Effective January 1, 1997, all documents submitted for recording in Washington State must conform to standards set by RCW 36.18 and 65.04. These standards were enacted to make documents more accessible to the public by bringing the most important information to the document's first page, thus aiding document indexing and research.

A cover page is required if the first page of the document does not include the required information or does not meet formatting requirements (you can access the cover page here). When a standard cover sheet is used, one dollar will be added to the recording fee for the additional document page. The following are exempt from most document standardization requirements as long as they are recorded with a properly completed cover sheet:

* Documents prior to January 1, 1997
* Death Certificates
* Documents from out of the country
* Judgments or other court documents formatted to meet court requirements
* DD214s

The following documents are exempt from the requirements and do not require cover sheets:

* IRS documents
* UCCs