GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
S	1
SENATE BILL 813

 
 
Short Title:	Register of Deeds-Instrument Standards.	()	
Sponsors:	Senators Dalton; and Hoyle.	
Referred to:	Judiciary II.	
April 3, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ENHANCE THE STANDARDS FOR INSTRUMENTS TO BE REGISTERED IN THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTER OF DEEDS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 161‑14 reads as rewritten:
"§ 161‑14.  Registration of instruments.
(a)	After the register of deeds has determined that all statutory and locally adopted prerequisites for recording have been met, the register of deeds shall immediately register all written instruments presented to him for registration. When an instrument is presented for registration, the register of deeds shall endorse upon it the day and hour on which it was presented. This endorsement forms a part of the registration of the instrument. All instruments shall be registered in the precise order in which they were presented for registration. Immediately after endorsing the day and hour of presentation upon an instrument, the register of deeds shall index and cross‑index it in its proper sequence. He shall then proceed to register it on the day that it is presented unless a temporary index has been established.
The register of deeds may, in his discretion, establish a temporary index in which all instruments presented for registration shall be indexed until they are registered and entered in the permanent indexes. A temporary index shall operate in all respects as the permanent index. All instruments presented for registration shall be registered and indexed and cross‑indexed on the permanent indexes not later than 30 days after the date of presentation.
(b)	All instruments presented for registration on paper shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1)	Be eight and one-half inches by eleven inches.
(2)	Have a blank margin of three inches at the top of the first page and blank margins of one-half inches on the remaining sides of the first page and on all sides of subsequent pages.
(3)	Be typed or printed in black on white paper in a font size no smaller than ten points.
(4)	Have text typed or printed on one side of a page only.
(5)	State the type of instrument at the top of the first page.
The register of deeds shall reject any instrument presented for registration that does not meet the recording standards set forth in this subsection. The rejection shall be accompanied by the register's written explanation of why the instrument did not meet the standards.
(c)	Transportation corridor official maps authorized under Article 2E of Chapter 136 shall be registered and indexed by the end of the third business day after the business day the map is presented to the Register of Deeds."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2002.