and notary service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice or represent you. This article is general information; statutes change, so confirm the current text of Texas Property Code §12.020 or consult a licensed Texas real-estate attorney about your specific deal.