The Maricopa County Recorder refused to file the Document

Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:48:19 -0700
From: "Mike Renzulli"
Subject: Declaration of Intent to Carry Concealed Weapons filing
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu

Well, gentlemen, I ran into a roadblock while trying to file my copy of Ricky Duncan's declaration yesterday. I had originally tried to file it through the mail but got a not back saying they declined to file it citing ARS 11-468. I looked up the statute which states:

"When any instrument is authorized or required by law to be recorded, it shall be recorded, unless otherwise expressly provided, in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the property or thing, or part thereof, affected by the instrument is located, but if only personal rights are affected thereby, then in the county where the parties thereto reside."

I printed out a copy of the statute went down with it, the letter and the declaration and tried to file it again. The people at the county recorder's office said they could only file things that are required by law like property tax and titles. The supervisor at the counter stated that their attorney said the document was not a valid document for them to file.

I went on to point out that people had previously had their declarations field there. She apologized but said they were not going to file anymore and that if I could cite a statute that requires them to do so, no more documents that are not required by law will be filed. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Mike Renzulli

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion." - Thomas Jefferson

Check out my webblog: http://freelibertarian.blogspot.com

Libertairan lawyer says that is bullshit!!!!

Libertairan Lawyer Michael Kielsky says that is bullshit and that they cant refuse to let you file your document if you obey their formating requirements.

Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 17:47:58 -0700
From: "Michael Kielsky"
Subject: Re: Declaration of Intent to Carry Concealed Weapons filing
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu

As long as you meet the technical requirements, you are able to record ANYTHING -- to prove this point, I once recorded a Birthday card for my Property Law professor:

http://recorder.maricopa.gov/recdocdata/UnofficialDocs.asp?rec=20000829489&pg=1

They only scanned the image of the inside, not the prettier outside of the card, but they recorded it, put their official recording number on it, and mailed it to her.

Make sure you follow the technical rules, such as sufficient margins and type size, all detailed here:

http://recorder.maricopa.gov/formreq.aspx

Arizona Revised Statute 11-480

11-480 . Requirements for form of instruments

A. Only an instrument which upon presentation to a county recorder for recordation fails to meet any of the following conditions may be rejected for recordation at the time of presentation for recordation:

1. Each instrument shall have a caption briefly stating the nature of the instrument, such as warranty deed, release of mortgage, notice of bulk sale and like captions. The county recorder shall have no obligation to index any instrument under any subject index category maintained by the county recorder unless that category is included in the caption to the instrument.

2. Each instrument shall be an original or a copy of the original and shall be sufficiently legible for the recorder to make certified copies from the photographic or micrographic record. (Unless otherwise required by law ie. death certificates & judgments)

3. Each instrument shall have original signatures, except when otherwise provided by law.

4. Each instrument dated and executed on or after January 1, 1991, shall be no larger than eight and one-half inches in width and no longer than fourteen inches and shall have a print size no smaller than ten point type.

B. Each instrument dated and executed on or after January 1, 1991, shall have at least a one-half inch margin across the top, bottom and the left and right sides from the top to the bottom. Any markings, entries or text which are within the one-half inch margin shall be deemed not to impart the notice otherwise imparted by recordation unless such markings, entries or text appear in the reproduction produced under the direction and control of the county recorder. Failure to meet the one-half inch margin requirement of this subsection may affect notice imparted by the document but shall not constitute grounds for rejection for recordation pursuant to subsection A.

C. The first page shall have a top margin of at least two inches which shall be reserved for recording information. The left three and one-half inches of the top margin of the first page or sheet may be used by the public to show the name of the person requesting recording and the name and address to which the document is to be returned following recording. If the first page of the instrument does not comply with the top margin requirements, a separate sheet that meets the requirement and that reflects the title of the document as required by subsection A, paragraph 1 shall be attached to the front of the document by the party requesting recording.

D. Any instrument presented to a county recorder for recordation which modifies in any way the provisions of a previously recorded document must state the date of recordation and the docket and page of the document being modified.

E. Any instrument accepted for recordation is not subject to a later claim of invalidity for failure to comply with the requirements of this section.

-- Michael :-)

When you file the document they give a copy to the Phoenix Police and the police enter your name into their computer as a gun carrier

What the Phoenix PD will do is make a note of your declaration and that note will pop up on their little computer should you ever be pulled over. I tell you this just in case you didn't understand their reason for notifying the PD. You can interpret it in a couple of ways I suppose. One would be that they are alerting the officer of a citizen who is likely to be armed but not "permitted." The other relates to the part of the DOI warning officers of the claim on their bond should they harass you illegally over your weapon. The bottom line is that you are going into the police database as an armed citizen just as if you had obtained the state-issued permit. Maybe we should ponder that a bit.

- Mike

At 05:32 PM 4/3/2006 -0700, you wrote:

A follow up to this previous post. I wrote to Helen Purcell about the incident at the County Recorder's office and got a letter back from them stating it would be filed for a fee of $10. There was also a note from Team Leader LeeAnn Wade asking me to contact her. I e-mailed her letting her know I was sending the check. She responded today by saying that upon recieving my payment that they would also forward a copy of my declaration to the Phoenix PD. I responded by saying "Fine, my check is in the mail".

It looks like the Phoenix PD is going to get an edumacation about the Arizona Constitution. Just because the Police have it on file does not mean they will actually follow through. In any event, I won! Thanks to Mike Kielsky for pointing out the relevant section of the ARS on this and to all of you for your interest.

--

Cheers,

Mike Renzulli