TO:   ALL CUSTOMERS OF THE PUTNAM COUNTY RECORDERS OFFICE

RE: County Form #170 and Fee Changes

As some of you may know, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1114 and sent it to the Governor for his signature.

The part of the bill that has the biggest impact on the Recorder's Office has to do with County Form 170, the redaction of Social Security numbers, and a fee schedule change.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - Wednesday, March 29, 2006, County Form 170 will no longer be required to be an additional page.  At the same time, fees for the recording or filing of any document (including UCC's) will increase by $2.00 for the first page.  All other fees will remain the same. (SEE NEW FEE SCHEDULE)

Starting JULY 1, 2006, if a document is "executed or acknowledged" in the State of Indiana, it will be required to have the following statement in the following form:

      "I affirm, under the penalties for perjury, that I have taken reasonable care to redact each Social Security number in this document, unless required by law (name)."  (as a side note, 'redact' means to remove or obscure from view.)

I would encourage all of you to go to the Indiana State website at www.in.gov, go to the Legislative website by clicking on Legislative on the right-hand side of the page.  Then click on Bills and Resolutions on the left-hand side of the page.  Then type in "1114" in the box that appears in the center of the screen.  Then click on 'Latest Printing' or 'PDF' at the end of the synopsis.  Finally, please carefully read and digest the information contained in the Bill.

If you have any questions, please give me a call at the Office and I Will do my best to answer them for you.

Thank you for your patience and understanding with these changes!

Jeanette Summitt/Putnam County Recorder