Fort Bend County, Texas, accepts electronic recording of real estate documents filed via Landata e-Recording System™ into the Hart InterCivic Anthem™ System

HOUSTON (May 31, 2005) – Stewart Title of Fort Bend has completed the first electronic recording of real estate documents into the Fort Bend County Clerk’s Anthem System for document management and recordation. The e-recording was done via the Landata e-Recording System (LERS) by Landata Technologies Inc.

“Electronic recording saves time and resources on both sides,” said Dr. Dianne Wilson, Fort Bend County Clerk. “The county doesn’t have to deal with all the paper generated by a filing and the filer doesn’t have to deal with traffic or bad weather to come to the courthouse.”

“Advancements such as this are the reason why our office has been able to handle a doubling of total filings over the last 11 years without an increase in staff,” said Wilson.

Stewart Title of Fort Bend had earlier this year used the Landata system to e-record in adjacent Brazoria County . However, this is the first e-recording from a LERS submitter into the Hart InterCivic Anthem system.

“We thank Hart InterCivic’s staff for their tireless efforts to integrate the Anthem System into LERS – completing design, development and testing of the integration within two weeks,” said Alan Cellura, president and chief executive officer, Landata Technologies. “With this integration, the LERS application is truly a state-of-the-art solution for submitters.”

LERS is a desktop system for electronic recording, providing title companies and other submitters the same recording functionality as that offered in person at the counter in the courthouse.

“e-Recording cuts our handling of the closing file,” said Mary Alice Gonzalez, president, Stewart Title of Fort Bend . “In addition, we can get a copy of the recorded documents to the buyer and the lender immediately after closing, instead of waiting several days.”

The division supervisor for official public records of Fort Bend County , Diane Shepard, accepted the county’s first electronically-filed real estate property records on April 28. At that time, the four packages – each containing the deed and notices – were generated via LERS and submitted by Stewart Title of Fort Bend County . Scanned images of the documents in addition to index information (grantor, grantee and property information) and cashiering information (document type and number of pages) were received by the county.

The recording was accepted and the document package was electronically stamped, cashiered and loaded into the county’s Anthem database. The electronically recorded and stamped documents were returned along with receipt information to the submitter within several minutes of receipt.

“A submitter can do electronic recording of mortgages, title transfers, liens and other closing documents in Fort Bend County , acting as a remote recording facility through this open systems platform,” said Cellura.

Located immediately southwest of Houston, Fort Bend has been in the top 20 counties in the United States for population growth for more than 15 years. The U.S. Bureau of Census reports that Fort Bend County grew 57 percent in population to 354,452 in the decade 1990-2000. For 2004, Fort Bend County ’s population is estimated at 442,620.

Landata Technologies also has implemented e-recording in Bexar County, Texas, and Washington, D.C. , and is working with county clerks and recorders in other jurisdictions across the country.

About Landata Technologies Inc.

Landata Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp., offers Landata e-STAR Plus™ (an end-to-end solution that manages land records),document conversion services (document / film scanning and indexing), e-recording and data warehousing with e-commerce to government entities and title companies.

About Stewart

Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE-STC) is a technology driven, strategically competitive, real estate information and transaction management company. Stewart provides title insurance and related information services required for settlement by the real estate and mortgage industries through more than 7,800 policy-issuing offices and agencies in the United States and international markets. Stewart also provides post-closing lender services, automated county clerk land records, property ownership mapping, geographic information systems, property information reports, flood certificates, document preparation, background checks and expertise in tax-deferred exchanges. More information can be found at http://www.stewart.com.

Hart Anthem™ is a trademark of Hart InterCivic Inc.

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