Circuit court clerks are challenged with protecting records while also improving public records access, but this dual mandate may actually lead them to make improvements to their systems that enable them to do both.
This piece lays out the key circumstances where circuit court clerks are responsible for protecting property records against fraud in Virginia and what they should look for in a solution to enable them to support that critical function as well as enable public records access.
Virginia Laws that Protect Public Records from Property or Deed Fraud
Virginia has a number of state laws and statutes regarding property titles to protect against fraud and prevent harm.
- Fraudulent Conveyances law addresses situations where someone attempts to transfer property fraudulently, potentially to avoid creditors or other obligations.
- Fraudulent Conversion or Removal of Property covers situations where someone with possession of property, where the title or ownership belongs to another, fraudulently sells, pledges, or removes the property.
How Circuit Court Clerks Can Protect Against Property or Deed Fraud
Clerks aiming to achieve their dual mandate of protecting against fraud while also expanding public records access should look for services that:
- Integrate with their existing enterprise records management system
- Ensure full control over access to records and data
- Enable users to easily access, search, and filter records
- Protect against fraud with the bank-level ID verification technology
They also must protect against fraudulent filings by offering these essential capabilities:
- Combat fraud by allowing property owners to sign up for alerts
- Easy sign up with a name or last known recorded document
- Alerts based on all available data in a document
- Alert sent when a document containing any of the selected data is recorded
Click to learn how you can adopt GovOS Public Records Access + Property Alerts to use with your current solution.
For many jurisdictions in Virginia, most solutions only offer rudimentary alert capabilities, which leaves gaps in terms of alert protections and creates more work for staff.
Property Alerts must offer protection beyond only first name/last name inputs. GovOS Property Alerts can be based on legal name, street address, or legal description of the property.
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