Attorney General Opinion No.

Eric L. Witcher, Counsel Morton County Commissioners PO Box 898 Elkhart, Kansas 67950

Dear Mr. Witcher:

As counsel to the Morton County Commissioners, you pose the following questions:

"Would a nonexempt lender need to pay the mortgage registration tax on an assignment of mortgage from a federally exempt lender? If the answer should be that the tax needs to be paid in order to be secured, what authority would the Register of Deeds have to require payment of the mortgage registration tax, if any?"

Kansas law requires that a registration fee, currently .26% of the principal debt or obligation, be…