White Plains, NY

Bronx River Parkway north to exit 21 - Main Street. At light make right onto Main Street. Go four blocks, then bear to your right onto Mamaroneck Avenue. At the third block make right on to Quarroppas Street. At first light make right onto Court Street. The County Office Building is on the left side of the street. Also, I 95 north to exit 18 (Mamaroneck Ave.) Follow Mamaroneck Ave. and make a left onto Quarroppas St. At first light make right on to Court Street. Parking along street and in lot next to building. An additional municipal parking lot is located on the corner of Quarroppas Street and Court Street. Metro North provides train service to White Plains from Grand Central Terminal. The Clerk's office is in long walking distance from the station.

The Westchester County Clerk's office is located on the third floor of the new building in the section known as the "bridge". Access to public records in Westchester is by computer terminal. The abundant access terminals are located in all the clerk's rooms. They are easy to use. One terminal allows a person to check a variety of records. UCC's and Federal Tax liens are indexed in the computer from 1/1/82; litigation records are indexed in the computer from 1/1/86; judgments are indexed in the computer from 1/1/86; foreclosure records and matrimonial judgments are indexed in the computer from 4/1/88; Lis Pendens and Mechanics Liens are indexed in the computer from 1/1/86; miscellaneous liens are indexed in the computer from 1/1/89; doing business as, corporate filings and limited partnership records are indexed in the computer from 1/1/86. Directions for use of the computer system are located in this chapter along with mock-ups of the input and information screens.

Land records are also kept in this system but only for the most current two weeks. Westchester County has an incredibly easy computer system available to do land record research. Three terminals are available as you enter room 345. This system uses the "touch screen" technology found at some ATM machines. Follow the prompts on the screen to search for information. This system indexes all land records from 1967 forward. To search land records before 1967, each city and town in Westchester County has grantor/grantee, mortgagor/mortgagee indexes. Older index books are a third letter key system. Open the book, go to the tab for the first two letters of the last name. On that page will be a page list for the third letter of the name with a page assigned. Go the page and your name will be there if a record was indexed for it. If you find a record, note if it is a deed or a mortgage. There will be a liber and a page number assigned. Go to the rear of the room and there are numerous numerical liber books. The libers hold copies of the documents. The deed books are black edged and the mortgage books are red edged. Find the appropriate liber, turn to the page and the document will be available for review or for copying.

A short cut to find out who owns a property in the county is to go to room 222, the Tax Assessors office. Give them the street address and they will tell you to whom the tax bill is sent. Go back to room 345 and check the name in the land records computer or grantee index and, with the liber and page numbers, obtain the documents.

In room 330 you will be able to obtain all but the deeds and mortgages. You will find index books for current mechanics liens and lis pendens on the tables. This index is a straight alphabetical listing by the land owners last name. Card files are along the wall to check litigation prior to the date in the computer. There is an alphabetical listing for each year. You may obtain copies of the files at the information counter. To index UCC's and Federal Tax Liens, you can use the computer system or you can check the books on top of the counters. UCC's and Federal Tax Liens are on microfiche in cabinets by the door in room 330. There are a number of fiche readers for public use. If you want to make a copy of these documents you must ask the clerk.

The Surrogate's Court is located across Quarroppas Street on the eigth floor at 140 Grand Street. The index to estate records are in two files. The first card file indexes estates from 1775 to 1984. The second card file indexes from 1984 up to the present. The estate files can be requested from the service counter and viewed and copied in the room. The Westchester County Board of Elections is a short walk away at 134 Court Street in White Plains.

The Westchester County Clerk's computer system allows you to access information on a variety of records from the main menu. The main menu has a listing of 13 different information screens and the certification dates. The second date is updated monthly as the clerk updates the computer information. Have a pad and pencil ready because the system does not have printers available. Once you decide what screen you need, enter the corresponding code and transmit. Each of the 13 screens requires different information on different documents. You must then tell the computer if you want an exact ["E"] name search or a sound alike ["S"] name search. It is always best to select "S". The computer may ask for a town code or document code. This limits the search if you can specify this information. If you don't limit the search, the computer will do a county wide search. To have the computer read the information you entered on the screen, you must tab the key to the space marked transmit and hit the transmit key ("XMIT"). Information relating to the request will be on the screen. There is a code for each selected record. For land records, you will get a liber and page, for litigation an index number, etc. You can the obtain the file to review the records. Other requests may give you the information you need on the screen. The following pages consist of a tutorial for the Westchester County Clerk's computer system.

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