Land Records Filing Requirements

Oklahoma Statutes require that all instruments (documents) submitted for recording shall:

Be an original or certified copy of an original instrument;

Be clearly legible;

Be in the English language;

Be properly acknowledged (notarized);

Be no larger than 8 1/2" x 14" (unless otherwise provided by law);

List the mailing address of the grantee, mortgagee, assignee or other designated party to which the instrument is to be delivered after recording;

Describe the property by its specific legal description;

Provide information necessary for indexing (addition, block & lot (if platted) or section, township & range, with metes & bounds if necessary for location);

Be reproducible by equipment used by the County Clerk;

Have a top margin of one (1) inch and all other margins at least one-half (1/2) inch;

Provide sufficient space to affix documentary stamps, mortgage tax certification, and recording information;(If sufficient space is not provided to affix the stamps and recording information, an additional page shall be attached for this purpose and will be charged the appropriate recording fee).

If the document fails to meet all the requirements above, but is:

an original or certified copy of an original;

is legible without the aid of magnification or other enhancement of the text;

is reproducible by the equipment in use by the County Clerk;

meets all other statutory requirements for recordation;

The County Clerk may record it and shall charge the additional fees for nonconforming documents of $25.00 for the first page and $10.00 for each additional page.

"Unless the person offering a nonconforming instrument for filing is willing to reform the instrument to conform to statutory requirements, for which purpose it may be withdrawn and refiled during the same business day, the County Clerk may refuse to record the same in the records of deeds, leases or mortgages or to index the same upon the index records referred to in Sections 287 or 291 of this title, or to file or record the same in the office of the County Clerk." 19 O.S. 298

An instrument that containing more than twenty-five (25) legal descriptions per page shall:

Be charged an additional $1.00 filing fee for each legal description in excess of 25 per page.

An instrument containing more than twenty-five (25) legal descriptions shall be sorted by township, range and section.  Documents failing to have legal descriptions properly sorted will be rejected.