Question: Does My Legal Depot need the original documents for eRecording?

Answer: Yes. Per the agreement that we have with all the counties, we are the authorized eSubmitter and it is our duty to produce a scan from the original and submit to the appropriate government entity. The scan must be produced by our authorized personnel. Allowing someone else to scan is a violation of the agreement and increases chances for fraud.

If you encounter another eSubmitter that is offering you to upload/email the document to them, the odds are they are violating their MOU with the County Recorder and will most likely face termination. Only an eSubmitter with an active MOU with the County Recorder can produce the digital payload from the originals and submit.

Question: What is My Legal Depot’s correction and filing assurance about?

Answer: Our team is familiar with the legal documents that are being presented for recording. Our team will review and notify you of any issues that would result in rejection. If you consent to the proposed corrections, we will implement them and submit for recording. If you prefer to submit as is, we will gladly submit as instructed. If a rejection occurs because we failed to discover an issue causing the rejection, there are no service fees charged. However, if you decided to submit as is, a service fee may apply depending on the reason for rejection.

Question: What is the turnaround for recordings?

Answer: The turnaround varies by county. On average it is between 1-3 days.

Question: How are the assessor/ancillary documents handled?

Answer: Depending on the county, the original PCOR, Parent to Child, Death of Property Owner, Documentary Transfer Tax Affidavit, or other assessor/ancillary document must be provided with the document that is being recorded. When submitting, we can tag the documents to ensure they are routed to the appropriate department.

Question: Can you eRecord Affidavits of Death with certified copies of the death certificate?

Answer: Yes, we can record all documents that go to the county recorder. The only items we are unable to record are documents with oversized maps or very high page counts (300+ pages). Those documents need to be paper filed as there are size limitations.

Question: How are Remote Online Notarized (RON) instruments recorded?

Answer: If you have a RON instrument, there is no original. The e-notary typically produces a secure PDF file that contains the electronic seals and signatures. Please provide us the original PDF and our team will validate all the signatures. Upon passing inspection, we will submit for recording. Keep in mind that RON is new and not all counties will accept it. Furthermore, the ancillary docs may still need to be handsigned even if the primary document is a RON. Once again, the policies vary by county. Please contact us if you have a RON instrument and we will walk you through the procedure.

Question: How does payment/billing work?

Answer: Since we are the esubmitter, all recording fees and transfer taxes must be paid electronically through our bank account. We will temporarily advance the fees and will bill your selected payment method upon successful recording.

Question: What payment types do you accept?

We accept credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or Amex) or US based checking account for e-check transactions. Your desired payment method must be stored in our secure payment system.

Question: Can transfer taxes be paid on a credit card?

Answer: Yes, you may pay transfer taxes via credit card. However, a 3.5% service fee applies for transfer tax payments through credit card. This fee can be avoided if you use e-check, provide a paper check for the transfer tax, or wire the funds. If you have a large transfer tax amount, we may request advance deposit.

Question: What is the Senate Bill 2 (SB2) fee (also known as the Building Homes and Jobs Act) and its exemptions?

Answer: Effective January 1, 2018, a fee of $75.00 shall be paid at the time of recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, except those expressly exempted from payment of recording fees, per each single transaction per parcel of real property.

Below are the exemptions from the SB2 fee:

  1. Instruments recorded in connection with a transfer of real property subject to transfer tax, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(2)(A)
  1. Instruments recorded in connection with a transfer of real property to an owner-occupier, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(2)(B)
  1. Instruments executed or recorded by the federal government in accordance with the Uniform Federal Lien Registration Act, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(2)(C)
  1. Instruments executed or recorded by the state or any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(2)(D)
  1. Instrument executed or recorded to remove a restrictive covenant that is in violation of Section 12955, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(2)(E)
  1. Instruments not related to real property, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(1)
  1. Fee cap of $225.00 reached, Cal Gov. Code 27388.1(a)(1)

Although this seems simple at first, it’s quite complicated. Each county interprets the term “per parcel”, “per single transaction”, “in connection with”, and “transfer of real property” differently.

Our team is experienced with navigating the exemptions and can assist you with properly claiming the exclusions so that you pay the lowest possible fee.