Plymouth County Deed Records

Plymouth County deed records are kept at the Registry of Deeds on Obery Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The registry serves 28 communities and holds property records going back to 1620, making it one of the oldest land record systems in the country. You can search deed records online for free through the TitleView system or visit the office in person to look up transfers, mortgages, and other documents tied to property in Plymouth County.

Plymouth County Registry of Deeds

The Plymouth County Registry of Deeds is run by Register John R. Buckley, Jr. The office sits at 50 Obery Street in Plymouth and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Staff handle deed filings, mortgage recordings, plan submissions, and copy requests for all 28 communities in the county. You can reach the office at 508-830-9200 or by fax at 508-830-9280.

Plymouth County was established on June 2, 1685, from the old New Plymouth Colony. That means land records here go back further than just about anywhere else in the United States. The registry now holds over 17 million document images. Whether you need a recent transfer or a deed from the 1700s, this is where you go. The main website at plymouthdeeds.org gives you access to forms, fee schedules, and the online search portal.

The registry covers 27 towns plus the city of Brockton. Communities include Abington, Bridgewater, Carver, Duxbury, Hingham, Kingston, Marshfield, Middleborough, Plymouth, Scituate, Wareham, and 17 others spread across the southern part of the state. All property deed records for these towns go through this single office.

The registry also publishes a monthly report with local real estate data, including foreclosure activity. You can find that report at plymouthdeeds.org/monthly-registers-report. It is a useful resource if you want to track market trends or foreclosure filings in Plymouth County.

The registry's homepage gives a clear starting point for anyone who needs to look up Plymouth County deed records, request copies, or learn about recording procedures.

The site links to the TitleView search system, copy request forms, fee schedules, and the monthly real estate report.

How to Search Plymouth County Deed Records

Plymouth County uses the TitleView system for its online deed record search. Basic searching is free and does not need an account. Go to titleview.org, then click "Click Here to Search our Records." You can also reach the search portal directly at plymouthdeeds.org/home/pages/search-records.

TitleView lets you search by name, book and page number, date range, document type, or property address. The grantor and grantee indexes are linked and go back to August 6, 1686. That makes it easy to trace a chain of title across many years from one search screen. You can pull up the actual document image once you find the record you need. Viewing is free. Printing costs money under the subscription plan, which is covered in the next section.

One thing to keep in mind: grantor indexes before 1960 and grantee indexes before 1955 are listed as unedited by the registry. That means the data in those older records may contain errors or unusual formatting. If you are searching for deeds from that era, cross-check your results and look at the document image directly rather than relying on index data alone.

The search portal at plymouthdeeds.org also lets you access the TitleView system directly from the registry's own site. The screenshot below shows the search interface for Plymouth County deed records.

From here you can search by name, document type, or date. Most people start with a name search and then narrow by year or document category.

Note: If you need records from before 1686, Plymouth Colony deeds from 1620 onward are searchable separately by name, volume, and date. See the historical records section below for more on that.

TitleView Subscription for Printing

Basic deed record searches in TitleView are free, but printing requires a paid subscription. The plan costs $30 per month. Each printed page costs $1.00 on top of the monthly fee. To sign up, you need to submit an application and pay a $60 non-refundable deposit. That deposit is credited to your account once it is activated. Applications take several days to process, so plan ahead if you need to print records soon.

The subscription is aimed at attorneys, title companies, and real estate professionals who need to print large volumes of documents on a regular basis. If you only need one or two copies, it may be easier to request them directly from the registry by mail or in person. Copy fees at the office are lower than you might expect. The page below the login at titleview.org shows the current subscription details and the application link.

You can reach TitleView support directly at 508-830-9286 if you have issues with your account or need help with the subscription sign-up process.

Plymouth Colony Deed Records: Oldest in New England

Few registries in the country can match what Plymouth County holds in terms of historical depth. Land records here go back to 1620, the year the Mayflower settlers arrived. These Plymouth Colony deed records are searchable by name, volume, and date through TitleView, which is a real asset for genealogists and title researchers working on deep chains of title.

The colony volumes cover property transactions from the earliest settlement period through the late 1600s. Here is how those volumes break down by date range:

• Vol. 1, Part 1 (1620-1651) - search using code V1
• Vol. 2, Part 1 (1651-1663) - use V2 P1
• Vol. 3, Part 1 (1664-1674) - use V3 P1
• Vol. 4, Part 1 (1674-1681) - use V4 P1
• Vol. 5, Part 1 (1686-1697) - use V5 P1

The registry also holds the Mayers' Index to Plymouth Colony Land Deeds, which provides an additional finding aid for the earliest records. Mayflower descendant records are available as well. These materials attract researchers from across the country and from overseas who are tracing property ownership or family history in the Plymouth area.

If you are doing genealogical research or need to establish a chain of title going back before modern record-keeping, Plymouth County is one of the few places in the US where records that old have been preserved and made searchable online. The total archive of over 17 million images reflects centuries of continuous record-keeping at this office.

Special Collections and Reports

Beyond standard deed and mortgage records, the Plymouth County Registry maintains several special collections that are useful for property research. These include Atlas Plans, Index Cards that reference plans and decrees, County Commissioner records, and a Plan Index covering 1890 to 1965 in PDF format. If you are researching subdivision history or older land divisions, these plan records can fill in gaps that deed searches alone will not show.

The registry also puts out a Monthly Register's Report at plymouthdeeds.org/monthly-registers-report. This report includes current foreclosure statistics and activity data for the county. Real estate professionals, investors, and homeowners who want to track market conditions in Plymouth County will find the monthly data worth checking regularly.

Note: The plan index from 1890 to 1965 is in PDF format and must be downloaded before searching. It is not integrated into the main TitleView search interface.

Plymouth County Deed Recording and Copy Fees

Plymouth County has its own copy fee schedule that differs from what other registries charge across the state. These fees apply when you request physical copies of deed records from the office. Recording fees follow the statewide schedule set under Massachusetts General Laws.

Recording fees for filing new documents are:

• Deed recording: $155.00
• Mortgage recording: $205.00

Copy fees at the Plymouth County Registry are as follows. A standard deed copy costs $3.00. A Master Deed copy is $25.00. Mortgage copies run $20.00. Plans cost $2.00 for a reduced copy or $5.00 for a full-size print. These rates are set locally and may not match what you pay at other Massachusetts registries, so check before you go if cost matters.

Massachusetts also charges a real estate excise tax on property transfers. The rate is $4.56 per $1,000 of the sale price. You can use the calculator at franklindeeds.com/excise-tax-calculator to estimate the tax for a specific transaction. This tax applies statewide and is paid at recording. The fee for ordering copies by mail or online is listed at plymouthdeeds.org/home/pages/order-copy.

Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 183, deeds must be recorded in the county where the property sits to be valid against third parties. Recording in the wrong county does not protect your interest. Chapter 188 of the General Laws covers the Massachusetts Homestead Act, which relates to how homestead declarations are filed alongside deed records at the registry.

Homestead Protection and Plymouth Deed Records

Massachusetts allows homeowners to file a Declaration of Homestead to protect their primary residence from certain creditors. This document gets recorded at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds along with other property documents. Once filed, it becomes part of the property's deed record history and shows up in a TitleView search of that address or owner name.

The Homestead Act under M.G.L. Chapter 188 protects up to $500,000 in equity in your primary home. You do not have to own the property free and clear to file. The declaration must be signed, notarized, and recorded at the registry for the county where the property is located. For any property in one of Plymouth County's 28 communities, that means filing at 50 Obery Street in Plymouth.

There is a recording fee for a homestead declaration just like any other document. The document goes into the registry's index and can be searched through TitleView. If you are doing a title search and want to know whether a homestead is on record for a given property, search by owner name or address in the grantor index and look for a document type coded as a homestead declaration.

Note: A homestead declaration does not replace title insurance and does not protect against all types of claims. Talk to a real estate attorney if you are unsure whether filing one makes sense for your situation.

Cities in Plymouth County

Plymouth County includes 28 communities. The two largest have their own deed records pages with more detail on local property research resources.

Other towns in Plymouth County include Abington, Bridgewater, Carver, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Norwell, Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Rockland, Scituate, Wareham, West Bridgewater, and Whitman. All deed records for these towns are filed at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Plymouth County. If you own property near a county line, confirm which registry holds the deed before you request copies or file a new document.