WilCo estimates nearly $1 million lost in unrecorded document fees
WilCo audit finds mortgages not filed
Posted: Friday, January 25, 2013 9:08 am
GEORGETOWN – The Williamson County Clerk’s Office estimates that it has lost more than $957,000 because of documents that have not been recorded and should have been according to Texas law.
The information surfaced after Williamson County Clerk Nancy Rister had an audit conducted of the county’s official public records. Officials say the audit is the first of its type for the state of Texas.
The County hired DK Consultants out of San Antonio to perform the audit last October. The process took one week to audit official public records including trustees’ deeds, deeds, assignments of deed of trust, and other documents. On Tuesday, January 29, 2013, the Williamson County Commissioners Court will hear a presentation of the findings of the real property records audit during its regular court meeting starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Commissioners Courtroom on the second floor of the historic county courthouse, 710 S. Main Street, in Georgetown.
“During the audit, they are reviewing the documents for errors created by third party document manufacturers which can create a chain of title problem,†stated County Clerk Nancy Rister. “These errors are violations of state law and will be referred to the Attorney General’s Office.â€
The results of the audit revealed hundreds of issues involving suspect robosigning, suspect surrogate signing, suspect notary fraud and suspect forgery.  In addition to the nearly $1 million lost from documents not being filed county officials said the public is also being victimized by the lack of accurate records and in some cases the loss of their home. The OPR audit cost $12,500 and was paid for from the county clerk’s records management fund.
In addition, County Clerk Nancy Rister pointed out that some of these issues can be detected through Property Fraud Alert Software recently purchased and available on the Clerk’s website. The new software allows Williamson County residents to sign up for notifications if documents are filed in Official Public Records with their names on them.
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Friday, January 25, 2013 9:08 am.