Introduction:  The county recorders office is one of the offices formally organized by the Constitutional Convention of 1889, and in some counties existed as part of the Territorial Offices. County Recorder officers are elected to four-year terms which begin January 1. In a few counties the position is appointed, but election remains the predominant method for citizens to select a recorder. Some counties have combined the recorder position with either the clerk of court or treasurer.

The information filed and recorded in the recorders office is used by the auditor, treasurer, commissioners and other county officials, along with the general public and business entities. The real estate record is the basis for the auditor's assessment rolls and the tax collection process of the treasurer.

The County Recorders Association was organized in 1929 to help North Dakota's 53 counties keep up-to-date with changes in methods of recording and with changes in laws affecting their offices. The County Recorders Association also monitors and proposes legislation to better serve the state. An annual summer meeting is held along with training sessions and Quad meetings.

County Recorder Duties

* Keep a record of each patent, deed, mortgage, bill of sale, security agreement, judgment, decree, lien, certificate of sale and other instruments required to be filed or recorded in proper books provided for such recording, upon receipt of the filing or recording fees.

* Each recorded document shall also state the date, hour and minute of the date when it was filed, the book of records in which it is recorded and the page upon which it is recorded.

* Process all UCC financing statements presented for filing into the statewide central notice system.

* Prepare a UCC abstract whenever any person requests it and pays the required fee.

* Maintain a reception book, grantor/grantee index and land tract index.

* Assist the public in finding information as found in the real estate record and the UCC files.

* Furnish upon request (written or by telephone) to persons information contained in financing statements to perfect a security interest pursuant to chapter 41-09 when the collateral is farm products, and provide written confirmation of the oral information provided upon receipt of a fee which shall be the same as for recording that instrument.