Montgomery County, PA

Use this system to locate documents recorded from 1972 to the present.

Using the Party Name Search Screen

Using the Book/Page Search Screen

Using the Document Search Screen

1. Party Name Search

NOTE: THIS SEARCH IS USEFUL IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF A SPELLING OF A NAME OR COMPANY, OR YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FIRST INITIAL OF THE FIRST NAME.

• Go to the right screen: You must be on the Name Search screen.  If you are not, click with the mouse on “Name Search” or “New Search” at the top of the screen.
• Enter the name you are searching for: Type last name or company name.  Type only the first few letters if you are unsure of the spelling.  Upper or lower case can be used.  Do not use any punctuation like apostrophes or hyphens.  A comma then a space then a first name can also be typed (no wild card symbols have to be used with this search).  Example: smith, john.  No commas need to be used for company names
• Click on the Search button: A ‘phone book’ listing will display, starting with the name you entered.  You can move up and down this list by click on the Prev and Next buttons.
• View the index information:  Click on the underlined document type to view the index information.  To see the “parent” or a document (ex. Original Mortgage to a Satisfaction), click on the underlined book/page number after “Parent:”  To see the indexing history, click on “Click here to view history”.  Any changes made over the life of the document are highlighted in yellow.

NOTE:  There will be no history of a document if the document was imported from the mainframe system.  These documents are listed as BAKFILE under the Proofed heading.

• View the document image: Document Images cannot be viewed over the internet system.  You must visit the Recorder of Deeds office to view a document.
• To continue: Click on “New Search” to do another Name Search, “Back to List” to go back to your previous results, or “Back to Details” to view this document’s index information again.

2. Book/Page Search

NOTE: THIS SEARCH IS USEFUL ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE BOOK/PAGE NUMBER OR INSTRUMENT NUMBER OF A DOCUMENT RECORDED

• Go to the right screen: Click on Book/Page Search at the top of the screen (or “New Search” if you are the Document Details screen).
• Enter the instrument number: If you know it, type it in the Instrument Number field
• Or enter the book/page numbers: If you are searching for book/page, click on the Book Type field’s down arrow and select the appropriate book (ex Deed, Mortgage, etc).  Then enter the Book and Page numbers.
• Click on the Search button:  The document information will appear on the screen.
• View the index information:  Click on the underlined book/page number to view the index information.  To see the “parent” or a document (ex. Original Mortgage to a Satisfaction), click on the underlined book/page number after “Parent:”  To see the indexing history, click on “Click here to view history”.  Any changes made over the life of the document are highlighted in yellow.

NOTE:  There will be no history of a document if the document was imported from the mainframe system.  These documents are listed as BAKFILE under the Proofed heading.

• View the document image: Document Images cannot be viewed over the internet system.  You must visit the Recorder of Deeds office to view a document.

3. Document Search – More advanced search

NOTE: THIS SEARCH IS USEFUL TO NARROW DOWN LARGE SEARCHES, THE MORE CRITERIA USED THE SMALLER THE HIT LIST. 

• Go the right screen: Click on Document Search at the top of the screen (or “New Search” if you are on the Document Details screen)
• Enter one or more of the desired search criteria: 

·        Document Type: Select Mortgage or Deed for example, by clicking on the down arrow and clicking on the desired document (this will limit your search to only Mortgage or Deed specifically, not different types of Mortgages, such as a Release)

        Party Type:  Click on the button at the top to display the Party Type list. Click on a party type to search for (if Grantor/Grantee is selected, all Grantors and Grantees will be searched regardless of document type)

·        Party Names: 

To search by a person’s name only:  Select Person from the drop down list for either Direct or Indirect name (depending on which one you wish to search).  Enter a last name in the Last Name box.  If you do not know the last name or are unsure of the spelling, use an asterisk as a wildcard character (Example: Smith can be entered in as Smi*)  Enter a first name in the First Name box.  To narrow down a search even more you can also enter a middle initial in the Middle Initial box or a suffix (Jr, Sr, etc) in the Suffix box.

NOTE:  In the event that a suffix or a middle initial may have been indexed in the first name field, we recommend that you enter an asterisk at the end of the FIRST name to return all variations of the name you are searching.

To search by a company name only:  Select Company from the drop down list for either Direct or Indirect name (depending on which one you wish to search).  Enter a company name in the box that appears.  Enter the full name of the company or use an asterisk as a wildcard character (Example: First Union* will return all variations of First Union Bank, First Union Mortgage, etc)

To search by either company name or person’s name:  Select Combined from the drop down list for either Direct or Indirect name (depending on which one you wish to search).  Type in the person’s or company name with no punctuation (Example: First Union or Smith John).  This search will return all variations of the name searched with no additional wildcard characters needed.

NOTE:  For a company that you are unsure of the spelling, we recommend using the Party Name Search first

        Date Range:  From the drop down list you may select a pre-formatted date range such as Today, Yesterday, Last 90 Days, etc.  To type in your own specific date range, select Range and then type in the boxes that appear below using mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy.

        Parcel Number:  Enter a parcel number to locate all documents associated with that specific parcel.  NOTE:  IF YOU WISH TO SEARCH BY TOWNSHIP OR MUNICIPALITY, ONLY ENTER THE TOWNSHIP TWO DIGIT NUMBER IN THE FIRST BOX OF THE PARCEL NUMBER SEARCH.  See below for the municipality numbers

        Address Search:  To search by a property address, enter the street address.  Example, 123 Main St

        Ascending or Descending date order: To display your results from oldest to newest, select Ascending.  To display your results from newest to oldest, select Descending.

• Click on the Search button: A “hit list” of documents matching the search criteria will appear on the screen.  They are ordered by date and time recorded, depending on the Ascending or Descending selected.  Use the Prev and Next buttons to browse the list.
• View the index information:  Click on the underlined book/page number to view the index information.  To see the “parent” or a document (ex. Original Mortgage to a Satisfaction), click on the underlined book/page number after “Parent:”  To see the indexing history, click on “Click here to view history”.  Any changes made over the life of the document are highlighted in yellow.

NOTE:  There will be no history of a document if the document was imported from the mainframe system.  These documents are listed as BAKFILE under the Proofed heading.

• View the document image: Document Images cannot be viewed over the internet system.  You must visit the Recorder of Deeds office to view a document.