COUNTY CLERK, Maressa Treat

Registrar of Deeds (ROD)

The Office of Registrar of Deeds is vitally important to the ownership of real properties within Oklahoma County. It is the repository of all real property title and lien documents in the county and provides the historic record of ownership of each tract of land. All legal instruments, including plat maps, deeds, mortgages, oil and gas leases, tax liens, and military discharge papers, filed with the county by private citizens and public officials are preserved by the county clerk. Complete written records are kept of all real estate transactions within the County of Oklahoma from the first patents, as granted by the United States Government; on through the territorial days and until the present time.

Duties & Functions

The office of Registrar of Deeds was historically an elective office of the county; but, by legislative act, the office was combined with that of county clerk, who is now the ex-officio Registrar of Deeds and is charged with the duties and functions of this office, which include maintaining the following:

• A record of all military discharges presented for filing by the members of the Armed Forces of the United States. This service is free.
• All city charters are filed in this office; also powers of attorney, trust agreements, final decrees, and divorce decrees when real estate is involved.
• An accurate and up to the minute record on every piece of property; and all mortgages, oil and gas and other mineral leases on every parcel in Oklahoma as well as all plats of developments or developed areas.

View a list of real estate document types (XLS).

Equipment & Systems Used

The office of the Oklahoma County Clerk has won national acclaim for its efficient operation through the use of the most modern equipment and methods available. The Photostat system of recording, and the use of microfilm, in its day the most efficient system available, have been enhanced with the addition of electronic document imaging as a method of preserving records. The new Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) developed specifically for and installed in the Registrar of Deeds and the Uniform Commercial Code areas of the Oklahoma County Clerk's office was selected as one of the top three systems in the nation at the Industry Solutions Awards presentation at the Knowledge Management Expo'98 in Chicago.

Some benefits of the new system are:

• Extra protection for property owners. Compactness of optical disks enables storage of extra copies of all transactions in fireproof vaults, completely removed from the County Building. Improved disaster recovery procedures minimize the possibility of loss of information or documentation.
• Reduction of storage space to a fraction of that formerly needed, reducing operating costs and storage requirements.
• Speedy return of instruments tendered for filing

Intranet and Internet capabilities are built into the system. The new EDMS allows the County Assessor and the County Treasurer to interface with the County Clerk database via the county intranet.

ROD E-Filing

Please read the following Terms and Conditions before proceeding further:

By selecting "Yes", I/we are affirming our acceptance of the Oklahoma Real Estate Electronic Filing Rules as set out in the signed Memorandum of Understanding. I/we further acknowledge the risks associated with internet/web based transactions and will hold the Oklahoma County Clerk harmless for delays, errors, or omissions related to any technical failure, communication failure, or personnel related failure now or in the future. I / we also certify and affirm that the information being transmitted to the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office is legitimate and permissible under the Oklahoma Statues. I/we further acknowledge that bogus information or sham filings transmitted to the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office are criminal offences prosecutable under the civil and criminal laws of this state. By selecting "Yes", I / we acknowledge that I/we have read, understand, and accept the Terms and Conditions described above for filing Real Estate Documents electronically.

I understand and accept the above statement:

Yes

ROD Fee Schedule

ROD Filing Requirements

The Oklahoma Legislature passed legislation as of July 1, 1997, which established requirements for documents accepted for filing in all County Clerk offices in Oklahoma. The purpose of the law is to provide sufficient space on the face of each document for the necessary recording information, documentary stamps and mortgage tax stamps which may be required, without covering other information. This amended the Oklahoma State Statutes pertaining to recordable instruments. For complete information, consult 16 O.S. Section 28, 19 O.S. Section 291 through 298 and 28 O.S. Section 32 in the 1997 Supplement.

According to the 1997 Supplement to the Oklahoma State Statutes, all instruments submitted for recording must conform to the following requirements:

• An additional $1 will be charged for each legal description in excess of 25 per page
• All documents shall provide an area free of printed information sufficient in size to accommodate affixation of documentary stamps, certification of the payment of mortgage tax, and recording information affixed by the county clerk without extending into the margins. (These space requirements may vary.)
• Documents must be "Xerographically reproducible by the copying equipment in use by the County Clerk"
• If the document fails to meet all the requirements above, but is an original or certified copy, is legible, in English, is xerographically reproducible by the clerk's equipment, and meets all other statutory requirements for recording, the County Clerk may record it by charging extra fees set in place for nonconforming instruments
• If the instrument contains more than 25 legal descriptions, they must be sorted by addition, block and lot (if platted), or by township range and section (if un-platted.)
• If sufficient blank space is not provided, an additional page shall be attached to provide the space. This increases the number of pages and filing fees
• Margins must be 1 inch at the top and 0.5 inch at all other margins. A three inch top margin would be ideal, allowing placement of the return address on the left side and the recording stamp on the right side while still complying with the 1" margin requirement
• Must be clearly legible without magnification or enhancement
• Must be in the English language
• Must be an original or a certified copy of an original instrument
• Must describe the property by its specific legal description
• Must meet all other previous requirements for recording. (Grantor, Grantee, specific legal descriptions, return address, signatures and acknowledgments, etc.)
• Must provide such information as is necessary for indexing as required by Section 287 and 291of 19 O.S.1991 (addition, block and lot, section, township and range, and metes and bounds if necessary for location)
• Unless otherwise provided by law, documents must be no larger than 8.5 by 14 inches. (Certain instruments are excluded, such as plats and UCC filings.)
• Unless the person offering a nonconforming instrument for filing is willing to reform the instrument, for which purposes it may be withdrawn and refiled during the same business day, the County Clerk may refuse to record and index

Instruments not Meeting Requirements

As of January 1, 1998, if the instrument does not meet these requirements, nonconforming fees may be assessed for recording of $25 for the first page and $10 for each page thereafter. If the document meets all requirements with the exception of the space available for recording information, you may add an extra page to conform the instrument. In such cases, the charge for all pages is the regular fee. If the document is nonconforming for other reasons in addition to the space requirement, an extra page may be added to provide space and all pages will be filed at the nonconforming fee.

All documents accepted for filing, including all documents filed before the effective date of this act, shall be deemed to comply with the requirements of this section and, except as otherwise provided by law, impart constructive notice of the contents of such document to third parties unless a person claiming adversely to any such document files an affidavit setting forth the basis of such claim in the office of the county clerk of the county where the property is located within six (6) months from the effective date of this act.