Important Information to Note
Effective July 1, 2023, the law requires a photo ID for all documents submitted to the county clerk conveying property from one person to another. HB 1195.
Due to recent legislative changes (House Bill 3609); Incorporated Assumed Name forms are no longer recorded locally with the County Clerk’s Office. They are filed with the office of the Secretary of State only. The changes made by HB 3609 became effective September 1, 2019, and apply to the following:
- assumed name certificates filed by corporations,
- limited partnerships,
- limited liability companies,
- limited liability partnerships and
- foreign filing entities.
Unincorporated Assumed Name (DBA’s) certificates will continue to be filed with the County Clerk’s Office and are required for the following:
- sole proprietorships,
- sole practitioners,
- general partnerships,
- joint ventures,
- joint stock companies,
- domestic real estate investment trusts,
- estates,
- non-profits,
- and trusts.
The Texas Constitution provides that County Clerk is to be elected in each county who shall be "recorder of the county." Various statutes, court opinions, and attorney general opinions detail the County Clerk's duty to serve as the county's recorder.
The Recording Division like Vital Records are consistently our busiest divisions because we serve the citizens in the county individually. Recording is responsible for recording property deeds and any document associated with the deed, such as liens against the property, the transfer from one individual to another, probate matters associated with the property as well as the release of lien that is file once the mortgage has been paid in full. Some of the other responsibilities of the Recording Division include:
- Filing Assume Names for Business (DBA’s “Doing Business As)
- Tax certificates and plats associated with businesses or subdivisions.
One of the most critical responsibilities of the Recording Division is to ensure that no fraudulent documents are recorded that would cause financial harms to property owners. Please take advantage of our free property fraud alert system.
The purpose of recording documents related to property (official public records) is to put the public on notice that someone has a financial interest in certain property.
We record approximately 400,000 documents each year.
