The Office of Notary Public in Louisiana – Notary’s duty to records acts affecting immovable property
R.S. 35:199. Duty to file, register, or record notarial instruments. A. Notaries public shall record all acts of sale, exchange, donation, and mortgage of immovable property passed before them, together with all resolutions, powers of attorney, and other documents annexed to or made part of the acts, in their proper order, and after first making a careful record of the acts in record books to be kept for that purpose as follows:
(1) If the immovable is located in this state outside of the parish of Orleans, the notary shall record the instrument within fifteen days after they are passed, with the appropriate recorder of the parish or parishes in which the immovable property is situated.
(2)(a) If the immovable is situated within the parish of Orleans, the notary shall file the instrument in the office of the custodian of notarial records for the parish of Orleans and record the instrument with the register of conveyances or recorder of mortgages or both.
(b) If the instrument is an act of sale or any other act evidencing a transfer of real property situated in the parish of Orleans, it shall be the duty of the notary to cause the act to be registered with the office of the clerk as the recorder for the parish of Orleans, within forty-eight hours after the passage of the act.
c) The original of every authentic act, except chattel mortgages and acts relating to real property outside of Orleans Parish, passed before a notary public in Orleans Parish, and also every act, contract, and instrument except money judgments and chattel mortgages filed for record in the offices of either the recorder of mortgages or the registrar of conveyances for the parish of Orleans shall, as a condition precedent to such filing in the office of the recorder of mortgages or the register of conveyances for the parish of Orleans, be first filed in the notarial archives of the parish of Orleans.
B. The provisions of Subsection A of this Section shall not be applicable to instruments affecting cemetery plots and shall not be so construed as embracing invenÂtories or partitions or any other act required by law to be performed by notaries or parish recorders under any order of court, but the original of all such acts, without being recorded, shall be returned to the court from which the order is issued.
C. All notaries who contravene the provisions of this Section shall be subject to a fine of two hundred dollars for each infraction of the same, to be·recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction, one- half for the benefit of the informer, as well as all such damages as the parties may suffer thereby.
D. A notary public shall be relieved of his obligations under Paragraph (A)(l) and Subparagraph (A)(2)(a) of this Section when he has been expressly directed in writing by all parties to the instrument to .defer or refrain from such recordation or to deliver the instruments to one of the parties or to another person.
