Floyd County Deed Types
A recorded deed proves an instrument reached the Floyd County Recorder. It then landed in the public land records. It names the parties. It describes the land. A book/page or instrument reference ties the copy back to the official entry. Knowing the deed type helps explain how a transfer happened. But the label alone rarely settles every title question.
| Deed Type | What It Does | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| Warranty deed | Conveys the stated interest with title promises. | Ordinary sale transfers |
| Quitclaim deed | Conveys whatever interest the grantor has, if any. | Family transfers and title cleanup |
| Trustee or executor deed | Transfers land through a trust or estate representative. | Trust and probate administration |
| Sheriff's deed | Documents a transfer following a court-ordered sale. | Foreclosure proceedings |
| Tax deed | Documents the result of a delinquent-tax sale process. | Tax-sale property |
Floyd County deed records hold far more than conveyances. Mortgages, releases, easements, mechanic liens, sewer liens, contracts, plats, surveys, and powers of attorney all appear there. These instruments can burden, release, or describe an interest without moving ownership at all. Keep that distinction in mind when rebuilding a chain.
Search Floyd County Fidlar Records
The Recorder's online search page opens two Fidlar routes into the deed index. Tapestry suits occasional users. It costs $8.95 per search plus $1 for each printed page. Laredo works on a subscription basis set up through the Recorder. It offers monthly minute plans. It charges the same $1 pages. Both lead to an index advertised as covering deed images from 1783 to the present. The county cautions that the indexing is not all-encompassing.
| Search control | How to use it | Local detail |
|---|---|---|
| Party name | Search a grantor or grantee without punctuation. | Entries are not case sensitive. |
| Document number | Enter a beginning and ending reference for a list. | Historic prefixes include DB, MI, and CG. |
| Recorded dates | Narrow a likely transfer period. | Useful when the same name appears often. |
| Document type | Limit results to deeds or another instrument class. | Deeds, mortgages, liens, plats, and surveys are indexed. |
| Legal description | Match a lot, subdivision, grant, or land description. | Older entries may say “see deed” or “see doc.” |
Searchers should follow the county and document controls displayed by Fidlar rather than any preset labels. The official Laredo guide remains the best reference for local formats. The Tapestry county-selection screen is the entry point used to reach the Floyd index.
This vendor screen is only an entry point. Confirm the county selection and document details there before relying on any result.
Floyd County Grantor-Grantee Chain
Every transfer involves two roles. The grantor conveys the stated interest. The grantee receives it. A chain of title is simply the ordered sequence of those transfers for one piece of land, so begin with the newest dependable deed and trace the names and legal descriptions backward.
- Use the parcel card to identify the present assessment-roll owner and parcel number.
- Find the newest deed with the same legal description and read its grantee and grantor.
- Search that grantor as an earlier grantee, using dates and the legal description to avoid a namesake.
- Repeat until the online index stops, then consult original deed books or microfilm.
- Grantor
- The party conveying the stated interest.
- Grantee
- The party receiving that interest.
- Chain of title
- The linked sequence of recorded transfers for the same land.
- Book/page
- An older citation to a bound record volume and page.
- Instrument number
- A unique modern recording reference assigned to a filed document.
Older Floyd County deed records often omit parcel numbers. Rely instead on lot and block, subdivision, section-township-range, or metes-and-bounds language. A metes-and-bounds description walks the boundary through measured courses and distances.
Three Floyd Deed Eras
The Floyd Laredo indexing guide shows why no single search pattern fits the whole collection. Lettered deed books A through Z, skipping I, cover 1818 through 1853. Numbered books 1 through 216 then run from 1853 to 1974. Drawer-style nine-digit references handle 1974 through 1999. Modern instrument numbering follows.
- 1818-1853: lettered deed books.
- 1853-1974: numbered deed books and a separate miscellaneous-book series.
- 1974 forward: drawer conversions, then modern recording numbers.
Incomplete index entries send researchers back to the original book, the guide explains. That matters most when a legal description has been squeezed into a short index phrase. Note: The database can point to an image while a small number of illegible deeds remain deferred for certification.
Land Grants Before Floyd County
Floyd County's strangest deed-record chapter begins before the county existed. The Clark/Illinois Grant Book holds material dated 1783 through 1850. It includes an early plat and plan of New Albany and the town of Greenville. Those pages can yield grant, family, place, and legal-description clues. They are digitized for historical use, but Floyd County cannot certify them. The originals were recorded in Clark or Harrison County. The predecessor county remains the official custodian, while Floyd's index helps locate the material. That split preserves the evidence trail. The guide also documents searches for terms like cemetery, land patent, emancipation, free papers, farm, steamboat, and ferry. Those keywords make the deed index useful for far more than a modern sale history.
Older Floyd County Deed Books
When online deed records are incomplete, visit or contact the Recorder at 311 Hauss Square, Room 115, New Albany. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and can be reached at 812-948-5430. The Indiana State Library microfilm finding aid and the Floyd County research guide identify deed indexes, WPA material, city directories, maps, and other historical sources.
The New Albany-Floyd County Public Library's History Room is another local fallback. Probate files and executor deeds may bridge a name change caused by an estate, while a plat can connect an old lot description to today's parcel.
Original deed books matter because the electronic index may condense the land description or omit a detail. Record the book, page, party names, instrument class, and every cross-reference before leaving the portal. A note that says “see deed” is a direction to inspect the image or book, not evidence that the tract has no description.
Historical New Albany searches may use a town lot number or an “Out Lot Letter” tied to a street. Rural and fringe land may instead use section-township-range or metes-and-bounds calls. City directories and historic maps can connect an obsolete address to the legal-description vocabulary needed in the deed books.
Floyd Property Fraud Alerts
Floyd County's Recorder runs a free Property Fraud Alert service. It watches newly recorded documents for any name you choose. Sign up online through the county's alert system or call 800-728-3858. An alert is only a nudge to look at a filing, though; it neither proves fraud happened nor stops a document from being recorded.
Register every variant of your name. Business and trust names that appear in Floyd County deed records deserve the same coverage. When a notice flags an instrument you do not recognize, contact the Recorder right away and get advice from a qualified attorney.
Floyd Deed Copy Fees
Copy charges come straight from the Recorder's published fee schedule. Standard office copies up to 11 by 17 inches run $1 per page. Oversized copies cost $5 per page, and certification adds $5. Recording a new document is billed separately. Deeds, UCCs, and other standard instruments list at $25, while mortgages run $55.
Certified copies carry the custodian's seal. A plain image suits most research. But courts, closing professionals, and agencies often insist on certification. Recorder staff will not draft deeds, offer legal advice, or run title searches.
More line items fill the schedule. An oversized or additional page beyond the stated paper size costs $5. A mechanic's lien with extra mailings is $25 plus $2 per added mailing. A multiple-transaction document runs $25 with the first cross-reference included. Each added transaction reference is $7. Remember, these are filing charges, not the price of locating an existing deed.
A new conveyance must clear several hurdles before it records. It needs an identified preparer and correct margins and fonts. It also needs printed names beneath signatures, proper notarial information, and Indiana's Social Security number redaction affirmation. Real-property conveyances also require the grantee's physical address and Auditor endorsement. That is why a rejected submission may never show up as a searchable recorded deed.
Obtain a Floyd County Deed
Occasional users can pull documents through Tapestry. Recurring researchers may set up Laredo service with the Recorder. You can also simply request a copy from the office. Call ahead if an image is illegible. Call if you are chasing a historical reference. Call, too, if you need certification. Give the party names, the recording reference, the document type, and an approximate date. A mailed request should spell out certification preferences and return instructions.
In-person research remains the strongest fallback when the online index misses a fact. Free GIS terminals sit at the City-County Building plus the Downtown and Galena library branches. Recorder staff can point you to the deed-book source the index names.
Recorded, not guaranteed. Floyd County deed records show filed instruments, not a legal opinion on title. Unrecorded interests, indexing gaps, probate events, and competing claims can require a professional title examination.