Q: Regarding public record

A: You can but it will likely be unsuccessful as the federal filings are masked and redacted unless your state specifically has a law permitting such info to be made private or confidential.

A: The deed to your house is not kept at a court, but is publicly recorded and maintained at the Office of the Recorder of Deeds for the county in which your house is located. I don’t know of any way a court could do anything to prevent beforehand anyone from preparing, selling, or recording a fake or fraudulent deed to your property. The crime of recording fraudulent deeds and even mortgages has been on the increase over the last few years. This occurs despite the fact that a notary public must attest to the veracity of the signature of the grantor (who would be the person signing the deed). There has been much discussion among Recorders of Deeds across the country about solutions to the problem, without any solution to date.

There are a very few Recorders of Deeds in Pennsylvania which offer some sort of service designed to prevent fraudulent deeds and I have seen companies which claim to offer title protection at a cost of around $30/month. I have no familiarity or experience with either of these services and can’t say whether either is effective.

Nearly every Recorder of Deeds office in Pennsylvania has copies of and information about every recorded deed and other title documents available for anyone to view for free or for a small initial sign-up fee. You can check whether a new deed has been recorded against your property as often as you want. It’s simple to use the websites and perform the check. If you ever find a deed to your property on the website you did not sign, you should contact the Recorder of Deeds Office immediately, obtain a copy of the fraudulent deed, and hire an attorney to help clear up the matter.