We here in central Ohio are finding out that some of our Clerk of Courts offices do not have current records available to the public, let alone the experienced title examiner. We are finding out entirely on our own, not by the disclosure of the clerk of courts's staff that they are behind in their indexing of their filings.

For example, The Ross County Clerk of Courts in Chillicothe, Ohio have disclosed to us, verbally and not in writing that they are only up to October 1, 2014. There is no written notification anywhere in the Ross County Clerk of Courts office that they are behind. Nor does their on-line web site disclose any date.

The Fayette County Clerk of Courts in Washington Court House is up to August 27, 2014. They do have a notice / disclaimer on their web site and their public access computer in the Recorcer's office. The down side is when the examiner personally goes to the clerk of courts office to bring their search current from 08/27/2014, there is no public access computer for the examiner to check. You have to ask the clerk to input the name and you hope they have typed it correctly. Then they tell you whether or not there are no filings from 08/27/2014 to the date checked. You do not get to see the computer screen, nor can you get a print out.

Now the real kick in the shins is in Franklin County in Columbus.

Here is my e-mail I sent to the Franklin County Clerk of Courts on 10/08/2014:

Good Morning, I hope this finds you well. I am e-mailing your office regarding the AG Process date. As of this morning it still reads 09/19/2014 on your office's web site. It has been at this date for weeks. Do you know when the date will be updated to a more current date? We title examiners use that date as an effective date for the records filed in your office. Usually your office has a more current date posted as this date shown is 3 weeks old. Any additional information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Here is the reply I received that same day from the Franklin County Clerk of Courts:

Mr. Willard:

The date listed on the site is the most accurate as of right now. Recently the Ohio Attorney General sent us a huge batch of these files (I’m told it’s in the 20K range) and our General Division is in the process of getting things as up to date as possible as quickly as possible. Please keep checking the website, which will be updated once we finish this current batch of files.