Press Release

9/14/09

Erie County Clerk's Office Ready to Assist if Disaster Strikes

If you are one of the hundreds of people in our region whose lives were turned upside down by the flash floods in August, I can only imagine how challenging life has been for you in the past few weeks. As you know, damage was so severe in portions of Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties – particularly Gowanda and Silver Creek - that the federal government issued a disaster declaration, appropriating millions in federal funds to help flood victims recover.

But what happens if the documents you need to file claims with the federal government were destroyed in the storm or any other disaster? Our office received many calls from flood victims, and this information can be useful for anyone needing to replace lost or destroyed documents.

The Erie County Clerk's office is a good place to start to re-establish documents for identity as well as recovering important personal documents that may have been destroyed. The various replacement fees are set by New York State. To replace your New York State driver's license or non-driver I.D. go to any one of the 7 Auto Bureaus located throughout Erie County. As long as your license or I.D. card has not been expired for more than 2 years, our staff can do issue a replacement for $17.50. At the same time, our office can issue duplicates for your vehicle title ($20.00) and vehicle registration ($3.00). For a list of Auto Bureau locations log onto www.erie.gov/clerk.

The same website can be used to gather information needed to obtain a replacement for the deed to your home. You can either do a records search on your own, or come into the registrar's office at 92 Franklin Street in Buffalo, and your deed information can be retrieved. The cost is $1.00 per page (Average length is 3 pages) and the deed can be certified for $4.00 which functions exactly as having the original deed.

If a fire or natural disaster destroys your home, another set of rules apply for reporting the loss of handguns and pistol permits. If you own a pistol or pistols and they are lost, stolen or destroyed, you must first file a report with your local law enforcement agency. They will issue you a copy of this report to be brought to our pistol permit office at 92 Franklin Street. There, the guns will be removed from your permit. Your driver's license is the only identification you will need to be issued a plastic duplicate pistol permit for an $18.00 fee.

The Erie County Clerk's office can also help with copies of other documents including assumed names (D.B.A.'s), divorce records as well as civil and criminal court records. For Birth Certificates and Marriage Licenses, you will need to contact the Department of Vital Statistics in the municipality where the birth of marriage took place.

From the minute we are born, everyone one of us learns quickly how our lives are dependent upon documents like birth certificates, driving licenses, property deeds and death certificates. If disaster strikes, those documents can disappear in a flash, making a bad situation worse. Knowing that the Erie County Clerk's office is here to assist you in replacing your valuable documents can be the silver lining you need in difficult times.