TRANSFER OF INDEBTEDNESS

(a) If a person or the Federal Farm Loan Bank, with the consent of the owner of land covered by Section 51.077 of this code, pays to the state the principal and interest due on any obligation given for the land, the commissioner, on written request of the owner, may execute, acknowledge, and deliver to the person or the Federal Farm Loan Bank a written transfer of the indebtedness held by the state. The written request of the owner shall be acknowledged in the manner required for the conveyance of real estate and shall be accompanied by an affidavit of ownership. (b) The person or the Federal Farm Loan Bank is subrogated to all the rights, liens, and remedies held by the state to secure and enforce the payment of the principal and interest that was paid to the state. (c) If the land claimed by a person claiming to be the owner is held under evidence of title that the law or rules of the land office do not authorize to be filed in the land office, the commissioner may admit the owner to be the person that the person or the Federal Farm Loan Bank paying the indebtedness admits to be the owner, and on making this admission the instrument of transfer shall be executed. (d) None of the provisions of this section shall change any part of the law or rules that apply to the land office with relation to titles to land and issuance of patents.