By Carolyn Garris | Register of Deeds | Beaufort County, NC

I am happy to report many positive updates have been implemented in the Beaufort County Register of Deeds office. As the Register of Deeds in Beaufort County, it is my responsibility to safeguard the most valuable records of our citizens and make sure those records are accessible to the public. I represent the citizens and will not be bullied into taking actions that do not support nor protect the taxpayers and customers of the Register of Deeds office.

Falsehood: Garris stopped recording hard copies of deeds when she took office.

FACT: From January 3 through December 29, 2023, 6,122 real estate documents were recorded. 3,492 of the documents were hard copies.

Falsehood: Garris does not have the authority…

FACT: G.S. 11-11…Accordingly, in discretionary matters, the register must make decisions in a matter that the register determines best meets the public interest in the register of deeds functions. By statute, commissioners have authority over specific matters regarding the Register of Deeds office, including the register’s budget, hours of operation, and location of the office. By giving the commissioners authority over specific matters, and the register general authority over and responsibility for the office, the statutes entrust discretionary matters to the register.

Falsehood: Garris is the Chair of the Beaufort County Republican Party

FACT: Garris is not the Chair. Paul Varcoe is the Acting Chair. Once a fellow Republican filed to run for the same seat, it was automatic resignation.

Falsehood: During the October 2023 commissioners meeting it was stated by a commissioner there are 7 to 11 years of space left in the Register of Deeds office.

FACT: The previous register requested a new 6,200 square foot fireproof building during the 2018-2019 capital improvement meeting stating she would run out of room in 2 or 3 years. The request was denied. We are out of space and many other registers across the state face the same issue. During the September 2023 commissioners meeting, Richardson stated the Register of Deeds office was out of space.

Falsehood: Garris is out of compliance…

FACT: Since 2005, the North Carolina statutes have authorized the state’s registers of deeds to receive and keep the real estate records in electronic form. G.S. 47-16.3 provides as follows: “If a law requires, as a condition for recording, that a document be an original, be on paper or another tangible medium, or be in writing, the requirement is satisfied by an electronic document . . ..”  G.S. 47-16.4 provides that a register of deeds “[m]ay receive, index, store, archive, and transmit electronic documents,” and “[m]ay convert paper documents accepted for recording into electronic form.”  A register is not required to keep real estate records, whether received in paper or electronic form, in paper form. Most registers across the state do not keep paper versions of at least some permanent real estate records, and this is increasingly the case due to space limitations, advances in digital storage, and transactional expectations for electronic commerce.

Email dated October 9, 2023, from Charles Szypszak, Albert Coates Distinguished Professor of Law and Government, UNC School of Government:  It is my understanding that the ROD is participating in the State microfilm backup program and is therefore compliant with G.S. 132-8.2 for the preservation of backup copies of real estate records.  As noted in his e-mail, “a paper backup would not be compliant.”

Rich Elkins, Land Records Manager, NC Secretary of State sent Hood Richardson an email on November 3, 2023, and it states, “Just as a reiteration from our phone conversation, maintaining recorded deeds electronically and ceasing to maintain hard copies of new recordings of real estate documents is both legal and commonplace in the state. There is no requirement for the Register to obtain approval for such a change.  Records are commonly stored both locally and remotely in their electronic format, but statutes do require that there be a non-electronic backup where the documents are archived to film and generally preserved by the State Archives in Raleigh. These are both the practices currently followed in Beaufort.”

In general, Registers who decide to cease maintaining bound books of paper deeds do so because of space limitations, but additional savings are also incurred by going digital.

In the case of cybersecurity incidents, contingency plans are in place where the Register can continue to accept recordings manually until such time as systems become available and the documents can be digitized. Counties with both local and remote storage of data have typically had little to no impact due to the redundancy of the systems. Maintenance of hard-copy indexes is not required, but can make searching available even while automated systems are down. (Beaufort continues to do this)

Falsehood: She failed to notify commissioners that less labor and materials are required to only record on the Internet.

FACT: Electronic Recordings and over-the-counter (hard copies) recordings go through the same process. The only difference is the delivery method to our office. The process still takes the same amount of labor to review, accept, and go through the indexing process.

In my first year in office, working with the Register of Deeds team, we have initiated a number of new services.  An online vital records (birth, marriage, and death certificates) ordering system has been put in place so these records can be ordered online without a trip to the office. This is a convenient service for those living out of the county and state.  A property fraud alert system, which is free to citizens, called the Recording Notification System has been implemented that warns citizens who register their name if any document has been recorded that contains their name or business.

Other new services include installation of card readers for debit and credit cards for the convenience of citizens in paying various fees payable to the Register of Deeds, and preparing a Recording on the Go Box that would allow the office to continue to function in the event of a prolonged emergency.

A future project planned is to digitize real estate records back to 1917 so that they can be accessed online in addition to being available to customers in the office.  The Register of Deeds office is out of space, which is limiting some of the things we can do. One of my priorities will be to work with the county commissioners to secure additional space through renovation and reorganization.  There is still much work to be accomplished and we will continue to strive to meet those challenges for our citizens and customers. Good deeds are being done in Beaufort County.