Effective October 1, 2016, pursuant to Public Act 224 of 2016 which amended Public Act 236 of 1961, the fee for recording a document with any county Register of Deeds will increase from the current fee of $14.00 plus $3.00 for each additional page to $30.00 flat fee (inclusive of Michigan Remonumentation and Register of Deeds Automation fees) regardless of the number of pages in the document. [1] There is one exception: if the document to be recorded assigns or discharges more than one instrument, there is an additional $3.00 fee for each additional instrument assigned or discharged. [2] Also to certify a recorded document is now $5.00; however the fee for copies of documents remain at $1.00 per page. [3]
For larger documents (six pages or more, exclusive of assignments and discharges) there is certainly a cost savings versus the previous fee schedule. However, for the vast majority of document recordings, especially deeds where most are only one to a few pages, the cost of doing business has substantially increased, basically doubled. As with many of the court fee increases over the last year, this change appears to be a revenue generation measure for the State of Michigan, to make up for fiscal losses in other areas. GJR
Notes
- MCL 600.2567(1)(a)
- MCL 600.2567(1)(b)
- MCL 600.2567(1)(c), (d)
