Title Insurance Suggested Reading

Title Insurance

At the closing table you will notice that, if there is a mortgage involved in the sale of the property, you will probably have to split the cost of an "an owner's title insurance policy." This is a cost that is normally split between the purchaser and seller and covers the lender and the purchaser in the event there is a title problem in the future. 

Reasons to Buy Owner's Title Insurance

• Conveyances altered before recording

• Instruments executed under fabricated or expired Power of Attorney

• Fraud, duress or coercion in securing essential signatures

• Deeds delivered after death of grantor or grantee, or without consent of grantor

• Invalid, suppressed, undisclosed and erroneous interpretation of wills

• Undisclosed or missing heirs

• Deeds by persons of unsound mind

• Deeds by minors

• Deeds by persons supposedly single but secretly married

• Birth or adoption of children after date of will

• Mistakes in recording legal documents

• False representations in appointment of Guardians and Administrators

• Undisclosed community property rights

• Liens for unpaid estate, inheritance, income and gift taxes

• Destruction or mistakes of records which may later appear

• False or misleading statement of fact

• Tax titles invalid because of irregularity of proceedings, reversals of court decisions

• Defective foreclosures of mortgages

• Old unsettled estates

• Errors by administrators and executors

• Insufficient evidence to establish title by inheritance

• Falsification of records

• Illegal acts of trustees

These are just some of the problems which may arise after a sale. Of course, the vast majority of sales are completely unencumbered by any defect in the title, but the relatively low cost of owner's insurance can bring much needed peace of mind.