ANTONIO OCANAS PAGE 01/01

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• 3. Record the instrument; and

4. Index the instrument.

1. Determining whether the Instrument will be Att4lpted fO!: Filing

The county c1erk'sfirnt task as recorder is to determine whether the AOL.o.

9H"0I6 (/998)
instrument presented for filing and recording should be accepted. As an initia.!
matter, county clerks need to be aware that they have a millisterial duty to accept AGOp.
documents for filing and recording if a statute authorizes, requires or permits the .[C·0156 (1999)
document to be filed or recorded. If no statute authorizes, requires or permits a
document to be med or recorded, the clerk may not accept such a dOcument. For
example, unusual papers such as a "Refusal to Pay Properly Taxes," II "Declaration
of Person Being II Sovereign," a "Surrende.r of Social Security Card" and a
"Declaration of Domestic Partnership" are not to be filed or recorded.

Moving On to adi.cu.sion of legitimate papers, certain instruments may be

recorded only ifthey are properly acknowledged or proved. If the instrument in
question is not properly acknowledged or proved, the clerk should not accept the
instrument for filing and recording. Consequently, county clerk. should be
familiat with the rule. regarding which instruments are required to 00 acknowledged
or proved as well as what constitutes a proper acknowledgment or proof.

A counl)' clerk may not record an "instrument conveying relll property" Prop. Cf)dfl

•
s.c. 11.001(h)
un less the instrument is (1) signed; and (2) acknowledged or sworn to by thej1'.,!!!lwr
in the presence oftwo or more subscribing witnesses or acknowledged or s~orn to Cil'. PMC. &
before and certified by an officer authorized to take acknowledgments or oaths. A Nl/»!. Code
Se".121.00/(a)
notary public is the officer most often thought of as authorize<! to take
acknowledgments hur other officers who may do so inlliude county clerks, district
clerks and judges of county courts.

In order to acknowledge a written instrument hefore one of the officers Sec. 121.01J?
S.c. 12/,110S
listed above, the grantor must appear before the officer and state that he or she
executed !he instrument for the purposes and consideration expressed therein. The This REMOVES
officer must then (l) make 11 certificate of the acknowledgment; (2) sign the Their Discretion To
certificate; and (3) selll the certificate with the certificate of office. Form II-I .elS
out the language ofan ordinary certificate ofacknowledgment. Shorter alternatives
Refuse To File
to the ordinary certificate of acknowledgments also exist

An "instrument concerning real or personal property" may be recorded only PmpertJ' (,'(ffic
s.c. 12.001(a)
if rhe in.trument haq been acknowledged (in the manner described in the two
foregoing paragraphs), sworn to with a proper jurat, or proved according to law, AGO".
Form 11-2 is the proper form for ajurat, Please note that an acknowledgment and II JAU8,l (19M)
jurat are not the same thing. "A jurat is a certificllte added to an affido.vit stllting
when, before whom, and where it was made, while an acknowledgment i. a
dec.Jaration of fallt to give it legal validity."

N01'If.: The 79th l.egislamre passed the Uniform Real Propert)' Electronic Prap. (,'mk
S"c. /5.M4(c)
RecordingAct, which addf chapt<!r J510 Ihe Property ('ode, A /'equiremenl
thai a signature be wilnes"ed, acknOWledged, notarized, verified, or made
under oalh is satisfied iffh<! electronic ,rignafur<! qf'a p<!rson authorized to

COUNIT CLERK MANUAL