Register of Deeds Questions and Answers

The Register of Deeds Office is the county office where all transactions involving real estate are recorded, eg, deeds, mortgages, mortgage releases, assignments, oil and gas leases, tax liens, etc.

A document that transfers real estate from one party to another.

Once a document has been filed in this office, the document itself will not be changed - in order to transfer property, you will have to have a new deed prepared.  To avoid future problems, we recommend that you have a title company or an attorney do this for you.  

If your deed was filed in the Register of Deeds Office, and your deed is lost, you can easily obtain a copy from our records in our office for a nominal fee.

First of all, a document needs to be the original with original signatures.  Document needs to be properly notarized, and should have a Norton County legal description, eg. lot, block, addition, or section, township and range.  Legal description should be taken from the last deed of record, and not the tax statement.  Last, the proper filing fees needs to be paid.  If it is a deed, or an Affidavit of Equitable Interest, must be accompanied by a Sales Validation Questionnaire, unless states on the face of instrument the exemption number.  

Yes.  Costs are as follows:

Copies in office - $0.25 Per Page.

Copies Mailed or Emailed -  $1.00 Per Page.

If you owned property in joint tenancy, you will need to file a certified copy of the death certficate in the Register of Deeds Office with the proper filing fee. This will remove the name of the deceased party from the title of the real estate.  A new deed will not be made, but the records will reflect one party is deceased.

The Register of Deeds Office here in Norton County has records that date back to 1874, written in elaborate manuscript.  

Not all records are in the Register of Deeds Office.  The Clerk of the District Court has court, probate, divorce records, and marriage licenses. Kansas Department of Vital Statistics has birth and death records.  Some birth and death information can be found in the Clerk of the District Court before 1911.

We can assist in searching our records, but only an abstractor or title company can issue a certificate of title.

Yes, you could, but the Register of Deeds and staff always recommends the retention of an attorney or a title company.  The Register of Deeds is a recording agency, and therefore, cannot make out deeds or answer questions which pertain to legal matters.

The Norton County Register of Deeds does E-Recording and partners with E-Recording Services:  Simplifile.  To set up E-Recording, please contact Simplifile at 800-460-4657 or www.simplifile.com