Register of Deeds

To provide the official county repository for:

1. Real estate records (deeds, land contracts, mortgages, etc.)
2. Personal property records (UCC real estate fixture filings)
3. Vital records (birth, marriage, death, domestic partnerships, and military discharges)

To provide safe archival storage and convenient access to these public records.

To implement statutory changes, system modernization, program and procedure evaluation and staff development to assure a high level of timely service for our citizen-customers

The Office of the Register of Deeds (ROD) was established in Wisconsin in 1836. Before that, land registration was handled by the Register in Probate. The 1848 Wisconsin Constitution established the ROD as a permanent element of the county-level governmental structure. Each county in Wisconsin has a Register of Deeds.

The Register of Deeds files, records, and issues instruments and documents of significance both to the community as a whole and to its individual citizens. Vital records document the span of our lives from birth to death. Land records documenting title in Wisconsin are maintained.

The filing or recording of other documents with the ROD is a way of putting the world on notice that something important has happened or will happen. The time of the act or transaction is often an important element in rights or relationships. The ROD records the time when, in effect, the public record is established.

Recording and Filing Fees

New recording fee of $30 takes effect June 25, 2010.

Fees are governed by Wisconsin Statutes and are uniform throughout the State. Deeds, Mortgages, Land Contracts, Satisfactions, Certified Survey Maps, etc. and Miscellaneous Documents are entitled to be recorded or filed in the Register of Deeds Office:

Fee - per document: $30 (includes all pages)

Note: Maximum Size Sheet: 8 1/2" x 14." One side of a sheet constitutes a page and any riders attached are considered another page.

• Termination of Decedent's Property Interest (Form HT-110) and Transfer on Death to Beneficiary (Form TOD-110) - Fee: $30 per document (includes all pages) 
• Federal Tax Liens and Releases - Fee: $30 per document (includes all pages)

Copies of recorded or filed documents are $2 for the first page and $1 for each additional page. For certified copies, add $1 per document for certificate.

Recorded documents will be returned to sender or designee.

Filed Plats

Subdivisions, Cemetery, Condominium Plats - Fee: $50

Transportation Project Plats - Fee:  $25 per page 

Recorded plats are not returned to sender.

Note: Maximum sheet size for a Condominium Plat: 14" x 22."

Real Estate Transfer Fees

1. A receipt from a transfer return form and fee or exemption number is required for all conveyances EXCEPT when exemptions 1 or 10m apply.
2. Form is to be completed online at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue 
3. Current rate of fee is $3 per $1,000 of value rounded up to the next higher hundred. See form for exceptions 
4. Valuation must always be shown EXCEPT when an exemption 3 or 10 applies 
5. Transfers involving rental property must be accompanied by one of the following Department of Commerce forms, unless the property already has a certificate of compliance recorded:
   1. Certificate of Compliance
   2. Stipulation: Validation fee:  $20* - If not already validated 
   3. Waiver: Validation fee:  $20* - If not already validated

* Validation fee is in addition to the document recording fee.

Vital Records

1. Birth Certificate:  $20
2. Marriage Certificate:  $20 
3. Death Certificate:  $20
4. Domestic Partnership Certificate:  $20
5. Termination of Domestic Partnership Certificate:  $20
6. Divorce Certificate: $20

Additional copies of same document furnished at the same time: $3. These fees apply to certified and non-certified copies. More information on our Vital Records page.

We do not accept out-of-state personal checks. Please pay with a money order.