Frequently Asked Questions


How do I ...?
What is ...?
Technical
Miscellaneous





How do I ...?

... research liens against a property or against an individual?

Click Here for step-by-step instructions for researching liens against a property or individual.

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... research the ownership of a piece of property?

Click Here for step-by-step instructions for researching the ownership of property.

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... obtain a copy of Real Property / Official Records filed in the courthouse?

If you have the Document I. D. or File Number and the county is on our list of available counties and falls after our start date:

  1. Go to State and County
  2. Click Document Images
  3. Enter File Number
  4. Click “Check Out” and follow steps to download document

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What is ...?

What is a Grantor?

A Grantor is a party “granting” or conveying in a transaction. For example, the Seller is a Grantor in a real estate transaction because the seller is granting the property to the buyer. The Buyer is the Grantor in a Deed of Trust because the Buyer is granting property as collateral for a loan.

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What is a Grantee?

A Grantee is a receiver in a transaction. For example, the Buyer is a Grantee in real estate transactions because the buyer is receiving the property in a deed. The Beneficiary is a Grantee in a Deed of Trust because the Beneficiary is receiving a pledge from the buyer to pay according to the terms of the agreement.

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Technical

What should I do if my browser just hangs after I click on checkout icon?

Clear your browser's cookies. The best and safest thing to do is clear the courthousedirect cookie. Details can be found in Q/A below.

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How do I clear my browser's cookies?

To delete ‘a’ cookie:

  1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools drop-down menu, select Internet Options.
  2. Under the General tab, click “Settings” button, and then click “View files…” button.
  3. Select the cookie you want to delete, and then, on the File menu, click Delete. The cookie for courthousedirect.com looks something like this ( Example cookie: rchavez@www.courthousedirect.com )
To delete ‘all’ cookies:
  1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools drop-down menu, select Internet Options.
  2. Under the General tab, click “Delete Cookies…” button, and then click “OK” button on “Delete Cookies” and “Internet Options” window.
Notes:
  • Some Web sites store your member name and password or other personally identifiable information about you in a cookie; therefore, if you delete a cookie, you may need to re-enter this information the next time you visit the site.
More Info:
  • Internet Explorer allows the use of cookies; however, you can change your privacy settings to specify that Internet Explorer prompt you before placing a cookie on your computer (this enables you to allow or block the cookie); or you can prevent Internet Explorer from accepting any cookies.
  • You can use the Internet Explorer privacy settings to specify how you want Internet Explorer to handle cookies from individual Web sites or all Web sites. You can also customize your privacy settings by importing a file containing custom privacy settings, or by specifying custom privacy settings for all Web sites or individual Web sites.

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What browser should I use for this site?

We highly recomend Microsoft's Internet Explorer. To download this free browser, please click here

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I can not download my document. How do I fix this?

IMPORTANT FOR ALL USERS:
  • Links to download files are only good for 24 hours after initial order is placed.
  • You may not cancel your transaction after clicking checkout! Please click checkout only once! The process of downloading your images may take a while. Please be patient.
  • Currently item’s can’t be previewed prior to purchase.

Steps to Download & Print

  1. Allow the Checkout Process to complete.
  2. Open the document you want to see by left clicking "View Entire Document" link.
    • Click "Open from current Location."
    • Note: This will open your tiff imaging default software. If this does NOT work, try downloading the document to your hard drive or desktop first.

Recommended for Windows XP Users or if you have QuickTime
  1. Using "View Entire Document" link to download images:
    • Right-Click on "View Entire Document" link.
    • Click "Save Target As …".
    • Save to a chosen location on the hard drive. *Best if saved to your "Desktop".
    • Open the file.
  2. Using "Download Images" link to download images:
    • Click "Save to disk" or "Download from Current Location"
    • Download "Self Extracting Zip File" <*.exe> to convenient location on hard drive. Note: Do not rename file at this time.
    • Find File and double click to un-zip images to final location on hard drive.
    • Double Click on the file you want to open. Note: This will open your tiff imaging default software.
TIFF Files Will Not Open When You Double-Click Them

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products.

To resolve this issue, re-associate the TIFF file type with the Windows Imaging program. To do this, use either of the following methods.

Method One:
  1. Once you have downloaded it to your desktop from web site, right click on image file.
  2. Select "Open with >" option in window that appears.
  3. Select "Choose program …" option.
  4. Select "Imaging" or "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" application. Check the box, "Always use this program to open these files", and then click OK.
  5. If "Imaging" or "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" does not display as an option, then please see note below.
Method Two:

To manually associate the TIFF file type with the Windows Imaging program, follow these steps:

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Folder Options.
  3. Click the File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog box.
  4. Under Extensions, click TIF.
  5. Click Change.
  6. In the Choose the program you want to use box, click Imaging, and then click OK.

If any of the steps above do not work, please consider uninstalling QuickTime, Kodak Album Viewer or any other third party application that may affect viewing *.tiff files.

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Miscellaneous

Does it cost to do research on CourthouseDirect.com?

CourthouseDirect.com provides some county indexes at no charge and links tofree public records nationwide. Typically,  you are only charged when you download a document or purchase Property Profile, Property History and Sales Comparable reports.

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Is the Judgment Debtor the Grantor or Grantee in an Abstract of Judgment

Lawsuits and Abstracts of Judgment are styled Plaintiff vs. Defendant therefore when an abstract of judgment is filed in the Real Property Records the Judgment Debtor normally is show as a Grantee in a County Clerk Index.

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Is the Debtor in a State Tax Lien and Federal Tax Lien normally shown as a Grantor or a Grantee?

State and Federal Tax Liens normally list the Debtor in the Grantee Index but it is important to search both the Grantor and the Grantee Index to avoid problems caused by misfiling by the Clerk.

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What are County Clerk Abbreviations?

Click Here for a list of County Clerk Abbreviations. Note:  County Clerk abbreviations my differ in different counties.

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What are the definitions of the different kinds of documents filed?

Click Here for a list of County Clerk definitions.

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Additional Questions?  Email us at here. Thank you.