Auditor
NOTICE - NEW RECORDING REQUIREMENTS
Effective January 1, 1997 all documents submitted for recording in
Washington State must conform to standards set by
RCW
36.18 and
RCW 65.04.
A cover sheet is required for documents in which the first page does not
contain the necessary index fields or a three inch top margin. All pages must
conform to formatting requirements for margins, page size, font size, color,
legibility, seals and attachments. A
Cover Sheet will not
relieve you of the responsibility of meeting the formatting requirements for
all subsequent pages. Documents which do not meet the requirements will be
returned for reformatting before they will be recorded. The following standards
are required:
The first page of the document, or the
Cover Sheet, must
include the following information: (The phrase "see attached" or
anything similar is not acceptable - the actual information needs to be in the
proper blanks.)
-
All fields and information must be
legible and capable of being imaged.
-
First page shall include a three-inch
top margin, one-inch bottom and one-inch side margins. If a
Cover Sheet is used,
it is considered the first page.
-
All pages following the first page must
have one-inch margins on all sides. Nothing may appear in these margins. (This
includes notary seals.)
-
Nothing may be affixed to any page of
the document (such as a stapled, taped or glued legal description).
-
Page size may be no larger than 8 1/2
" x 14".
-
Font size must be at least 8 point. (This sentence has a font size of 8 point.)
-
Seals must be legible and capable of
being imaged (pressure seals must be smudged).
-
Documents which were signed prior to
January 1, 1997 do not need to be re-formatted for recording. Instead, a
Cover Sheet will be
required.
FILING A NONSTANDARD DOCUMENT
RCW 65.04.048 Documents which must be recorded immediately and which
do not meet margin and font size requirements may be recorded for an additional
fee of fifty dollars ($50.00). Documents which do not meet legibility
requirements must not be recorded as a nonstandard recording. In addition
to preparing a properly completed
Cover Sheet as
described in
RCW 65.04.047, the person preparing the document for recording
must sign a
statement
which must be attached to the document and which must read substantially as
follows: "I am requesting an emergency nonstandard recording for an
additional fee as provided in
RCW 36.18.010. I understand that the
recording processing requirements may cover up or otherwise obscure some part
of the text of the original document."
NOTE: To file a nonstandard document, in additional to the
document to be filed, there must be a
Cover Sheet,
as well as, the
Request for
Nonstandard Filing. Each of these pages will add an additional
dollar to the filing fee.
FILING FEES
If you have any questions or would like feedback on a reformatted document,
please feel free to contact Naomi Daubert at (509) 397-6270 or anyone else in
Legal Filing.