Debbie Tittle

Unicoi County Register of Deeds

Debbie McInturff Tittle is a lifelong resident of Unicoi County, Tennessee. She and her husband Toney reside in the Fishery Community. They are the parents of Matthew and Jeremy Tittle, the grandparents of Adleigh and Ava, and attend Fishery Community Church. Debbie has had the honor and privilege of serving Unicoi County as their Register of Deeds for the past thirty-two years. She is serving her ninth four year term of office.

Since taking office in 1990, Tittle has completed training and is certified through the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Services as a public administrator. She is a graduate of the UT Center for Government Training Leadership program and received certification in archive management at the Tennessee State Library and Archives Archiving Institute.

Debbie Tittle has twice served as president of the East Tennessee Registers Association, of which she is a charter member. Her peers selected her as East Tennessee Register of the Year in 1995, 2005 and again in 2011. She also served as Parlimentarian of the ETRA in 2014, and was recently elected to serve as Vice President of ETRA for 2022-23.

In 2007, Debbie was chosen by registers across the state to serve as president of the Tennessee Registers Association. During her tenure as president, she challenged fellow registers across the state to make a difference in their respective counties in educating citizens on the need for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and to reach out to families who have been affected by it.

In 2008, she was selected as Tennessee Register of the Year among her fellow state registers. Debbie was a member of the original Veterans Memorial Committee that saw into fruition the completion of the Unicoi County Veterans Memorial in 2004; fulfilling her desire to honor and give back to those who have given so much of themselves for others.

In addition to the Tennessee Register’s Association and East TN Register’s Association, Debbie is a member of the County Officials Association of Tennessee, Tennessee State Archivists Association, National Association of Government Archives & Records Management (NAGARA) and Property Records Industry Association (PRIA). She is Board Chairwoman of the Unicoi County Prevention Coalition and a member of the Unicoi County Health Council. Debbie has served as chairman of the Unicoi County Republican Party and currently serves as female vice-chairman. She was also awarded a lifetime service award by the UCGOP. She has chaired the Unicoi County Records Commission since its inception in 2010.

In addition to her professional recognitions, Debbie has also been named a Tennessee Colonel Aide de Camp, the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed on a citizen in Tennessee, by governors Don Sundquist, Phil Bredesen, and Bill Haslam. The local GOP has recognized her with a Lifetime Service Award and she was presented the 2006 Record of Service Award by The Erwin Record. She was named Hometown Hero by the Modern Woodmen Association and was presented a Public Servant award by the Tennessee Bear Hunter’s Association for her efforts in developing a coalition composed of TBHA members, Forest Service employees, and state and local politicians.

Duties of the Register of Deeds

The Register of Deeds office is a constitutionally mandated office whose primary responsibilities are to record properly prepared documents in reference to land title according to provisions set forth by Tennessee Code Annotated, maintaining said records, and making them available for public inspection within the boundaries of TCA.

Meet the Team

The employees of the Unicoi County Register of Deeds office are dedicated and well trained and always willing to go the second mile in providing excellent customer service.

Pictured left to right, Chief Deputy. Jaime Foss, Register Debbie Tittle and Deputy Martha Hughes.

Jaime Jackson Foss serves Unicoi County as Chief Deputy Register of Deeds. Jaime has been trained extensively by register of deeds Debbie Tittle for the past 12 years in every facet of the duties of the office as required by Tennessee Statute. Her training, in addition to her formal education, well qualifies her to act in the stead of the Register should the need arise, which is one of the numerous responsibilities of the chief deputy.

Jaime is trained in all of the day to day operations of the office although her primary daily responsibilities are the review and recording of qualified documents for recording and overseeing the daily financial aspect of the Register’s office. Her role requires outstanding verbal and written communication skills as the register’s office interacts with many federal, state, local government, and civic entities.

She prides herself on individualized customer service, always going way beyond the second mile to ensure customer satisfaction. In addition, Jaime is a member of the Tennessee Registers Association and the East Tennessee Registers Association.

Martha Hughes is the Records Manager of the Register of Deeds office. Her responsibilities include indexing documents, scanning, imaging, and making available public records for on-line viewing, as well as, taking care of hard copy for access and preservation purposes. In addition to her primary duties, she assists with all other facets of the office.

Martha brings to the Registers office forty plus years of outstanding records management skills she acquired with her employment in a record’s keeping department of a community college. Her background in working with other public entities such as the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development garnered the registers office much appreciated skills in local government. She also brings with her knowledge of security management, accounting, and superlative customer service skills.

The Unicoi County Register of Deeds office and the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Services work together in presenting an orientation program for newly elected registers of deeds across the state.

The video titled, The Golden Rule, was filmed as part of the customer service segment of the program which was facilitated by Unicoi County Register Debbie Tittle. Mrs. Tittle commented, “ The video was completely non-scripted as you can tell, but a lot of fun and hopefully got our point across as to acceptable and non-acceptable customer service!”

Recording Documents/Filing Fees

The Unicoi County Register of Deeds office offers several methods of recording documents and payment methods. Documents can be brought directly to the office for while you wait recording. If usually just takes minutes to put your document to record and the original returned to you with your transaction receipt. We are located on the first floor of the courthouse.

If you prefer, you can mail your document to us at P.O. Box 305, Erwin, TN 37650. We are happy to calculate filing fees prior to documents being mailed to us. Citizens can also use Fed-X, UPS, etc. A prepaid return is required.

We also accept e-recordings over the internet. The vendors and self e-filing is more particularly described in the e-filing information section.

We accept cash, check and credit or debit cards. Card transactions are charged a 3% processing fee by our software vendor

Accessible Documents

Citizens are welcome to view/search our records in person. Our deed room has a quiet atmosphere suited for research. We have look-up computers available for public use and all images of our records and index book are completely digitized. Of course all hard copy registry books may be used as well. Our records begin in 1876. The old books are on site and our records room manager is happy to handle the books and talk about their content with users/visitors to our office.

Our records are also viewable through titlesearche r.com . (see Titlesearcher portion of site for more info)

Copies of our records can be emailed, mailed or faxed. We are happy to retrieve referenced documents, but we do not perform title searchers on property. We do not have death or birth records in our office. These records can be inquired about at the Unicoi County Health Department at 423-735-5900.