Security Bank v. Hawk

The primary question posed by this appeal is whether a mortgage is fatally defective if the parties knowingly leave portions of the mortgage contract blank with an understanding the blank portions will be filled in at a later date. We hold such mortgages are not fatally defective.

The defendant-appellant, Hawk, Jr., states that a deed executed in blank is void. Ayres v. Harness (1824), 1 Ohio 368, 372. This rule, however, does not apply here because the subject of this action is a mortgage rather than a deed.1

This court has not previously determined whether an otherwise validly executed…