Hi Bobbi:

Whoever told you to record whatever you are sent to record is correct.  In
the Vermont Municipal Clerks Handbook it says "Municipal clerks must record
all evidences respecting real estate, writs and returns thereon, an other
instruments which are delivered to him for record, in books furnished by
the town.  He/she shall keep in each of the books of record and
index.....etc."   Look at VSA 24 sections 1154-1160 for more information.

Also in the same Handbook is this definition of the handling of an
assignment,  "As a result of an assignment action (a transfer of the
mortgage interest from the mortgagee to a purchaser of the mortgage)  Index
the mortgagee-lender-secured party as grantor, and the name of the assignee
as grantee.  Do Not index the name of the mortgagor.  Make a marginal
notation on the recorded mortgage deed.

Hope this is helpful.

Wendy Eramo

At 04:30 PM 5/14/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello.
>
>This question is for Town Clerks.  I am still new at this, so I would like
>to hear from other clerks about how they handle recording.  Recently we
>have been receiving dozens of mortgage assignments and discharges.  What do
>you do if the assignment or discharge comes from a bank that you do not
>show as the owner of the mortgage?
>
>Example:  We have a mortgage from John Doe to Summit Financial and an
>assignment from Summit to Colonial Mortgage.  We have just received an
>assignment from Bank of New Hampshire (successor by merger to CRX Bank) to
>People's Heritage Bank.  Since I show nothing transferring the mortgage
>from Colonial to either CRX or Bank of New Hampshire, what should I do?  I
>have been told to record whatever I am sent, but is it my responsibility to
>check ownership?  Would you send the assignment back, or record it as is,
>or record it with a note that I have questions about it?
>
>Another example:  We have a mortgage from me to Summit, an assignment from
>Summit to Peoples, an assignment from Peoples to Wells Fargo, and then
>another assignment from Peoples, this one to GMAC.  Finally, the discharge
>came from Wells Fargo.  Shouldn't we have received an assignment from Wells
>Fargo to GMAC?  And since we were making our payments to GMAC, is the
>discharge from Wells Fargo legal?  Am I the only one who has these
>situations?  Since this was my own mortgage, I know that Wells Fargo was
>purchased by GMAC, but there is no paper trail saying that in the Clerk's
>Office.
>
>A third example:  We have a mortgage from John Doe to the Small Business
>Administration, and a discharge from the Howard Bank, with nothing showing
>a connection from the SBA to Howard Bank.
>
>I am also wondering how other clerks record assignments.  Do you make new
>index cards showing the various banks as grantor/grantee, or do you just
>note the assignments on the original cards?  I am assuming that you note
>the assignments in the margin of the original mortgage.
>
>Thanks for any input that you can give me!
>
>Bobbi Brimblecombe, Marshfield
>