Randolph County Deed Records

Randolph County deed records are kept by the Randolph County Clerk and Recorder in Chester, Illinois. The office holds the official archive of all property conveyances, mortgages, liens, easements, and other land documents filed in the county. Searching deed records in Randolph County begins at the Recorder's counter at 1 Taylor St. in Chester, where the public index is open during regular business hours and anyone may search by party name or document number free of charge.

Randolph County Clerk and Recorder

The Randolph County Clerk and Recorder is located at 1 Taylor St., Chester, IL 62233. The office handles all deed recordings, name indexing, and document archiving for real property in Randolph County. You can reach the office by phone at (618) 826-5000 during normal weekday hours. Chester sits on the Mississippi River bluffs in southwestern Illinois, and the county's land records cover a mix of residential lots, farmland, timber tracts, and riverfront parcels that have changed hands over many decades.

When a deed arrives at the Chester office, staff check that it meets Illinois recording requirements, assign a document number and recording date, and enter the grantor and grantee names into the index. The record becomes part of the public archive on the same day it is accepted. There is no waiting period between submission and indexing. The grantor and grantee index runs from the earliest recorded instruments right up to the present day, giving researchers a continuous chain for any parcel in Randolph County.

The Recorder's Office in Chester handles more than standard ownership transfers. Mortgages and releases, mechanic's liens, judgment liens, easements, plat maps, subdivision surveys, and UCC filings tied to real property are all recorded and indexed in Chester. Each instrument gets its own document number and appears under both party names in the index. Military discharge records, known as DD-214s, are also accepted and kept on file at the Chester courthouse for veterans living in Randolph County.

The Illinois MyDec system, shown below from mytax.illinois.gov, is the online portal used to complete the PTAX-203 Real Estate Transfer Declaration before recording most taxable deed transfers in Randolph County.

Submitting the PTAX-203 through MyDec before you arrive at the Chester courthouse generates a barcode confirmation that staff scan at the counter, which speeds up the recording process for property sales in Randolph County.

Recording Requirements for Randolph County Deeds

Every deed brought to the Randolph County Recorder must comply with 765 ILCS 5, the Illinois Conveyances Act. The document must identify the grantor and grantee by full legal name, include a complete legal description of the property being transferred, and carry a notarized acknowledgment. A blank margin of at least three inches by five inches is required in the upper right corner of the first page so the Recorder can apply the recording stamp. Any deed that is missing required elements is returned uncorrected to the submitter.

The Randolph County parcel identification number, commonly called the PIN, must appear on every deed submitted for recording in Chester. The PIN links the deed to the county assessor's records and is required under Illinois law before the Recorder can accept the instrument. If you do not know the PIN for a Randolph County parcel, you can look it up through the county assessor's office before you come to the courthouse.

Most taxable conveyances in Randolph County also require the PTAX-203 Real Estate Transfer Declaration. Exempt transfers, such as deeds between family members or transfers into a revocable living trust, still need to be recorded at the Chester office; the form must show the applicable exemption code even if no transfer tax is due. The PTAX-203 instructions published by the Illinois Department of Revenue explain which transactions are exempt and which exemption codes to use.

Transfer Tax and Recording Fees

Illinois imposes a real estate transfer tax on most deed recordings under 35 ILCS 200. The state rate is $0.50 per $500 of consideration. Randolph County adds its own $0.25 per $500 on top of the state amount. On a $100,000 sale in Chester, the state tax is $100 and the county portion is $50, for a combined total of $150. Transfer tax stamps are applied by the Recorder's Office at the time of recording. The tax is typically paid by the seller, though the parties may negotiate otherwise.

Recording fees in Randolph County follow the fee schedule set by 55 ILCS 5/3-5018, the state statute that governs what county recorders may charge per page and per document type. Call (618) 826-5000 to confirm current per-page rates before your visit to the Chester courthouse. The fees can change when the Illinois legislature amends the statute, so it is worth checking before preparing a payment.

In addition to the base recording fee, every document recorded in Illinois carries a mandatory $18 Rental Housing Support Program surcharge per instrument. The RHSP fee is collected at the Chester office and is separate from the per-page charge. It applies to deeds, mortgages, liens, and most other recorded instruments with very few exceptions. Budget for this surcharge when planning a recording trip to Randolph County.

Searching Deed Records in Randolph County

The public land record index at the Randolph County Clerk and Recorder in Chester is open for walk-in searches during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. Anyone may search the grantor and grantee name index at no charge. Bring the current owner's name, the property address, or the parcel ID number to speed up your search. Staff at the Chester office can point you to the correct index book or digital terminal but will not conduct the search for you.

The PTAX-203 instructions page, shown below from tax.illinois.gov, outlines the transfer declaration process that applies to most Randolph County deed recordings and clarifies which transfers are subject to the state and county transfer tax.

Researching the full ownership history of a Randolph County parcel means tracing the grantee index backward from the current deed to each prior conveyance until the chain reaches the original government patent. This process can involve records spanning well over a century, as many Randolph County parcels have been held and transferred since the 1800s.

Mail requests are accepted at 1 Taylor St., Chester, IL 62233. Send a written description of the record you need, the names of the parties involved, the approximate time period, and a check or money order for the applicable copy fee. The office mails results when the search is complete. In-person visits are faster for most deed record searches in Randolph County.

eRecording in Randolph County

The Illinois Electronic Recording Act at 765 ILCS 33 gives county recorders the authority to accept deeds and other land instruments submitted electronically through approved vendor platforms. When eRecording is active, title companies, lenders, and attorneys can submit documents to the Randolph County Recorder in Chester without sending a courier to the courthouse. The office processes the document and returns a stamped electronic copy through the same vendor system within the normal business day.

Approved eRecording vendors operating in Illinois include Simplifile, CSC, EPN, Hopdox, and Indecomm. Call the Chester office at (618) 826-5000 to find out which platforms the Randolph County Recorder currently accepts. Individual sellers and buyers who are not enrolled with an eRecording vendor should bring the signed and notarized deed to the Chester courthouse in person along with the MyDec confirmation printout.

Types of Documents Recorded in Randolph County

The Randolph County Clerk and Recorder archives a wide range of land-related instruments at the Chester courthouse. The collection includes warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, trustee's deeds, sheriff's deeds from foreclosure sales, beneficiary deeds, mortgages and mortgage releases, home equity lines of credit, mechanic's liens and lien releases, judgment liens, easements and easement releases, plat maps, subdivision survey plats, declarations of condominium, UCC filings tied to real property, and DD-214 military discharge records for veterans. Every instrument is assigned a unique document number and indexed under both the grantor and grantee names.

Building a complete chain of title for a Randolph County property means locating every deed, mortgage, lien, and easement ever recorded against that parcel. The public index at the Chester office is the primary tool for this work. Some researchers start with the most recent deed and work backward through prior owners; others begin with a tax record or assessor entry and then pull the deed associated with the current owner. Either approach leads to the same grantor and grantee index at 1 Taylor St.

Randolph County's agricultural land base means that many deeds in the Chester archive involve farmland transfers, drainage district agreements, and farm leases recorded as land instruments. These documents follow the same recording requirements under 765 ILCS 5 as residential deeds and are indexed the same way. Researchers interested in agricultural land records in Randolph County will find the name index at Chester useful for tracing parcel ownership across multiple generations of farm families.

Nearby Counties

Property near a Randolph County border may have deed records held by a neighboring county's recorder. Each office keeps its own independent land record archive.