Essential Recording Requirements
- Notarization or Acknowledgement – Most documents must be notarized or acknowledged to be recorded. Notary must include County of Residence, Commission Expiration Date, and Notary Seal.
- Legibility of Names – All signatures must be printed or typed beneath them exactly as signed.
- Name of Person Preparing Document – Documents notarized, executed, or acknowledged must have a Prepared by Statement at the conclusion of the document, including the preparer’s name, which can be printed.
- Transfer of Documents for Taxation – All documents purported to convey title, transfer title, or change title, must have the endorsement of the Auditor’s Office prior to recording.
- Social Security Numbers on Documents – Beginning January 1, 2006, it is illegal to present for recording a document that contains a Social Security Number, unless the Social Security Number is required to be on the document by Federal or State statute. At this time the only documents that require a Social Security Number are DD-214’s (military discharge papers), Federal Tax Lien documents, and Death Certificates.
Beginning July 1, 2006, every document acknowledged, executed, or notarized in the State of Indiana, must have the following Affirmation statement at the conclusion of the document, at the point of prepared by:
“I affirm, under the penalties for perjury, that I have taken responsible care to redact each Social Security Number in this document, unless required by law .”
Printed name must follow statement.
This Affirmation Statement must be followed by an individual’s name that can be hand written or typed. If it is a signature, it is required that the name be printed underneath the signature.
- All documents must have a CLEAR two (2) inch margin at the top and bottom of the first and the last page, and CLEAR one-half (1/2) inch margins everywhere else.
Regular documents are to be no smaller than 8½ by 11 inches and no larger than 8½ by 14 inches. Anything over that will be charged as an oversized document. Plats, Surveys, and Horizontal Properties are to be no less than 11 x 17 and no more than 24 x 36, printed on Mylar and in black ink only.
Documents signed by power of attorney must have the recording number of the recorded power of attorney on the document.
