Opinion ID: 2225230
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Recording Process

Text: The Scott County Recorder provided deposition testimony concerning the process for recording real-property instruments. Scott County uses the TriMin computer system to electronically store all official property records. The day after a document is delivered to the recorder's office to be recorded, a label is placed on the document showing the date, time of receipt, and the document number to fulfill the requirements of Minn.Stat. § 386.41 (2008). After the labeling procedure is complete, information about the document is entered into the TriMin system, beginning with the names of the grantor and grantee, the date of the document, and the legal description of the property contained in the document. When a deed and a mortgage are brought in together to be recorded, such as here, the recorder will clone the legal description from the first document entered into the system, and apply that legal description to the second document so that the information does not have to be reentered. The recorder assumes that the legal descriptions are the same for the bundled documents. After the recorder enters the information into the system, the documents are scanned so that an image of each document is available on the TriMin system. Scott County has been scanning real estate documents presented for recording since approximately 1991. The public can access the records at the recorder's office or via the county recorder's website. But the information contained on the county recorder's website is only for reference purposes and is not considered the official record for county property recording purposes. In addition, images of documents that may have a Social Security number are not available on the website due to privacy concerns. Images of such documents are, however, available on the county recorder's official in-house system. Minnesota Statutes §§ 386.03-.05 and 386.32 (2008) require a county to maintain a grantor-grantee index, a consecutive index, and a tract index. [4] The TriMin system satisfies these requirements because it is searchable by (1) grantor-grantee name (the grantor-grantee index), (2) tract/legal description (the tract index), and (3) document number. If a search is conducted by the name of the grantor or grantee, any document under the grantor or grantee name will be listed. The search also displays the type of instrument, the document number, the date it was recorded, and a brief legal description of the property. On the county recorder's official in-house system, users of the system have several options that allow them to review specific information, such as the legal description of property and images of documents. [5]