You must have seen or heard those ads on TV and the radio, warning you that, "Someone can steal your property title and you won't even know about it until the bank comes to repossess your home."
That definitely grabs attention, but how big a risk is it, really? Can someone literally steal your homeownership out from under you, and leave you on the street? The short answer: Yes, a criminal can hypothetically forge your signature, impersonate you, transfer your legal ownership interest into his or her own name without your knowledge, then rack up loans against the house (that are never paid), ultimately leading to the scenario described above. But that's not the end of the story.
Enter the hero... Title Insurance!
Title insurance is not sexy. You can't show it off to your friends, hang it on a wall or park it in the driveway, but it can be a lifesaver. If someone shows up from out of the blue, saying that they actually own your home, you get to call on your title insurance policy to defend you.
Title insurance exists to protect you from:
1) Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, or releases of mortgages and other instruments.
2) False impersonation of the true owner of the land or of his consort.
3) Instruments executed under fabricated or expired power of attorney.
4) Deeds apparently valid but actually delivered after death of grantor or grantee, or without the consent of the grantor.
5) Deeds by persons of unsound mind.
6) Deeds by minors. Minors may not enter into legal contracts, and thus a deed granted by a minor is not valid.
7) Deeds not properly delivered or accepted by buyer are not valid.
8) Deeds which appear to convey title but are really mortgages.
9) Outstanding prescriptive rights not of record and not disclosed by survey.
10) Descriptions apparently but not actually adequate.
11) Duress in execution of instruments.
12) Defective acknowledgment due to lack of authority of notary.
13) Deed of property recited to be separate property of grantor but which is in fact community or joint property.
14) Deeds by persons apparently single but actually married.
15) Deed from bigamous couple ‑‑ prior existing marriage in another jurisdiction.
16) Undisclosed divorce of spouse who conveys as sole heir of deceased consort.
17) Undisclosed heirs, either legitimate or illegitimate, may have rights to the property.
18) Misinterpretation of wills, deeds, and other instruments.
19) Birth or adoption of children after date of will.
20) Children living at date of will but not mentioned therein.
21) Discovery of will of apparent intestate.
22) Discovery of later will after probate of first will.
23) Administration of estates and probate of wills of persons absent but not deceased.
24) Conveyance by heir, devisee, or survivor of a joint estate who murdered the decedent. 25) Deed from trustees of purported business trust that is in fact a partnership or joint stock association.
26) Deed of executor under nonintervention will when order of solvency has been fraudulently procured or entered.
27) Deeds to or from corporations before incorporation or after surrender or forfeiture of charter.
28) Claims of creditors against property conveyed by heirs or devisees within prescribed period after owner’s death.
29) Mistakes in recording legal documents.
30) Recorded easement, but erroneous actual location of pipe or sewer line, which does not follow route of granted easement.
31) Special assessments that become a lien upon passage of resolution, before recordation or commencement of improvements for which assessed.
32) Want of jurisdiction of persons in judicial proceedings.
33) Failure to include necessary parties in judicial proceedings.
34) Federal estate and gift tax liens.
35) State inheritance and gift tax lien take precedence over other creditors excepting the federal government.
36) Errors in tax records.
37) Ineffective waiver of tax liens by tax or other governing authorities repudiated later by successors.
38) Corporation franchise taxes as lien on all corporate assets, notice of which does not have to be recorded in the local recording office.
39) Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials but not binding on municipality.
40) Tax homestead exemptions set aside as fraudulently claimed.
41) Lack of capacity of foreign personal representatives and trustees to act.
42) Deeds from nonexistent entities.
43) Interests arising by deeds to fictitious characters to conceal illegal activities on the premises.
44) Deeds in lieu of foreclosure set aside as being given under duress.
45) Ultra vires deed given under falsified corporate resolution.
46) Conveyances and proceedings affecting rights of servicemen protected by Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act.
47) Federal condemnation without filing of notice.
48) Break in chain of title beyond period of examination of public records where running of adverse possession statute has been suspended.
49) Deed from record owner of land where he has sold property to another purchaser on unrecorded land contract and purchaser has taken possession of premises.
50) Void conveyances in violation of public policy.
Title insurance is something you'll probably never need to call on, but it's one of those things you do not want to go without!
Do you have questions about any of the above items or anything else connected to title insurance or real estate in general? Give me a call and let's chat!
