Revised: May 5, 2004

Both the Florida House and Senate passed a significant piece of legislation (SB 2962) impacting the recording of documents in the Official Records last week. Although the Governor has not yet signed this bill, he is expected to do so, soon. We feel that it is very important to alert you to a change that goes into effect on Tuesday, June 1, 2004.

Effective on that date, there is a $4 per page increase in the service charge associated with recording documents in the Official Records. This service charge increase is being used to provide technology funds for the Clerks of Courts, the Judges, the State Attorneys and the Public Defenders. County Records Division does not keep any of this money. Please note that this increase is per page. Therefore, the cost of recording documents in the Official Records will be $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each page thereafter. There is an exception for recording a Notice of Lis Pendens and the fee for that specific document type will remain at $5.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each page thereafter.

You may view this bill by going to http://www.flsenate.gov/ and entering the bill number (2962). It is approximately 151 pages long. The information concerning the increase in the service fee for Official Records documents can be found on pages 44-48.

Additionally, effective July 1, 2004, there will be an increase in the fee for certifying a copy of a document from the Official Records. That fee will increase to $1.50 per document. Other fee changes are noted, on the enclosure with this letter, if printed, or attached as separate file, if you are receiving this via e-mail.

Please share this information with people throughout your organization. The implementation date is very near and we will not be able to record your documents unless the appropriate fees and service charges are paid, effective June 1, 2004.

Please provide us with an e-mail address which we can use to more timely inform you of future changes impacting fees and procedures. Please send it to jterwilliger@broward.org. Urgent Notice Regarding Fee Increase Effective 6/1/2004

Pending signature of Senate Bill 2962 by Governor Bush, some fees associated with Official Records will increase. Please take special notice of the increase in recording fees.

Type of Fee	Current Amount	As of 6/1/2004	As of 7/1/2004
First Page Recording	$6.00	$10.00	$10.00
Additional Page Recording	$4.50	$8.50	$8.50
Notice of Lis Pendens Recording	$5.00 - first page $4.00 – additional pages	Unchanged	Unchanged
Certification of Document	$1.00	Unchanged	$1.50
Check Writing Fee FS 28.24 (8) Formerly FS 28.24 (11)	$4.00	Unchanged	$6.00
Microfilm Copies of Public Records 16 mm 100’ roll 35 mm 100’ roll	$25.00 $35.00	Unchanged Unchanged	$37.50 $52.50
Receiving money into the registry of the Court (transferring lien to cash) First $500 Each subsequent $100	2% 1%	Unchanged Unchanged	3% 1.5%
Microfiche, per fiche	$2.00	Unchanged	$3.00
For searching  of records, for each year searched	$1.00	Unchanged	$1.50

In anticipation of the pending increase, you may wish to assess the increased fee amount on all closings during the last two weeks of May. Any documents received via US or Express mail after close of business on May 28, 2004, regardless of the date of mailing, must include the new fee, to avoid return of the documents. Any documents currently in our suspense file, which have been returned to you for corrections and/or additional funds, must be accompanied by the new fee, when resubmitted, if we will receive them after May 28.

Please help us transition to the new fee structure by getting your documents to us as early as possible during the month of May, especially during the last week of the month.