The Register of Deeds is an elected official who is required by the Laws of the State of Kansas to record all documents submitted by the public which are qualified to be recorded; maintain an up-to-date and accurate set of indexes which show the correct ownership of land in the entire county and perform all functions of a clerical and technical nature to accomplish that objective.
Most people know that the Register of Deeds office is responsible for the filing of deeds, but did you know that this office also records several hundred kinds of documents? Some of them are: mortgages and liens, oil and gas leases, plats of additions to cities, military discharge records, power of attorneys, corporation records, cemetery records, and county school records, which were once the property of the County Superintendent.
All of the services offered by the Register of Deeds office are fee based, these fees are set by state statute. All records in the office are required by law to be open to public inspection during regular business hours. Accuracy of these records becomes a critical and overriding concern in the entire operation, which explains the resulting higher amount of time in production than normal commercial business operation where the primary concern is profit.
A number of steps are taken when a document is presented or mailed for recording. The document is examined for any apparent errors, then given a time, book and page number and entered by name and legal description in various indexes. The indexes are used to provide easy access to the land records. Attorneys, financial institutions, buyers, sellers, real estate developers, landlords, tenants and abstract and title insurance companies, to name just a few, all rely upon the correct recording of instruments relating to real estate.
Taxation of real property is the cornerstone of financing local governmental operations. Determining the ownership of real property is essential to the tax assessment function. In addition, each record must accurately reflect the status of each individual tract of land, the dimensions and location, and the name of the owner. The County Appraiser and County Clerk depend on the records in the Register of Deeds to accurately reflect the tax roll process.
The Register of Deeds office performs some important functions. Other organizations, local government departments and individuals depend upon the accuracy of the Recorders office. The earliest records in the Register of Deeds office date back to the 1800’s. Among the early records are the Patent Deeds recorded when land was bought from the United States government. Genealogists researching their lineage are relying more and more on the early records of the County.
It is essential that the records in the Register of Deeds offices as well as other county records from the early years to present day are preserved by us for future generations to come.