Electronic Recording Arrives

Today was an historic one for the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds. We conducted our first electronic recording of an actual document. About 10 a.m., a Midwestern bank submitted a 20+ page mortgage electronically and we had it recorded within minutes of receipt. Here’s how it works: When the customer submits a “payload” (which is one or more documents that form a single transaction), it zips through the Internet to an electronic queue on our computer system. As soon as something is in the queue, the first cashiering terminal to complete a transaction gets a popup box that says “You have one electronic recording waiting to be processed.” With that, the recording court opens the electronic recording feature on the same terminal. As soon as it opens, the image of the electronically submitted document and the data entered remotely by the submitter appear on the cashiering terminal screen. Our first task is to ensure the document type and the corresponding fee are correct. If they are not, we reject the document. For example, if someone submits a deed (filing fee of $125) but calls it a certificate (filing fee of $75) we must reject it because we have no way to alter the fee. There are some things we can change, such as a party name. For example, say the submitter typed ABC Incorporated as the grantor. Well, our Indexing Standards identify “Incorporated” as a mandatory abbreviation – it must always be changed to “Inc.” In such a case, we would make the correction immediately. We will take a few days to digest today’s experience and will then start posting proposed rules and regulations on our website. Please check back early next week for electronic recording updates.