Rio Blanco County recorded documents are public, but not a title opinion

Documents recorded in Rio Blanco County’s real estate records become public record, open to anyone who wants to inspect them. An individual can search those records at no charge. So the door is open, and the price is right.

Here is where the line gets drawn. The office does not perform record searches, and the clerk and recorder is not required to dig through the real estate records to find a document for you to copy. Clerk staff are not qualified legal advisers either, and they cannot tell you what a document means.

Picture yourself checking a deed, an easement, or a lien on a property up around Meeker or Rangely. The public record is a place to look, and a good one. But a search is something you or your professional does, and a recorded document sitting in the file is not a title opinion. The counter can hand you a copy; it cannot tell you whether that paper protects you.

So split the job by what you actually need. Want a copy of something? The recorder is exactly the right stop. Need to know who really owns the land, where the boundary runs, or what a clause does to your rights? That belongs to a title company, an attorney, or a surveyor — someone whose work is to read the record and stand behind what it says.