Mail Handling Fee Request Form – Cook County, IL

The Mail Handling Fee Request Form is the Cook County Clerk's Office form for asking about a mailed document that was held because it arrived without the required mail handling fee; you return it with a check.

The page that carries the form opens with a customer notice titled "Where's My Document?". It explains that when a document mailed to the Clerk's Office for recording does not come back, the likely cause is a missing mail handling fee. The Clerk's Office is holding the document in anticipation of that fee. The fee is paid by check made out to the Cook County Clerk, together with this completed form. The form prints the fee amount; the amount is not repeated here.

The form itself is headed "Mail Handling Fee Request Form" and is also labeled a mail handling charge form. It asks for:

• the customer name and phone number;
• the customer address;
• the document number, which is stamped on the back of your check (see your bank records);
• the Property Identification Number (PIN), written in boxes.

The form deals with the mail handling fee only. It is not a tax payment form, and it does not record a document. The Clerk's Office notice adds that you can review a recorded document for free, or buy a copy for a nominal fee, on the Clerk's recordings website.

Customers who mailed a document to the Cook County Clerk's Office to be recorded, did not get it back, and learn that it is being held for the missing mail handling fee use this form. The notice on the page says that a missing fee is the likely reason a mailed document has not been returned.

Conditions printed on the form:

• Send one Mail Handling Fee Request Form for each document you are asking about.
• Send a separate check for each document request.
• The form is for a previously submitted document that was mailed to the Clerk's Office without the required fee.

If you only want to see a recorded document, the notice says you can review it for free, or buy a copy for a nominal fee, at cookcountyclerk.com/Recordings. The form names no one who may sign or submit it for the customer, and it has no signature line.

Send the form after you learn that a document you mailed to the Cook County Clerk's Office for recording has not come back and is being held for the missing mail handling fee. The notice on the page describes exactly this situation. No separate due date is printed on the form.

Because the Clerk's Office is holding your document until it receives the fee, sending the form and the check promptly lets the Clerk's Office proceed with your request. The form asks you to complete all of the requested information so the request can be processed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The form names one channel: mail the completed form with your check to the Cook County Clerk's Office mail room.

• By mail: 118 North Clark Street, Room 120, Attention Mail Room Supervisor, Chicago, Illinois 60602.
• Payment: include a check for each document, payable to Cook County Clerk. The fee amount is printed on the form.
• Multiple documents: send one Mail Handling Fee Request Form and a separate check for every document.

Make sure every item on the form is completed: customer name, phone number, address, document number and PIN. The form names no in-person, online or fax channel. To look at a recorded document instead, the notice points to cookcountyclerk.com/Recordings, where review is free and copies can be bought for a nominal fee. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the channel above.