Refugio County Property Records

Refugio County property records are maintained by the County Clerk at the courthouse in Refugio, Texas. You can search deed records, oil and gas leases, mineral deeds, liens, and other filed instruments online through the county's public search portal and through TexasFile, with records going back to 1915. This page covers how to find, search, and request property documents for land and real estate in Refugio County.

Refugio County Clerk Records

The Refugio County Clerk maintains all real property records for the county. The office is led by Margie A. Castellano and is located at 808 Commerce St., Room 203, Refugio, TX 78377. The mailing address is P.O. Box 704, Refugio, TX 78377. You can reach the office by phone at (361) 526-2233 or (361) 526-2727. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Documents filed with the clerk cover a wide range of property transactions. Deeds, deeds of trust, mortgages, oil and gas leases, mineral deeds, releases, liens, and plat maps are all part of the public record. The archive holds instruments from 1915 to the present day. For in-person research, public terminals at the courthouse allow free searching. Mail requests can be sent to P.O. Box 704, with a check payable to Refugio County Clerk. For faster service, email the office at refugio.countyclerk@co.refugio.tx.us.

Online access is available through two services. The county's own portal at refugio.tx.publicsearch.us lets you search by grantor or grantee name, document type, instrument number, and recording date. TexasFile also indexes Refugio County records from 1915 through the current year. Both services offer free index searches; document images require a fee or subscription on TexasFile.

Note: The county also accepts eRecording through authorized providers, so lenders and title companies can submit documents electronically without mailing originals.

Search Refugio County Property Records Online

When you search Refugio County deed records online, you can look up instruments by the name of the grantor or grantee, the document type, a date range, or the instrument number assigned at recording. Results include the filing date, document type, names of all parties, and a reference to the volume and page in the clerk's index. Images are available for most records after 1915.

The Refugio County Appraisal District provides a separate search tool for tax and ownership data. You can search by owner name, property address, or account number. The CAD site shows the current assessed value, land and improvement breakdown, applied exemptions, and the taxing units that levy on each parcel. This is useful if you want to confirm current ownership or check a property's tax status before a purchase.

For tax payments and tax certificate requests, contact the Refugio County Tax Assessor-Collector at 808 Commerce Street, Refugio, TX 78377, by phone at (361) 526-2023. Tax certificates show whether any property taxes are owed and are commonly required at closing for real estate transactions in Refugio County.

What Refugio County Property Records Contain

Refugio County sits along the Texas Gulf Coast, and its property records reflect that. In addition to standard deed and lien documents, the archive holds a large volume of oil and gas leases and mineral deeds. These documents transfer or lease mineral rights separate from the surface estate, a common arrangement in this region where subsurface production has long been significant. If you are researching a property here, check both surface and mineral records to get a complete picture of what is owned and what has been leased.

Standard property documents found in the Refugio County records include warranty deeds, special warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, deeds of trust securing mortgage loans, releases of deeds of trust, mechanic's and materialman's liens, federal and state tax liens, judgment liens, easements, and assumed name certificates. The clerk also holds plat maps for subdivided property, which define lot boundaries for residential and commercial tracts.

Under Texas Property Code Section 11.001, all instruments affecting real property must be filed in the county where the land lies. Recording gives constructive notice to any future buyer or lender that the instrument exists. If you buy land without checking the recorded title chain, you could take on prior claims or encumbrances you did not know about.

Refugio is one of the oldest counties in Texas, organized in 1836. Records held by the clerk run from 1915 forward; some earlier records were lost in courthouse fires in 1846, 1867, and 1888. For property research before 1915, the Texas General Land Office holds Spanish and Mexican land grant records as well as Republic of Texas patents that predate county-level recording.

Recording Documents in Refugio County

To record a document with the Refugio County Clerk, you bring or mail the original signed and notarized instrument to the office at 808 Commerce St., Room 203, Refugio, TX 78377. The document must meet formatting standards: at least one-inch margins on all sides, clear readable text, original signatures, and names typed or printed under each signature. The last page must have at least three inches of blank space for the clerk's recording stamp. The mailing address of each grantee must also appear on the document.

Recording fees in Refugio County follow the Texas standard schedule. The first page costs $25.00, and each additional page is $4.00. If more than five names are indexed on a document, there is an extra $0.25 per name. Federal tax lien filing is $30.00 for the first page. State tax lien release is $15.00 for the first page. Certified copies cost $5.00 per document plus copy fees. You can pay in person, by mail, or through the eRecording system if you use an authorized vendor.

The Texas Comptroller's Property Tax Assistance Division publishes guidance on the statewide property tax system and provides forms that Refugio County property owners can use for exemptions and protests. The homestead exemption under the Texas Tax Code is one of the most common exemptions applied in the county.

Texas Public Records Law

Texas is a strong public records state. Under Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code, known as the Public Information Act, most records held by government bodies are open to any person. You do not need to show ownership or explain why you want to see property records. The County Clerk cannot require a reason for your search.

Certain information is removed from records before they are made available online. Texas Property Code Section 11.008(k) requires that Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and similar sensitive data be redacted from any document posted online. If you need an unredacted copy for a legal proceeding, you can request one in person with valid identification.

If you believe a government body is improperly withholding records or is overcharging for copies, you can file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's Open Government Division. That office issues rulings that are binding on governmental bodies and can direct disclosure of records that were improperly withheld.

Note: The Attorney General publishes a free Public Information Handbook updated after each legislative session that explains your rights and procedures under the Public Information Act.

Coastal and Oil Property Considerations

Refugio County's Gulf Coast location creates some property record considerations that are less common in inland counties. Coastal properties may be subject to easements, flood zone designations, and state-owned submerged land boundaries administered by the Texas General Land Office. The GLO manages state-owned riverbeds, bays, and tidal areas, and documents affecting these areas appear in the state archives as well as local county records.

Oil and gas production has been part of this county's land record picture for many decades. Mineral rights can be severed from surface ownership, and the deed chain for a parcel may include multiple layers of ownership: the surface estate, various undivided mineral interests, and outstanding leases. TexasFile indexes these instruments together, so a single name search can pull up all documents tied to a grantee, whether they involve surface land, mineral rights, or both.

For real estate professionals and investors, the Texas Real Estate Commission licenses brokers and agents active in Refugio County transactions. You can verify a license on the TREC website by name or license number. The Texas Secretary of State handles business entity searches, which is useful when a grantor or grantee in a deed is a company rather than an individual.

Nearby Counties

These neighboring counties also maintain property records through their respective county clerk offices.