Chapter 36

Section 1. The counties of Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex and Worcester are for the registry of deeds severally divided into the following districts: In Berkshire, the middle district, with its office in Pittsfield, comprising Pittsfield, Becket, Dalton, Hinsdale, Lee, Leno…

Section 10. If, upon the death, removal or expiration of the term of a register, deeds or other instruments entered in the registry are unrecorded, or recorded but unattested, or if records are unattested, his successor or any subsequent register shall record or attest such deeds…

Section 11. Every register shall keep in his registry all books, records, deeds and papers belonging thereto, and shall keep the office open a fixed number of hours daily on days other than Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, for receiving and recording papers, except that, if the c…

Section 12. Every deed and other instrument required to be recorded in the registry of deeds shall be recorded in the registry of deeds for the district where the land lies to which such deed or instrument relates; and in all things relating to the register or registry of deeds, …

Section 12A. A register of deeds may refuse to accept an instrument for recording if it cannot be properly duplicated or a proper record cannot be made thereof.

Section 13. If a deed or other writing affecting land has been recorded in a registry of deeds or registered in a registry district of the land court, a copy thereof, duly certified by a proper official, may be recorded or registered in any county or registry district wherein the…

Section 13A. The registers of deeds, or a majority of them, may from time to time make and amend rules prescribing the size or sizes of plans which shall be received for record in registries of deeds in which copies of such rules are posted as hereinafter provided, the material o…

Section 13B. A plan, the original of which was prepared by an engineer, surveyor or draftsman who is no longer living or whose whereabouts is not known but which plan has been referred to in deeds or other documents theretofore duly recorded or a plan prepared or bearing a date p…

Section 14. (a) Each register shall keep a record, in book or electronic form, into which the register shall enter recording information for all instruments accepted for record in the order in which they are recorded. Upon recording of an instrument, the following information sha…

Section 14A. A notice of certification of an historic or archeological site and a withdrawal of such certification, required to be recorded under the provisions of section twenty-seven of chapter nine, shall be recorded by the register of deeds without the payment of any fee ther…

Section 15. He shall record all instruments upon the pages of the record books in fair and legible handwriting or in print, and in continuous successive lines, and shall note on the record, before attesting the same, all erasures and interlineations and the value of any stamp aff…

Section 16. He shall record receipts of federal revenue collectors for succession taxes, or other evidence of their payment, if the person applying for such record first makes affidavit to the genuineness of such receipt or evidence before a person qualified to take acknowledgmen…

Section 17. The register shall, at the expense of the county, procure and keep duplicate record books, in which he shall make fair and legible copies of the record of any deed or other instrument existing in the registry which has become worn, mutilated or indistinct, if so direc…

Section 18. He may attest the records by the volume, and the attestation shall be sufficient when the volume containing the same bears the attest, with the written signature of the register or other person lawfully authorized.

Section 18A. The register or an assistant register may print or type the name of any person whose signature appears on any instrument filed for recording and is not clearly legible, such name to be printed or typed directly below such signature.

Section 19. A facsimile of the signature of any register, imprinted by him, by an assistant register or by such office assistant as the register in writing may designate, upon any original instrument in attestation of the fact that the same has been recorded in his registry or up…

Section 2. In each such district and in each county not divided into districts, a register of deeds, who shall be a resident of such district or county, shall be elected, as provided in section one hundred and fifty-seven of chapter fifty-four, for the term of six years, beginnin…

Section 20. If an assignment, extension, partial release, release or discharge of a mortgage of land, or a certificate of the taking or surrender of possession for foreclosure of such mortgage, or an affidavit of notice of sale under a power of sale therein, or an execution for p…

Section 21. When an instrument described in the preceding section affecting a mortgage is recorded, and it refers by book and page to the record of the mortgage, the register shall enter upon the margin of such record, if in the same registry, a notation of the record of the inst…

Section 22. If an assignment, release, partial release, discharge or disclaimer affecting title to land created by a sale or taking for payment of a tax or assessment is recorded, the register shall make a note of reference thereto on the margin of the record of the deed or instr…

Section 23. He shall certify upon every instrument recorded by him the time when received and the number of the book and leaf or page where recorded.

Section 24. Notice of a federal tax lien which may be filed in the commonwealth or any other federal lien on any real property or fixtures shall be filed with the register of deeds of the county in which such real property or fixtures are situated. Said register shall, whether th…

Section 24A. At any time after a petition in bankruptcy is filed, or a decree of adjudication or an order approving the trustee's bond is made, pursuant to the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1898, as amended by the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1938, the bankrupt, trustee, receiver, custo…

Section 24B. The register, or said register as the assistant recorder of the land court, in each county except Dukes and Nantucket counties, shall, upon the request in writing of the board of assessors of any city or town in his county or district, furnish such board with copies …

Section 25. He shall keep two indexes, each divided into six columns, with headings in one as follows: And in the other as follows: In Suffolk county neither index need contain the last column.

Section 26. He shall, within twenty-four hours after a deed or other instrument which he is by law required to record has been left for record, cause the name of each grantor, grantee or other party thereto to be entered at length and alphabetically in the appropriate index, and …

Section 27. When an instrument by which a person transfers or conveys by authority of law the real estate of another is left for record, the register shall enter in the entry book and grantor index both the name of the nominal grantor and that of the real party in interest, if ap…

Section 28. Each register shall annually, at the expense of the county, cause competent persons to make copies of the indexes of the preceding year, in which the grantors and grantees shall be classified by their respective surnames in alphabetical order, and arranged thereunder …

Section 29. A register may, with the consent of the county commissioners, cause a competent person, at the expense of the county, to make copies of the indexes or new indexes to the records, or of any part thereof. Such copies may be printed at county expense and sold at a price …

Section 3. Each register of deeds shall be sworn before the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county before the city council of Boston, and prior to being sworn, and thereafter, at intervals of not more than one year, so long as he continues to hold such office, shall give bond…

Section 30. Each register, except in Suffolk county, shall annually, before January first, file with the county commissioners an estimate in detail of the character, amount and cost of indexing which, in his judgment, may be required for the ensuing year, and the commissioners sh…

Section 31A. Within sixty days after the recording of any deed in which the grantee is described as a trustee, or of any declaration of trust, the register in whose office such deed or declaration is recorded shall send by mail to the commissioner of revenue a notification of the…

Section 32. Whenever there is filed for record in a registry of deeds any deed of trust or other instrument creating or increasing an estate or fund for benevolent, charitable, humane or philanthropic purposes, the register shall forthwith send to the department of public welfare…

Section 32A. Whenever the register, in any communication, document or writing intended for use outside the registry, identifies a husband and wife, he shall use the name of both husband and wife and shall not use a legal phrase as a substitute for either name.

Section 33. The salaries of registers of deeds and all assistant registers of deeds shall be paid by their respective counties; and the salaries of registers of deeds shall be in full for all services rendered as register and as assistant recorder of the land court. The salaries …

Section 37. No register or assistant register shall demand or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for title work performed by him or under his direction, in his registry.

Section 38. Registers shall annually be allowed for clerical assistance in their respective registries, to be paid by their respective counties, such amounts as shall be approved by the county commissioners.

Section 39. Each register shall enter in a cash book, which shall be the property of the county, all fees received by him for all official acts and services; and he shall, on the first day of each month, pay to the county treasurer, or other officer entitled to receive the same, …

Section 4. Each register, with the approval of the superior court, may appoint an assistant register of deeds, removable at his pleasure, for whose official acts he shall be responsible; provided, however, that any person so appointed by the register for Suffolk county who has se…

Section 40. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the state secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations to ensure that all technology purchases by registries of deeds are compatible with each other.

Section 41. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the fees of each of the registers of deeds and of the assistant recorders, except as otherwise provided, to be paid when the instrument is left for recording, filing or deposit shall be subject to a surcharge…

Section 5. The registers of deeds for Suffolk county and the southern district of Middlesex may, by a writing recorded in their respective registries, appoint one of the persons employed in their respective registries as second assistant register, one of such persons as third ass…

Section 5A. The register of deeds for Norfolk county may, by a writing recorded in his registry, designate one of the persons employed therein as second assistant register who shall serve at the pleasure of such register and may also so designate one of the persons employed there…

Section 6. The registers for the southern district of Essex, the county of Hampden and the Worcester district may, with the approval of their respective county commissioners, appoint and at pleasure remove, a second assistant register. Such an assistant shall have all the powers …

Section 7. The register for the Worcester district may, by a writing recorded in his registry, authorize a person employed in said registry to certify or attest, as chief clerk, records or copies of records recorded or filed therein, which authority the register may at pleasure i…

Section 8. During the disability of a register, or if a vacancy occurs in the office, the assistant register, or second assistant register, or if none, the clerk, shall perform the register's duties. If the register is disabled and there is no assistant or clerk, or if they are b…

Section 9. If a register, upon presentment of the grand jury, is found guilty of misconduct in his official duties, or if from bodily or mental infirmity he is incapable in person of rightly performing the same, the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county the superior court, s…