Major changes behind-the-scenes in E-Filing.

In late November, The Indiana Office of Court Technology (IOCT) will be releasing a new version of the E-Filing Manager (EFM) used by E-Filing Service Providers (EFSPs). 

That's way too many acronyms packed into one sentence! However, this is important for you, so let's take a moment to unpack them:

An EFSP is the part of the E-Filing system that filers use to submit pleadings to the court. Doxpop is one example of an EFSP, and others can be found on this page: https://www.in.gov/courts/efiling/providers/. 

In brief, the role of an EFSP is to guide you through the process of assembling the documents you want to file with a court into an Envelope for submission. In addition to uploading documents, the EFSP also gathers the necessary information to create a case for an initial filing, or add attorneys and provide e-service in subsequent filings. 

In our opinion, the technology is important, but the key part of that acronym is "Service Provider". A good EFSP supports your work.

The EFM is the system that the EFSP hands your Envelope off to after we've made sure it meets all of the requirements for filing. The EFM is the part of the E-Filing system that routes your envelope to the correct court office and then allows the clerk or court staff to review and accept the envelope as a filing. This is the step where a file stamp is applied to the documents and they become available to the court. On the Court side, that means they are now in the Court's Case Management System (CMS), which you may also know as "Odyssey", or in some situations, Quest. Think of the EFM as the central hub and routing agent of the E-Filing system. Every filing goes through this hub.

For about ten years, the Indiana Courts have used an EFM supplied by Tyler Technologies, the same company that provides the Odyssey CMS. As time went on, the IOCT saw opportunities for improvements that better fit the business processes in Indiana Courts. Due to this, the IOCT has been writing their own EFM, and is planning on releasing it in November.

This is a really big deal for Doxpop, because it means we are having to re-write all of the code that connects our system to the State. We fully intend to do such a great job of that re-write that you don't even notice the switchover. However, because the EFM is so central to everything we do, we're giving you the heads-up about the change well ahead of time. This coding will require time on our end, but there is no reason to expect any interruption in services for our users. Our team is actively working on ongoing issues in addition to this project. Information regarding these issues will be addressed in a blog post in the near future.

We're not perfect, and the IOCT is not perfect, so there may be a few bumps in the road as we make this transition in late November.

We'll follow this post up with a few status reports between now and November, and as the cutover date nears, we'll let you know exactly what to expect.

 

Need to find a deed from 1822? Rush County's historical deed indexes are now online!

This week, we are pleased to announce that images of the Historical Indexes in Rush County are available via Doxpop.

This is important for researchers because although many older documents have been scanned, until they are also indexed on the computer, the only way to locate them is by looking in the index books and then using the Book & Page to find the image.

Although many Recorders are working to "back-index" all of those old images, it will take some time to accomplish that. In the meantime, you can use the online version of the book index to locate the older document images. You can browse the books just as you would in the office, and when you locate the document you need, enter the Book & Page in the search area in the top right corner, and go straight to that image (if it exists.) 

You can access the historical book indexes from Doxpop's advanced Recorded Document search page or from the Recorded Documents tab. Here's a direct link if you want to give it a try right away: https://www.doxpop.com/prod/in/recorder/ManualIndex/18188

Congratulations to Debbie Richardson and her staff for making this new feature available for Rush County!

Hamilton County's documents will remain available on Doxpop for another 2 weeks. (Until 7/1)

Hamilton County is working out a few lingering details with their conversion, and have asked that we keep their documents online through Doxpop for two more weeks (Until 7/1/2025.)

We're happy to do that, of course. When you are using Doxpop to look up Hamilton County's documents, it is important to remember that any documents filed on or after 5/1/2025 will not be found on Doxpop. 

To access newer documents, you can use https://tapestry.fidlar.com/Tapestry2/ for low-volume searching. To set up access for higher volume searching, contact the Hamilton County Recorder's office at (317) 776-9717 during their normal operating hours of 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

Dearborn Historical Indexes- Now you can browse the index for deeds from 1903 online!

The Dearborn County Recorder is doing some great work to preserve records and provide greater online access by back-indexing deeds on their computer system and adding access to scanned images of the historical paper indexes.

On the computer indexing side, they have been adding scanned images of older deeds, and indexing them. The most recent batch released covers 1988, so Dearborn now has 37 years of deed history fully indexed and available online. The index for all document types begins in July of 2000, providing nearly 25 years of full document history.

This back-indexing work is an important part of record preservation and access because it is much easier to archive multiple copies of images and index information when it is in electronic form. 

Those familiar with local history will know that in 1826, the Dearborn County Courthouse burned, destroying all records stored there. If a similar disaster were to occur today, the County's Recorded Documents would continue to be available without interruption online while rebuilding or office relocation occurred. In addition, full recovery of the electronic records could be done in about one day, so "restarting" the office would be a relatively easy task.

In a related preservation project, the Recorder has scanned the paper index that covers deeds from the year 1903 forward. Now that these records are in electronic form, they are similarly preserved in case of disaster, and as an added benefit, they are now available online through Doxpop's advanced search page. 

When you use the images of the paper index, you should be aware that this is a snapshot of the paper index, and any manual corrections or notes made after that snapshot won't appear. Fortunately, these corrections are rare, given the historical nature of the information.

Please join us in congratulating Joyce Oles and her excellent staff for all of the work they have put into both preserving documents and making them more readily available online!

Clark County Recorded Documents Leaving Doxpop

The Clark County Recorder's Office is changing their document management and indexing system on June 1st 2025. This new system is not part of the Doxpop network, and so Clark County's documents and property watch services will no longer be available via Doxpop after this transition is completed. 

When the transition is complete, Clark County recorded documents will be available online for low volume users through the Tapestry system at https://www.landrecords.com. High volume users can inquire about additional services designed to serve professional researchers by calling the Recorder's Office at (812) 285-6235 during their normal operating hours of 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EDT, Monday through Friday.

Doxpop Property Watch alerts will also halt when Doxpop stops receiving updates from Clark County on June 1st. We will email all current users with instructions for setting up new alerts at that time.

Note: We will keep Clark County on our system until July 15th to insure that the new system is working well and the transition is complete before we shut down access through Doxpop. However, it is important to remember that any documents filed on or after 6/1/2025 will not be found on Doxpop.

Please join us in thanking Clark County and their staff for many years of partnership and public service!

Subscription Price Increase

On July 1st, 2025, Doxpop will increase our subscription prices by 25%.

Our last price increase was in August of 2006, so after more than 18 years with no increases, it's time.

The exact amounts for each level will vary slightly, because we are rounding the numbers. However, for budgeting impact purposes, 25% is essentially accurate. Here are the actual amounts:

What won't change on July 1:

• Copy fees for Recorded Document images.
• The low-volume free searching accounts designed for use by non-professionals. (Still free!)
• Bulk E-Filing fees.

The way we'll roll this out is that on your first renewal following July 1st, we'll apply the new rate. That means most of you will see the increase during the month of July. Anyone who signed up for a year in advance won't see the increase until their next annual renewal. There are also a few government accounts that will remain locked in through the end of their current fiscal year.

We will increase the Court Record API fee at the same time. This won't affect people with a basic subscription to the web site, and we will be contacting all of the API users during the next month to notify them individually.

We hope you'll agree that after holding steady for 18+ years, during which the US cumulative inflation rate has been 49%, this increase is reasonable. As always, feel free to get in touch to let us know if you have any concerns. You can reach us via support@doxpop.com or by calling 866-269-7671

Changes to the Recorded Document preview system.

Today we are releasing a change to the recorded document preview system.

We have found that the free search accounts that we supply for the use of non-professional users are often abused by people who copy the pieces of a document from the "slot" viewing system and then paste them together to avoid paying the document copy fee. To prevent this, the free accounts will no longer be able to see the entire document in the previewer, and will be limited to half of each page.

In order to see the entire page in preview, you'll have to upgrade to one of the paid searching levels. At those levels, we've now made the viewing pane a little larger to make it easier for professional users to ensure that they have found the correct document before purchasing it. This also makes it easier for people who only need to view information without purchasing a copy.

In both cases, the preview image retains a watermark, but a properly purchased copy will not be watermarked.

The free searching accounts have always been intended primarily to serve non-professional users such as a land owner who just needs to look up a few documents related to their own property. We remain committed to providing the searching service at no cost for these users as a community service. However, we are required to charge the copy fee for all documents on behalf of the Recorder(Indiana) or Register of Deeds (Michigan), and must cover credit card fees, so the copy fee at that level is $2/page.

If you are having trouble deciding whether you have located the correct document before purchasing, please just give us a call, and we'll help. We have been forced by bad actors to obscure half of every page, but that doesn't mean we are any less committed to helping the people who are following the rules. 

You can reach our support staff from 8 AM - 6 PM Eastern time at 866-369-7671, or email us any time at support@doxpop.com. After-hours emails will get a response as quickly as we can manage on the morning of the following workday.

Beware of malicious emails masquerading as messages from the Indiana Courts via GovDelivery.

We received the following notice from the Indiana Supreme Court today, and are reposting it here to make sure all of our customers see it:

We are aware of a malicious email and/or text message being circulated from Indiana state agency GovDelivery accounts, including the Indiana Courts account. We no longer use GovDelivery to send email and texts. The message contains a hyperlink that is malicious in nature; do not click it.

The Indiana Office of Technology is also aware of the issue. Phishing, spoofing, and other forms of electronic crime are common and require us to remain vigilant. Get more information from FBI.gov.

To reiterate the most important part of the message above, if you receive any messages from "GovDelivery" purporting to be from the Indiana Courts or any other Indiana State office, Do not click on any links in those messages or open any attachments. 

Text (SMS) notifications are now available for Doxpop Property Watch!

Real estate fraud, which used to be an extremely rare occurrence, has been on the rise recently. Doxpop's Property Watch service provides notification of any document filed in your county Recorder's or Register of Deeds' office affecting you or your property. Property Watch is a free tool you can use to detect this first step in fraud immediately. While there is no way to prevent the filing of a fraudulent document, immediate detection will allow you to take action to prevent the next step, which is where the actual theft occurs by using the fraudulent document to "sell" the property or obtain a loan using it as collateral.

Doxpop has offered our email-based Property Watch Service for our partner counties since 2010. Recently, we've been asked to allow subscribers to opt for text notifications instead of, or in addition to the email notices.

We are proud to announce that our long anticipated Text (SMS) notification service, is now available. 

What you need to know:

• If you have an existing Property Watch subscription and don't want to add text notification, you don't have to do anything. Your existing watch will continue to protect you.

• If you have an existing Property Watch subscription and do want to add text notifications, you can just add a new subscription, opting for text notification. If you also want to unsubscribe from the old "email-only" watch, that's easy to do, but not necessary. 

To add a new watch, just go straight to https://watch.doxpop.com and follow the instructions.

If you want to cancel your existing watch, go to https://watch.doxpop.com/property/unsubscribe. Enter the email address you used to sign up, and click on "unsubscribe" and follow the instructions to verify your intent. 

A few hints to make setting up your watch easier:

• When you enter your name, in most cases it's best to leave out your middle initial/name. This is because we want to catch any document filed that references you, even if it doesn't include the middle name. If you omit that portion, we'll search for matching first & last names both with and without the middle initial/name, so you are covered more completely.  
• We locate your property by showing you a list of deeds that match the name you entered. This list may include old deeds as well, because there is no completely reliable way for a computer to determine that you no longer have an interest in a parcel. Just select the deeds for the property(s) you currently own.
• If no deeds are listed, it may be because your name is mis-spelled, or your deed(s) may be old enough to not be on the computer system. If this happens, please carefully check the spelling of your name, and if that doesn't solve the problem, give us a call. (866) 369-7671
• All deeds have a legal description. A few will also have a street address. Since many people don't know their legal description, we provide the street address, if it is available, and the date of the deed along with the person you bought it from to help you identify your property. (If you're unsure which parcels to check, just give us a call, and we'll help.)

We are excited to provide this new option for our partner counties and their citizens! Please don't hesitate to call for help if you find any part of the process is confusing. We can't do the signup work for you, but we'll be happy to be right there with you on the phone to help while you sign up. You can reach our support staff by calling 866-369-7671 during regular working hours (Monday- Friday 8 AM-6 PM Eastern time, excluding holidays.)

Hamilton County Recorded Documents leaving Doxpop

Update: Hamilton County's documents will continue to be available through July 1, 2025, not June 15th, as originally planned. (Details here.)

The Hamilton County Recorder's Office will be changing their document management and indexing system on May 1st 2025. This new system is not part of the Doxpop network, and so Hamilton County's documents and property watch services will no longer be available via Doxpop after this transition is completed. 

When the transition is complete, Hamilton County recorded documents will be available online for low volume users through the Tapestry system at https://www.landrecords.com. High volume users can inquire about additional services designed to serve professional researchers by calling the Recorder's Office at (317) 776-9717 during their normal operating hours of 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

Doxpop Property Watch alerts will also halt when Doxpop stops receiving updates from Hamilton County on May 1st. We will email all current users with instructions for setting up new alerts at that time.

Note: We will keep Hamilton County on our system until June 15th to insure that the new system is working well and the transition is complete before we shut down access through Doxpop. However, it is important to remember that any documents filed on or after 5/1/2025 will not be found on Doxpop.

Please join us in thanking Hamilton County and their staff for many years of partnership and public service!