Document History feature added to computers

The newly enacted amendment to MGL chapter 36, section 1 (the so-called "National Lumber" bill), established that a document is deemed to be recorded when the registry of deeds issues it an instrument number. The amendment contained an additional requirement that

Any change or correction made to the record shall be accessible to the public in the particular registry district in which the affected land lies. Such change or correction shall be maintained by the register as part of the record for public inspection during registry business hours at each office in the registry district. Any change or correction to the record shall document the nature and date of the change or correction.

The feature that we've now activated on the public search computers at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds displays a red check mark box on the document detail screen. When you click on that red box, if any change has been made to the index entry, a popup box will display the date the change was made, the original entry, and the change that was made. The red box appears all the time. If you click it and nothing happens, that means that no changes have been made to the index entry.

This new feature is available on both registered and recorded land although it does not yet exist on our website. Because we consider the document recording process to continue until we have finished our verification of the document, this document history feature only displays changes that occur more than five days after the document is recorded.

Here's a link to a handout I've prepared that shows screen shots of this feature.