Have You Ever Missed an Important E-Filing Email? We've Got a Simple Solution.

Important: A few folks have been alarmed because they see a large number of "unread notifications" when viewing the dashboard for the first time. That is because we have tracked all of your past notifications in this area as a backup for the emailed notifications. You can safely mark them all as "read" or "archived" using the tools at the top of the list.

Email notifications for filing status or service not getting through are the most common problem our support team sees, so we strongly suggest that all of our E-Filers check out the E-Filing dashboard. What the dashboard does is provide a complete and reliable list of every event that you should have received an email for, so on those days when email is slow or unreliable, it won't slow you down.

We've recently added a new section for "Unread Filing Notice Notifications" that quickly links to all new notifications you receive from the E-Filing Manager.

If you're not yet making use of the E-Filing Dashboard, you can find this by clicking on the "e-filing" tab, located here:

This page will show your personal dashboard on the left side of the screen, along with a number of helpful links and access to begin searching or filing through Doxpop.

The new link is at the top of the Dashboard section and will display the number of unread "Notice of Electronic Filing" notifications so that you can keep track of these more easily. Clicking on the link in the dashboard will take you to the Filing Notices section of your E-Filing notifications in the notifications tab.

In addition to updating this dashboard display, Doxpop has also updated our handling of unread/archived messages. After hearing from some users that archiving unread notifications makes their inboxes difficult to track, we will now consider archived messages as read when displaying your unread notifications. This change is designed to help the dashboard remain a quick and reliable way to track the E-Filing notifications that matter to you.

This change to our calculation of your unread notifications could also result in a major, sudden drop in the numbers listed in your personal dashboard. If you notice a change to your unread notifications it is likely to be related to this update, but we always welcome a call if you have any concerns. Our support team can be reached at support@doxpop.com or by calling 866-369-7671 if you have any questions or would like to learn more.

Wells County Manual Historical Indexes Available Dating Back to 1837!

Thank you to Rina Stuck and all of the staff in the Wells County Recorder's Office!

We are excited to announce this significant update in Wells County! Doxpop recently posted the Mortgage indexes back to 1837. Previously, the Deed indexes back to 1838 were posted, so between the two, nearly every index is now available online, along with scans of all of the original documents they refer to.

The way the Manual Historical Indexes work is that Doxpop posts scanned images of all of the older index books that you'd normally have to go to the county to peruse. You can choose the type of index (deed or mortgage) then select the date range, and find links to each letter in the index. Then you scan the index visually for the document you're seeking, and note the Book & Page numbers.

In the top right of the page, there's a place to enter the book & page to see the actual document. You can choose to read the document online or purchase a copy for download in PDF form.

Most recorder's offices are constantly working to enter fully computerized indexes for older documents so you can use simpler search tools. However, by placing the index books themselves online, we can enable online searching for recently scanned documents whether they are indexed in the computer or not. This provides immediate value to the public when the scanning is done.

It is always great to see public information become more accessible, especially when the documents were recorded before Vincent Van Gogh was born!

Why do the indexes go back to 1837? A bit of Wells County history provides the answer...

Originally, Wells County was a combination of Allen, Delaware, and Randolph Counties before Indiana started increasing the number of counties sometime in the 1830s. When the state was founded, there were just 13 organized counties and nowadays that number is up to 92. A law passed in 1835 started the increase of Indiana counties in the northern part of the state, and by February of 1837 Wells County officially became a separate county. Shortly after that Bluffton was selected as the county seat, and in March of 1838 and a man named John Casebeer surveyed and platted the city of Bluffton. 

Projects like this always inspire interest due to the historical significance. America was founded in part on the radical notion that any person could own land, not just those descended from noble families. Ever wonder why you have "Title" to a parcel? Think about Lords, Earls and Barons in England: Only a person with a "Title" could own land, and that land was granted by the King to "Title holders". Our country changed that, but we still use the words inherited from the feudal system.

Our County Recorder's offices are where that founding principle becomes reality with the support of our government for the people. Title researchers, property owners, and any member of the community now have the full history of Wells County recorded documents available at their fingertips.

Join us in again thanking the hard working staff of the Wells County recorder's office! Preserving and indexing records this historic is no small task, and everyone involved deserves a thank you.

Three unusual variations on MC (Miscellaneous Criminal) case type to be aware of if you are using advanced searching.

When using either Doxpop's advanced Court Case Search or the Doxpop Court Case API, you have the option to filter by case type. This seems simple, but can be more complicated for one particular case type:

MC, or "Miscellaneous Criminal" Is most often used in cases where a person has been arrested without a warrant and posts bond before their initial hearing, so formal charges have not yet been filed. In this situation, the primary purpose of opening a case is to document the bond receipt, and a separate case will be opened if charges are later filed.

Other less common uses include:

• Criminal contempt for a party not already involved in a case.
• Documenting a BMV reinstatement fee waiver.
• Extradition.
• Empanelling a Grand Jury.
• Investigatory Subpoenas.
• Probable cause determinations prior to case creation.
• Search warrants prior to case creation.
• Seizure orders per IC 34-24-1.
• Problem solving cases accepted from outside the county.
• Petitions to appoint a special prosecutor.
• And, of course, other miscellaneous criminal matters.

Importantly, there are three special cases we just discovered:

• MCPT: Probation Transfer from another county or state.
• MCPF: A "case" opened only for the purpose of creating a record of payment for Probation User Fees.
• MCCT: For situations where the clerk has used the citation entry process to create a case that does not involve automated BMV processing.

The first two 4-character MC types are broken out separately for statistical purposes, and the third one is connected to a preferred data entry process.