1.   Effective July 1, 2002, the recording fees charged by the various County Clerks and by the City Register will go up by $15.00 per instrument. The Governor and The State Legislature have decreed the increase in the 2002 Budget Bull (S-6258) in order to provide additional funding for a cultural education account to be administered by the State Education Department. Under the Budget Bill, the County Clerks and the City Register are directed to collect an additional $15.00 for the:

 

     A.    Purchase of an index number for any action brought in a court over which the  clerk has jurisdiction;

     B.    Recording, entering, indexing or endorsing of a certificate on any instrument; or

     C.    Recording of any instrument required by state statute to be recorded.

 

2.   The City Register has advised us that its offices will not accept an attorney’s check which identifys a law firm account as merely an “Escrow Account”. In reliance on Disciplinary Rule 9-102 (B)(2) of The Lawyer’s Code of Professional Responsibility adopted by the New York State Bar Association effective January 1, 1970, as amended, to be accepted by the City  Register, the check must identify the bank account as being a “Attorney Trust Account”, or “Attorney Escrow Account”. No other checks from an attorney will be accepted.

 

3.   A recent issue of The New York State Law Digest. (No.508 April 2002) contained an article regarding the filing of a Lis Pendens/Expiration of Lis Pendens. I thought it interesting and informative, please see copy following;

 

4.   Last year I sent a memorandum out to all of our clients asking for your e-mail address so that we can start compiling a database to eventually send out information via electronic mail. At that time I received some responses but I still did not receive a large number of your addresses.