Agenda - 12-16-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINORITY REPORT ON THE JOINT 005 TASK FORCE STUDYING THE OFFICE OF REGISTER OF DEEDS IN NORTH CAROLINA This report is submitted as an addendum to the Summary of Findings and Recommendations. As members of the Task Force we are in agreement with most of the conclusions reached in the Summary. We commend the work of all those who have participated on the Task Force with special thanks to Bud Cameron, Otto DeBruhl, Christine Williams, and Bill Campbell, whose background monographs and data gathering provided information on how the offices of register of deeds vary from one county to another. The conclusion reached by a majority of the task force members is that the current system is not working, that dire consequences will result if it is not fixed immediately, and that the existing problems can only be solved by a complete reorganization of the current structure. They recommend the placement of all register of deeds offices under administrative purview of state government. The reason for this minority report is to stress the importance of the office remaining a county office and to explore another avenue of addressing the concerns raised through refinements to the current structure. We share the concerns of other Task Force members about a lack of legal standards, inadequate funding, and uncoordinated modernization. However, we also recognize that differences in operation and management should exist in a system where registers of deeds are democratically elected and given autonomy to determine their own citizens ' needs and how best to meet those needs in terms of office procedure and workload priorities. The system has worked for three hundred and twenty-two years. Before consent is given to those who call for uniformity for the sake of uniformity and central authority in place of local initiative, we should pause to examine the problems which exist, what solutions should be adopted, and what roles the counties and state should perform consistent with an effective division of responsibility. The Task Force discussed three separate issues that are concerns of the registers of deeds and/or members of the Real Property Section of the State Bar Association. These include standardization of operations, lack of funding to modernize some offices, and salaries and benefits paid to registers of deeds. Standardization The attorneys who served on the Task Force were persuasive in advocating for more uniform indexing to aid those who are faced with doing title searches and recordings in more than one county and to protect the land rights of their clients. A report entitled "A Comprehensive Study of the North Carolina Register of Deeds Office" by Association President Bud Cameron documents the many variations in procedure which exist. Further study should determine a minimum level of uniformity that is necessary. The fact that some counties affix recording times and book and page numbers by electronic means while others enter by hand or that some counties maintain current real estate records for customer use on paper while other rely on microfilm might not be consequential.