Visit to Ashland County Recorders Office
Interview with Erin Beebe, Ashland County Recorder’s Office:
Yesterday I Stopped by the Recorder’s office and sat down with Erin Beebe to ask her about what her office does and to educate myself and you about what services are available now and what exciting things are coming up. First, some history: Prior to 1846, What was to become Ashland County was made up of pieces of four Counties; Richland, Wayne, Huron and Lorain with the bulk of the County being in what was Richland and Wayne. An interesting note, The County line near Jeromesville (actually, historically, it’s Jeromeville. There was no “s.”) was at the bottom of the hill running pretty much right down the center of the Jerome Fork North and South. Thus, Jeromeville, (sic), was in Wayne County at that time. So if you are East of that historic border trying to search who owned your property prior to 1846, you would have to visit the Wayne County Recorder’s office. Ashland County was applied for from the State Government in February of 1846 and actually became a County in August of that year. Also, from a land surveying perspective, probably associated with the “firelands”, the most Northern townships are surveyed off in lots instead of sections, for example, on the original maps, Sullivan township was surveyed into 100 lots by a surveyor named Ludlow. South of “baseline” or County Road 500, the townships surveyed in “the old seven ranges” style with the townships being roughly square, having 36 sections and each one of those sections being divided into quarter sections containing 160 acres each. In the 1820’s if you wanted a piece of land, you bought and were granted ownership of a quarter section. Another interesting thing, the 42nd parallel of Latitude passes through Sullivan, Troy and Ruggles townships, running due East and West, and in Sullivan being about 100 yards North of Township Road 462. Still with me? Ok, now what the Recorders office does.
Obviously, they store all of the the property deeds, transfers, affidavits, easements, plats, zoning maps for townships, power of attorney associated with land, release of mortgages, and land contracts. Physically, they have hundreds of thousands of records in the office. The old massive plat books, some of them with 1,000 pages are not being used at this time except for research as all of the new entries are digital and can be found online. Currently, all plats and deeds back to May of 1995 are online and after June 30, 2026, All records back to 1/1/1980 will be online. The good news is that you can go online and look at your land purchases and transfers, ect. The bad news is, so can everyone else. I’ll talk about a program that has to do with this later. Erin commented that people will call as soon as their house is paid off and request “a copy of their deed.” She stated that you don’t have to wait, you can get a copy of your deed anytime. It’s not like a car title.
An interesting side note, I asked her if she kept copies of wills. I would think, being a records office that would be a thing, but no, they don’t have wills. She said that most of the time, your lawyer keeps those copies. I guess as long as the courts have access to them when you pass on, it works. Another thing, and here is part of the excitement I mentioned before, other Counties in the State of Ohio have an initiative called “The good deeds program.” She would like to have it come to our County. Here is what it entails: From the Mongomery County Ohio website; “The Good Deeds Program assists homeowners with planning the future ownership of their homes after their death. By ensuring the proper documentation (TOD) is recorded, the beneficiary can bypass the Probate Court process.
A TOD is a Transfer on Death designation document that allows you, the property owner, to designate a beneficiary of your real estate property. The TOD does not affect ownership until you die.
After your death, the beneficiary does not automatically take ownership. They must record an Affidavit of Confirmation (AOC) along with a copy of your death certificate. Then fill out the TOD and AOC forms. Once the form is complete and signed before a valid notary, it can be recorded in our office for the standard recording fees.”
Obviously transfer on death has been around awhile, but if no one tells you about it, you don’t know. No Probate on your parent’s house. How cool is that? That’s the uphill battle, how to know how to hold assets, property so the Government can’t get it’s grubby paws on it or make you pay for something that is already yours.
Another thing we talked about is she wants to have a “Veterans ID card.” Program. Also from the Montgomery County Ohio website:
“The Veteran Identification Card Program is an innovative new program to assist veterans in obtaining benefits. The program serves as a proactive safety net to ensure veterans securely record their DD-214 and obtain a valid form of state-issued identification that can be used to assist in obtaining healthcare benefits, burial benefits, specialized veteran loans, store discounts, and more.”
All you need to apply for one is your DD214. This program is not in Ashland County yet, but she hopes it will be soon.
I talked earlier about the fact that everyone can see your deed online and there is now a service that the recorder’s office provides called the “Real Property Fraud Alert Service.” You sign up with the recorder’s office to receive email alerts anytime your name or business name is used in a real property recording within the County of Ashland. This is a FREE service. It’s called “GovOS FraudSleuth.”
Now, we are down to how her office in particular operates. She has three wonderful ladies as you walk in and their names are Deb, Brenda and Barb. Deb and Barb have been at the recorders office for 25 years! Talk about experience! I came to a dead end in Richland County researching the land that I live on when I got back to 1839. I went in, told the ladies about it, and they had a wonderful suggestion that I will follow up on the next time I go to the Richland County Courthouse.
So, how is this Department funded? This is going to shock you in a good way. Her budget for this year is $281,514. BUT, her Department brings in around $463,000. Now, about half of that goes by Ohio law to a program called “Ohio Housing Trust Fund.” I’m not going to go into what that program does but here is a link to their website:
https://development.ohio.gov/community/community-resources/ohio-housing-trust-fund
So, to make it real simple and keep this short, she brings in around $463,000 in fees and gives a little over half or so to the aforementioned State program leaving about $218,614. Subtracting $218,614 from her budget of 281,415 means that her Department is only costing $62,900 taxpayer dollars net. Now, the accountants among you just cringed and crawled under the table because these numbers are greatly simplified. I know, I know. I have been in business my whole life and at the end of the day I ask “did we make any money?” I want Government to be as efficient and cost as little as possible while providing services. If elected your County Commissioner, I bring this mindset, the one I’ve had my whole life, with me to the office.
Thank for slogging through this. Don’t for get to vote on Tuesday, May 5.
Jeff Hardman, Candidate for Ashland County Commissioner