Nicholas County Deed Types
The Clerk's index uses several distinct conveyance labels. A Warranty Deed, Quit Deed, Corrective Deed, Exchange Deed, Partition Deed, Deed with Map, Timber Deed, or Tax Deed can each appear. Each label can point to a different record purpose. The label itself is only a clue. A deed may include an easement or right-of-way. That addition gets its own entry in Nicholas County deed records. Read the full instrument before trusting the short index description.
| Deed Type | What It Does | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| Warranty Deed | Conveyance instrument indexed under the local deed label | Trace a transfer; read its covenants in the document |
| Quit Deed | Recorded deed category shown by the portal | Search when the index uses this name; inspect the text |
| Corrective / Exchange Deed | Separate labels in the Clerk's document menu | Check when parties, terms, or an earlier reference changed |
| Partition / Deed with Map | Conveyance categories that may carry tract or map context | Follow a division, shared interest, or mapped description |
| Timber / Tax Deed | Specialized categories in the recorded index | Search when the land trail involves timber rights or tax-sale history |
A deed conveys an interest. A deed of trust, release, lien, easement, or right-of-way records a separate claim or use instead. The document menu makes this plain. Nicholas County deed records include deed-and-easement and deed/right-of-way entries, so a search limited to plain deeds can miss a relevant instrument.
Nicholas County Historic Deed Books
The Book selector covers more than deeds. Deed Book, Deed of Trust Book, Map Book, Map Rack, Mechanics Lien Book, and Tax Lien Book each name a separate series. Will Book, Estate Claim Book, Report of Sale Book, Order Book, and historic variants round out the list. The county publishes no year runs. A book name shows the custody path to ask about. It does not reveal which dates are indexed or imaged.
Older chains need extra detail. Give the Clerk the legal description. Also give the district-map-parcel number, owner names, and a likely date range. Ask whether that volume is bound, microfilmed, scanned, or available as a certified electronic copy. Summersville suffered a major Civil War-era fire. The county publishes no parcel-level loss inventory. So do not presume a particular deed is missing because of the fire.
The online index's book and type selectors can help name the right series before a courthouse request. That saves a trip or a phone call.
Use the index to find a book and page. When the online image is unavailable, request the underlying instrument directly from the Nicholas County Clerk.
The Nicholas County Grantor-Grantee Index
The compiled index offers name filters, Starts With and Exact Name options, party roles, a date range, record category, document type, and book selectors. Start with the current grantee. The grantor named in that deed becomes your next earlier party. Walk the chain backward that way. The portal adds Index Search, Image Search, and Vault Search modes, plus export and duplicate-removal controls. Watch the date fields. A blank or invalid default date means the range must be entered and confirmed by hand.
The county publishes no earliest year for the index. Nor does it publish its image cutover date. An old calendar date alone does not prove a document exists as an image. When the trail runs past the visible result set, ask the Clerk about the book and the access method.
- Choose a recent date range and search the apparent buyer as GRANTEE.
- Open the deed description and note the grantor, parcel language, book, and page.
- Search that grantor as GRANTEE for the deed that brought the property to them.
- Repeat until the online trail ends, then ask for the related deed books or index.
- Grantor
- The person or entity transferring an interest.
- Grantee
- The person or entity receiving an interest.
- Chain of title
- The ordered sequence of recorded conveyances tied to a property.
- Book and page
- A volume reference used to locate a Clerk record.
Nicholas County Liens and Easements
The Clerk's menu goes beyond deeds of trust. Assignments, releases, subordinate agreements, mechanic's liens, tax liens, federal tax liens, judgments, lis pendens, financing statements, fixture filings, easements, and rights-of-way all sit in the record. To check a deed of trust, search both the borrower or grantee and the lender or beneficiary. Then hunt the release. An assignment or substitute trustee instrument can reshape the whole claim. A mechanics-lien search may lead to a release, judgment, foreclosure, or lis pendens. An easement needs its legal description. Pull any attached map too.
Litigation adds its own layer in Nicholas County. The Circuit Court handles local foreclosure, quiet-title, partition, and lien matters, and the Circuit Clerk can be reached at (304) 872-7810. The Nicholas County Circuit Court page is a starting point, while PACER covers federal cases. A docket summary is not the land record.
Nicholas County Deed Recording Fees
West Virginia Code ยง59-1-10 sets a $30 recording fee for a deed of conveyance or trust deed. A fixture filing or real-estate lease security agreement carries the same $30 fee. A plat or map without a deed is $10. Financing statements are $10 too. Most other documents fall on the $10 line, and pages beyond five add $1 each.
The code also sets copy charges. A paper copy is $1.50 per document or page unit. Each page beyond two adds $1. Certifying a county birth, death, or marriage record is $5. Electronic-copy charges must be reasonable and cannot exceed search and duplication cost. Ask before you send a check. The Nicholas County Clerk can confirm the current local amount. This covers any image or copy order.
Use the West Virginia recording-fee statute for the full current schedule.
Nicholas County Historic Deed Clues
A Nicholas County deed search does not always begin with a modern street address. Older records speak in older language. Summersville, the county seat, has seen a frame courthouse, an 1898 stone courthouse, and a Civil War-era fire that destroyed records. So descriptions in early deed books may use names that no longer appear on any plat or GIS map. Those clues still open doors.
Richwood grew at the forks of the Cherry River around timber and railroad work. A deed from that era may mention Cherry Tree Bottoms, mill lots, company holdings, or industrial tracts instead of a parcel number. Treat each phrase as a lead for searching a deed or map book. None of it proves a record was lost. Nor does it prove a specific parcel carries one of those names today.
Pair every older legal description with the current parcel key. If a road or place name has changed, the grantor and grantee names, plus a map book and page citation, will usually bridge the gap. That bridge connects the old entry and the current tax roll.
Nicholas County Court and Deed Records
Court cases and recorded deeds often travel together in Nicholas County. A foreclosure, lis pendens, quiet title action, partition, judgment enforcement, or probate dispute can put a case file right beside the deed records. For state matters, the local route is the Nicholas County Circuit Court. The Circuit Clerk keeps the docket at (304) 872-7810. The Nicholas County Circuit Court page is a sensible starting point. Anyone tracing a parcel through the courts can begin there.
Federal property litigation lives on a separate track. PACER handles those dockets, not the county land index. The PACER federal docket system lists case parties and events. Treat it as a federal access point rather than a Nicholas County deed result.
When you pull a case, match its legal description and any later order against the recorded instrument itself. A docket entry alone cannot substitute for the deed.
Requesting a Nicholas County Deed Copy
The public interface does not publish its image price. It also does not say whether every index result has a downloadable scan. Start by noting the parties, date, deed type, book, page, and parcel description. Then try the online image option if one appears. Otherwise, contact the Nicholas County Clerk at the courthouse. The office page lists Robert Painter as Clerk. The address is 700 Main Street, first floor, Summersville, WV 26651, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at (304) 872-7820.
For anything outside the public index, the fallback is the Clerk's counter. A written request under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act also works. A FOIA request must be reasonably specific. The state requires a response as soon as practicable, no later than five non-weekend, non-holiday days. The law does not promise every record is online. It does not waive statutory copy charges either.
The Nicholas County Clerk office page covers access details. The legal fee schedule applies before you place an order.
Ask the Clerk whether the date and instrument type you need are available online, at the counter, or through a copy request.
Recorded, not guaranteed. A Nicholas County deed index shows recorded entries, not every possible interest. It is not a title opinion; a complete ownership review needs the underlying instruments and any applicable title work.