I'm in Robert's camp on this one.  I don't think there is really any need for a start date.  And, as Nathan mentioned in his original post, it could cause a recipient to question whether judgments have been searched for the proper number of years.

In my opinion, a search for open liens, whether it be a current owner, two owner, or any other limited search, should arrive at the customer showing all open liens.  This, to me, means that the abstractor searches to an acceptable point of beginning - even if it means searching back through the records of a prior owner.  It's not often around here, but we still occasionally run across an assumed mortgage. More often, I think, a mortgage recorded out of sequence.  The only exception I would place on that rule is in the event that the customer specifically requested a date to run forward.  I would then note those instructions on the search.

I am curious as to why a state's being a race-notice state would have any bearing on either your start date or your end date.  I think in most jurisdictions a lower document number would indicate priority in recording, would it not?  And, many counties, if not most or all, even stamp the time of recording on the document.  In our local counties, we use the cover date certified by the recorder.  This indicates that the recorder has posted all documents recorded up to the end of that day.  So, I guess that might be why I never have given the race-notice wrinkle any thought in that regard.  What's there is there as of the closing of the recorder's office on that given date.

As an aside, I believe that most states are now race-notice.  Illinois is one of them.  That doesn't stop the recorders in the larger counties from establishing their own recording priorities.  For example, large stacks of deeds and mortgages delivered by a title company may sit in the 'things to do eventually' basket, while a person can also walk up to the recording counter with a small number of instruments and see them recorded on the spot.  Hmmmm.