 
|
R.O.D. NEWS.... "ERETR" PROJECT The Wisconsin Department of Revenue has implemented its new electronic transfer return (eRETR) in most counties in Wisconsin and plans to have all up and running by the end of April. Registers and customers alike are giving the system rave reviews. The filer, who may be an attorney, paralegal, title insurance company agent, etc., accesses the program through the DOR's website. The program is well-designed to help the filer fill in appropriate responses. The filer may save a detail sheet and print it out for the customer to sign, but signing is now optional and mainly for the protection of the filer. The transfer return record may be saved and more information added at a later time such as at the closing. Only the transfer return "receipt" must be printed out and presented along with the deed and fees to the register of deeds. The register of deeds staff can compare the information given on the receipt to the deed to make certain that the two match. The rod staff uses the access number on the receipt to bring up the electronic transfer return, add the document number, and process. Crawford County began accepting transfer returns electronically on, March 6, 2006 our recording staff' and customers in the office say they like the new system very much. For more information: http://www.dor.state.wi.us/eretr/index.html SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS Members of the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association (WRDA) recently attended a bill signing for AB 536, now Wisconsin Act 139, to disallow the practice of placing social security numbers on documents to be recorded in our offices. This effort is the culmination of years of work by the WRDA Legislative Committee and received bipartisan support from the Wisconsin Legislature. Several amendments presented by various groups, such as the Wisconsin Land Title Association were incorporated into the final version that goes into effect on March 31, 2006. As of that date, all documents for recording may not contain an individual's complete social security number. In cases where the register of deeds may miss a SSN buried deep within a multi-paged document, he or she may block the SSN after it has been accepted for recording. Occasionally mortgages (particularly from out of state), power of attorney and divorce judgment documents have contained the SSN of the individuals involved but the register of deeds was powerless to keep them from being recorded. Now, all our local attorney firms, lenders and title insurance companies should caution their various customers about this new law. Documents containing the SSN of an individual will be rejected for recording. OBTAIN YOUR PASSPORT ASAP! Federal officials from the U.S. Department of State have announced that due to Homeland Security provisions, US citizens will be required to produce passports for re-entry into the United States from countries that formerly only required a birth certificate. As of December 31, 2006, a passport is required for all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico,Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2007, a passport is required for all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel. It takes at least 6 weeks to obtain a passport so it is wise to plan ahead. For information on how to obtain a passport go to http://travel.state.gov or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center: 1-877-4USA-PPT; TDD/TTY: 1-888- 874-7793. This information is subject to change and citizens are encouraged to the above website and phone numbers for further updates. LAND RECORDS INFORMATION All land record information is available online from June 28, 2001. You may do searching free of charge. If you wish to view a document there is a nominal fee of $2.00 for the first page of a document $1.00 each additional page. This is the same fee our office would charge if you came in for the copy. You can find the link to the online records on the website listed at the top of the page. CHANGES IN THE OFFICE The past year has seen many changes in the Registers Office. One of the biggest being the resignation of the previous Register and the appointment of myself, Melissa Mezera as the Register. We also saw the move of many of the offices that were previously located at the courthouse to our beautiful new administrative building. Along with all of the above news it has been a busy time for our office. All of these transitions went very smoothly. I am always happy to answer any question you may have. Please feel free to call, email or stop by. I will do my very best to keep the citizens informed. Thank
You for all of your support!
|
