Recently several of our clients have received official-looking letters from an organization called National Deed Service, Inc. In fact, the same letter arrived at one staff member's home, and even at our law offices after we purchased a new office building last year. The letterhead looks vaguely official, and the return address is in Washington, D.C.—just four blocks from the White House. Each letter relates that “the U.S. Government Federal Citizen Information Center website recommends that property owners should have an official or certified copy of their deed.” National Deed Service then offers to get a certified copy for the recipient for a mere $59.50.

There are at least two problems with the offer from National Deed Service. First, $59.50 is an outrageous price to pay for a certified copy of a deed or any other recorded document, since the Recorder’s Office (in Pima County, Arizona, anyway) will charge only $1.00 per page plus $3.00 for the certification (thus, most deeds would cost about $5.00). Second, and more fundamentally, there is simply no good reason to spend $5.00, $59.50 or any other amount of money to have a certified copy of your deed on hand.

The Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC), headquartered in Pueblo, Colorado, does have a vibrant and interesting website. The FCIC does, in fact, mention certified copies of documents, including deeds, and then points out that you can get certified copies from most government agencies “at a nominal cost.” The context: the FCIC suggests that you should have a safe deposit box to store “official or certified copies” of important documents. (Incidentally, we disagree with this advice from the FCIC in most cases—there is no good reason for most people to keep original documents in a safe deposit box, but that's another newsletter for another day.)

Even if the FCIC were to strongly recommend that you have a certified copy of your deed, however—and even if the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security all agreed—they would be wrong. There is no earthly reason to worry about having a certified copy of your recorded deed on hand. Even if there were, you could get a certified copy later, when it was actually needed, and let your County Recorder's Office (or whatever it is called in your state) make the storage arrangements until then.

Our dictionary defines “scam” as “a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation,” and by that definition National Deed Service may not be perpetrating a scam. In fact, the company aggressively defends its practice, and challenges individuals when they refer to the practice as a scam. All National Deed Service is doing, according to its correspondence, is to provide a completely legal service at a price that customers are apparently willing to pay. That price, incidentally, seems to vary significantly by state—what costs $59.50 in Tucson may cost $69.50, or even $79.50, in other states.

National Deed Service, Inc., is actually an Illinois corporation, and appears to be operated by one Barry J. Isaacson (who signs some of the solicitation letters as Barry Joel—more recent ones are unsigned). Its Washington office is actually a professional suite—a leased room in a common office suite that gives the company access to a conference room and an impressive address.

So what should you do with your solicitation letter from National Deed Service, Inc. (or the related entities Illinois Deed Service, Nevada Deed Provider or California Record Retrieval)? Show it to friends and neighbors, get a good chuckle, and then throw it away. In fact, we recommend shredding it, along with any other documents that contain anything more than the most easily obtainable information about you.

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