New Years Hours

Just a reminder that the Registry of Deeds and the Fitchburg Satellite Office will be open during normal operating hours on Friday December 31, 2010.

Happy New Year from the Registry of Deeds!

Inclement Weather Update

The Registry of Deeds will be open during normal hours on Monday December 26th. Access to the Registry of Deeds may not be available until 8:15 a.m. due to inclement weather.

Fitchburg Satellite Office Closed Monday

Due to inclement weather, the Fitchburg Satellite Office will be closed on Monday December 26, 2010. The Registry of Deeds will remain open.

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Holiday Hours

The Registry of Deeds will be open during normal operating hours on Friday December 24th and Friday December 31st.

Happy Holidays from the Registry of Deeds

Electronic Recording Update

The Electronic Recording program at the Registry of Deeds is progressing well. We are currently fine tuning the payment process and are adding another submitter. Our first submitter was a local credit union, and we are currently working with a local attorney submitter. The Registry will be issuing a press release with more information about Electronic Recording, which will be published here, shortly.

Appellate Training Event

CPCS Children & Family Law Division will be hosting Appellate Training at the Worcester District Registry of Deeds on November 22, 2010 from 2 to 4 p.m. The training will feature a discussion of Motions for Relief from Judgment, Motions for New Trial, Writing Tips, and Various and Sundry Other Matters. Speakers will include Andrew Cohen & Lisa Sheehan of CPCS Children & Family Law Division, Boston and Beth Nussbaum, Esq., of Sharon.

Please contact Andrew Cohen at acohen@publiccounsel.net or (617) 988- 8310, or Lisa Sheehan, at lsheehan@publiccounsel.net or (617) 988-8456, if you have any questions.

Veterans Day Closing

The Registry of Deeds and Fitchburg Satellite Office will be closed on Thursday, November 11, 2010 in honor of Veterans Day.

Grantor Index Demonstration and E-Recording Update

On Monday, November 15, 2010, at 10:00 AM, Anthony J. Vigliotti and the Worcester Registry of Deeds staff will present a demonstration of its electronic 1731-1961 Grantor Indices.

These indices will be available at dedicated terminals within the Registry of Deeds for your use. It is the goal of the Registry to provide access to the indices on the new Mass Land Records site in the near future.

Additionally, an update will be provided on the Worcester Registry of Deeds electronic recording pilot project. The Worcester Registry will be the first Registry to electronically record documents in CERS, the Commonwealth Electronic Recording System.

Electronic Recording Delayed until Next Week

The Registry of Deeds has decided to temporarily delay the implementation of Electronic Recording until next week. While the Electronic Recording system is ready for live use, we have been experiencing connectivity issues due to an upgrade to our T1 lines to increase bandwidth. Although these upgrades have slightly delayed electronic recording, they will help us to continue to provide the highest quality services to our users. We will continue to post updates on the implementation of Electronic Recording here on our blog.

Electronic Recording - Coming Next Week

After years of research and many months of development, the Registry of Deeds will begin live electronic recording next week. We are happy to be working with the Webster First Federal Credit Union for the initial live recordings to verify the electronic recording process. We will be opening electronic recording to a range of submitters shortly thereafter.

Electronic recording is the most significant of the Registry's many efforts to make our operation as digitized as possible. These innovations will allow the Registry to reduce costs and go green at a time when it is most pressing, while maintaining high quality service for our users. Thank you all for following the Registry's progress as we move towards reaching our goal.

Columbus Day Hours

The Registry of Deeds and Fitchburg Satellite Office will be closed Monday, October 10, 2010 in honor of Columbus Day.

Statistics for Q3 2010

The following is a breakdown for the months of July, August and September 2010 for income, foreclosure deeds, and recordings in the Worcester District Registry of Deeds.

Month	Income	Foreclosure Deeds	Recordings
July	$1,936,100.45	209	12,377
August	$2,090,084.75	195	13,375
September	$2,230,829.88	132	13,768
Q3 Total	$6,257,015.08	536	39,520

Mortgage Fraud on the Rise

New data suggests that mortgage fraud may be once again on the rise. After reaching a peak in 2006, mortgage fraud has began to become more problematic again, increasing 17% from last year.


Read more about this trend at the Wall Street Journal here.

Electronic Grantor Index Live

The Registry of Deeds is pleased to announce that we have enabled an electronic version of our Grantor Index from 1731 to 1965 on several of our public access computers in the Registry. We are completing training for staff and frequent users of the Grantor Index this week. Please inquire with a Registry staff member if you would like to access the electronic Grantor Index. Additionally, we hope to launch an online version of the Grantor Index in the near future.

Labor Day Holiday

The Registry of Deeds will be closed on Monday, September 6, 2010 in observance of Labor Day. We thank all American workers for their contributions which have built and strengthened our nation.

Registry of Deeds Technology Advisory Committee Meeting

The Registries of Deeds of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are required to meet each year with the Registry of Deeds Technology Advisory Committee members to report on the status of the Registries of Deeds and the use of the Registry of Deeds Technology Funds. The meeting will be hosted by the Secretary of the Commonwealth on Monday, August 30, 2010, in Boston. The Worcester District Registry of Deeds will present the following to the Technology Advisory Committee:

For Fiscal Year 2010, the Worcester District Registry of Deeds collected $25,970,229.90 in total income. The Fiscal Year 2010 budget for the Registry of Deeds was $2,345,612.00. For Fiscal Year 2011, the budget of the Registry of Deeds has been reduced by $117,281.00 to $2,228,331.00.

The Registry of Deeds is targeting October 4, 2010 for the launch of the Electronic Recording Massachusetts Portal Pilot Project. Additionally, the Registry of Deeds has digitized the Grantor indicies from 1731 to 1965. The Grantor indicies will be available online and in house in a phone-book directory format with links to the corresponding images.

The Registry of Deeds future goals include:

• Implementation of an automatic redacting system at the time of recording
• Restoration and Preservation of Historical Records
• Implementation of property fraud alert software

Changes to Masslandrecords.com

Several changes that should dramatically enhance the performance of the new Masslandrecords,com search have been implemented. We encourage all users to use the new version in the upcoming weeks and give us your feedback via phone or email. The old version will continue to remain on the site should you experience any problems with the new version. Click here to access the new version of Masslandrecords.com.

New Law Enacted in Response to National Lumber

In 2005, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts decided a case, National Lumber Co. v. Lombardi, in which the Court held that documents sent to Registries of Deeds via mail are considered recorded the moment they are received by the Registry. This decision was problematic as these documents are in actuality recorded into the Registries' computer systems over the course of the day they are received.

Yesterday, the Governor signed Senate Bill 2549 into law to rectify this situation. Under the new law, "No instrument received by the register shall be considered recorded until the register assigns to the instrument an instrument number, or book and page number, as the case may be." This means that once this law goes into effect, documents are not officially recorded until entered into the Registry's computer database. Click here to read the full text of the new law.

E-Recording Launch Date: October 4th

The Registry of Deeds is proud to announce that the launch date for the new E-Recording Portal is scheduled for October 4th. Please check back often as we will continue to post information about the portal, including how to become a submitter.

Register's Update

The Registry of Deeds is currently working on two projects that will allow users to both access records and record documents remotely.

• Work is continuing on the E-Recording Portal. The current target date for rolling out the portal is September 30, 2010.

• Grantor Indices from 1731 – 1960 have been scanned into a database. We are currently waiting for the arrival of four books that have been rescanned in order to improve the quality of the images. We anticipate having these indicies online in a telephone directory style shortly.

As these projects move towards completion, we are continuing to explore these future improvements

• We recently tested an expanded and improved historical index search system with Foveonics Imaging Technologies, Inc. This system allows quicker and greater search capabilities then our proposed system. It also allows us to redact our older indices while preserving the redacted information in a secured database.

• We have studied the installation of E-Recording kiosks being used by Maricopa County (Phoenix) Arizona. These kiosks could be placed in a library, Town Hall or Court House to expedite recordings by the general public with payments using credit or debit cards.

In the last fiscal year, the Registry reduced staff by five positions due to budget cuts, while the volume of our work began to increase, with the total number of documents recorded reaching 153,689. The Registry operated with a budget of $2,345,612.00 and returned $25,970,229.90 of revenue to the Commonwealth.

The Worcester Registry of Deeds always welcomes your opinions and suggestions. Please send them to linda.curran@sec.state.ma.us

Land Court to Relocate

Chief Justice for Administration & Management Robert A. Mulligan has announced that efforts are underway to relocate the Land Court Department of the Massachusetts Trial Court to the Suffolk County Courthouse at Pemberton Square. Relocation of the Land Court, which currently occupies private leased space at 226 Causeway Street in Boston, will realize annual savings exceeding $2.7 million.

"The size of the Trial Court’s FY11 budget gap requires aggressive action on the Land Court lease, one of the largest leases in our portfolio," said Chief Justice Mulligan. "The move of an entire court department reflects the unprecedented actions necessary given our appropriation this year. We plan to relocate the court by the end of December to maximize available savings. The Legislature has provided the Trial Court with the authority to manage lease expenses in addressing the significant budget shortfall."

Chief Justice Mulligan also commended those affected by the move. "I want to recognize the extraordinary cooperation of those who work in the Land Court, the Superior Court and the Office of Community Corrections to ensure that this relocation is accomplished smoothly and successfully," he said.

"The entire Trial Court is under pressure to cut costs and deliver services," said Land Court Chief Justice Karyn Scheier. "Wherever the Land Court is located, we will work hard to honor our long history and serve the real estate bar and the public at the highest level possible, given our resources."

The Trial Court Relocation Committee included termination of the Land Court lease among its recently announced preliminary recommendations, which were based on a review of all 103 courthouse facilities. The Court will move into space in the Suffolk County High Rise Courthouse now occupied by several programs operated by the Office of Community Corrections.

The Trial Court’s FY11 budget stands at $534.8 million, which compares with an FY10 budget of $559.5 million and FY09 initial appropriation of $605.1 million. An absolute hiring freeze in the Trial Court has resulted in the loss of more than 700 employees since 2008.

The Land Court also has been severely impacted by the surge in foreclosures generated by the fiscal crisis and by the hiring freeze, which puts the Court below 50 percent of optimal staffing levels. The Court, comprised of seven judges with statewide jurisdiction, received more than 26,000 filings in FY09.

Blood Drive at the Registry of Deeds on Thursday, July 22nd

The Registry of Deeds and the American Red Cross will be holding a blood drive on Thursday July 22, 2010 between 9am and 3pm in the Commonwealth Room of the Registry. All donors will receive a voucher for a free half gallon of Friendly's Ice Cream and can register to win Red Sox tickets. Please schedule your appointment with Linda by calling (508) 368-7012. Walk-ins are welcome but appointments are preferred.

E-Recording Update: Week of June 29th

The Registry of Deeds and the E-Recording team have continued to make progress. The development team has deployed many changes to customize the user interface. Additionally, round trip testing of the E-Recording process has continued. Check back here for updates on testing and the roll-out of the E-Recording portal.

Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Register of Deeds Association Annual Meeting

The Worcester Registry of Deeds today hosted the Annual Meeting of the Registers and Assistant Register of Deeds Association in the Commonwealth Room. Highlights of the meeting included a presentation on GIS, a presentation on Mortgage Fraud by Albert Lamoreaux of the FBI, and remarks by Secretary of the Commonwealth Galvin.

Flag Day

Today is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the United States flag during the second Continental Congress in 1777. Flag Day was established by President Wilson in 1916. Click here to view our instructions on how to display the flag at WorcesterDeeds.com

Happy Flag Day from the Registry of Deeds!

Fourth of July Hours

The Registry of Deeds and the Satellite Office will be closed on Monday, July 5, 2010 in observance of the Fourth of July holiday. The Registry observes all Sunday holidays on the following Monday. We will post another reminder as the Fourth of July approaches.

E-Recording Update: Week of June 7th

The goal for this week is to complete a full test transaction. This includes the EDS Pay integration and administrative functions and reports. Processing times have been significantly reduced to make the e-recording process more efficient.

Memorial Day Holiday

The Registry of Deeds will be closed on Monday, May 31, 2010 in observance of Memorial Day. We thank all the women and men who have given their lives in the service of our Country.

E-Recording Update

The Registry of Deeds is continuing in-house testing for our new e-Recording system. Last week we successfully tested the integration of ACS 20/20 and the e-Recording portal using single page TIFF files. This week we further tested scanning multiple page documents and converting them to a TIFF standard. Extensive testing will continue next week.

Law Day 2010

The first day of May of each year is designated as Law Day, U.S.A. It is set aside as a special day of celebration by the American people in appreciation of their liberties and the reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States of America; of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law in their relations with each other as well as with other nations; and for the cultivation of that respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life.

The Theme of Law Day this year is Law in the 21st Century: Enduring Traditions, Emerging Challenges.

The Worcester County Bar Association held its annual breakfast on April 30, 2010. The guest speaker was the honorable Judge John S. McCann. The Essay Contest Award was presented to Ryan Fox, Eighth Grade student at Saint Bernadette School in Northboro, MA; Liberty Bell Award was presented to Stephen T. Greaney; and the Community Service Award was presented to Attorney Brian J. Buckley. Congratulations to all!

Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Registers of Deeds Association Meeting

The Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Registers of Deeds Association is meeting today in the Commonwealth Room of the Registry of Deeds. The topics discussed include updates on electronic recording and the possible effects of the recent state Security Breach statute, Mass. Gen. Laws 93H, on the Registries of Deeds.

Patriots' Day

The Registry of Deeds and the Fitchburg Satellite Office will be closed, Monday April 19th 2010 in observance of Patriots' Day.

Patriots' Day commemorates the anniversaries of the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War. Also, the Boston Marathon is held each year on the celebration of Patriots' Day, making the day also known as Marathon Monday.

Statistics for Q1 2010

The following is a breakdown for the months of January, February and March 2010 for income, foreclosure deeds, and recordings in the Worcester District Registry of Deeds.

Month	Income	Foreclosure Deeds	Recordings
January	$1,586,170.99	176	11,146
February	$1,505,695.72	154	10,279
March	$1,921,155.43	238	12,816
Q1 Total	$5,013,022.14	568	34,241

Electronic Recording Update

The Worcester District Registry of Deeds Electronic Recording Portal Pilot Project is scheduled for testing on April 12, 2010.

Evacuation Day Hours

The Registry of Deeds will be open as usual on Evacuation Day, March 17, 2010.

Evacuation Day commemorates the evacuation of British forces from the city of Boston following the Siege of Boston, early in the American Revolutionary War.

Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Register of Deeds Association Meeting

The Massachusetts Registers and Assistant Register of Deeds Association will be holding a meeting on Tuesday, March 2, 2010, in the Commonwealth Room of the Worcester Registry of Deeds, 90 Front Street, Worcester, MA at 9:00 am.

Fitchburg Satellite Office Closed Today

Due to the inclement weather today, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 the Worcester Registry of Deeds Satellite Office will be closed.

Real Estate Bar Association Meeting

The Real Estate Bar Association Worcester County Regional Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 25, 2010 in the Commonwealth Room of the Worcester Registry of Deeds, 90 Front Street, Worcester, MA from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM.

Presidents Day Holiday

The Registry of Deeds and Fitchburg Satellite Office will be closed Monday, February 15, 2010 in honor of Presidents Day.

Fitchburg Satellite Office Closing Today 2/10/10 at Noon

Due to the inclement weather forecast for today, Wednesday, February 10, 2010, the Worcester Registry of Deeds Satellite Office will be closing at noon. The office will be open on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at our regular business hours.

Notice to Homeowners - Certified Copies

National Record Service, Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois, a private corporation is soliciting services from homeowners by offering to obtain a certified copy of your deed for $69.50.

Please note, that you may obtain a copy of your deed free of charge by visiting WorcesterDeeds.com and clicking on "Search our Documents".

Certified copies are available at the Worcester Registry of Deeds at a cost of $1.00 per page. You can also send a letter to the Worcester Registry of Deeds, 90 Front Street, Worcester, MA 01608, requesting a certified copy of your deed. Please include the Book and Page number of your deed (found on WorcesterDeeds.com), a check made payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a self addressed stamped envelope.

Haiti Relief Effort

As a response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Presidents Bush and Clinton have created a fund to assist with relief and recovery efforts.

Visit the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund website to donate. Thank you.

Mock Trials in the Commonwealth Room

The Massachusetts Bar Association will be sponsoring Mock Trials in the Commonwealth Room on the following dates:

• February 1st at 2:00 PM Shrewsbury Sr High School v. Holy Name Central Catholic High School Judge: Michael S. Hussey
• February 2nd at 2:00 PM South High Community School v. MA Academy for Math & Science Judge: Geoffrey S. Spofford
• February 2:00 PM South High Community School v. Shrewsbury Sr High School Judge: Matthew R. Fisher

Martin Luther King Day Hours

The Registry of Deeds, including the Fitchburg Satellite Office, will be closed on Monday, January 18th in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Review of 2009 and Preview of 2010

In 2009, the Registry of Deeds completed an inventory of all microfilm, plans, aperture cards, and County Commissioner's records. Also, the Registry began indexing and key stroke verifying previously un-indexed records from 1965 back to 1961, which will continue into 2010. Other goals for 2010 include replacing aging microfilm with new film made from digital images and implementing electronic recording.

2009 Year End Statistics

The following is a comparison of statistics from 2009 and 2008. While income has dropped slightly, there was been in increase in the number of total recordings and a decrease in the number of foreclosure deeds recorded.

	Income	Foreclosure Deeds	Recordings
2009	$25,318,856.09	1489	159,753
2008	$26,405,197.98	1968	143,362

For Fiscal Year 2010, the Registry of Deed's budget appropriation is $2,345,612.00, down from $2,688,908 in 2009 and 2.713,416.00 in 2010.