Conforming Instruments

County Clerk

The County Clerk's office

Conforming Instruments

Must be an original or a certified copy of an original instrument
Must be clearly legible without magnification in the English language.
Must describe the property by its specific legal description as necessary for indexing.
If instrument contains more than 25 legal descriptions requiring separate entries in the indexes, the descriptions shall be sorted by addition, block, and lot if platted property or by township, range and section and will be subject to non-conforming fee.
Unless the person offering nonconforming instrument for filing is willing to reform the instrument, for which purposes it may be withdrawn and refiled during the same business day, the County Clerk may refuse to index and record.
Documents must be "Xerographically reproducible by copying equipment in use by the County Clerk."
Unless otherwise provided by law, documents must be no larger than 8.5 by 14 inches. Certain instruments are excluded, such as Plats)
Margins must be 1 inch at top and 1/2 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 recoding stamp on the right side while still complying with the 1 inch margin requirement.
All documents shall provide an area free of printed information sufficient in size to accommodate documentary stamps, certification of payment of mortgage tax, and recording information affixed by the County Clerk without extending into the margins. (These space requirements may vary.)
If sufficient blank space is not provided, an additional page shall be attached to provide the space. This increases the number of pages resulting in an increase in filing fees.
On each instrument shall be listed the mailing address of the grantee, mortgagee, assignee or other designated party to which the instrument is to be delivered after recording.
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 the additional fees set in place for nonconforming instruments.