WHY GET TITLE INSURANCE?

Title insurance protects you against such potential defects as:

  1. Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions or releases
  2. Deed by person who is insane or mentally incompetent
  3. Deed by minor (may be disavowed)
  4. Deed from corporation, unauthorized under corporate bylaws or given under falsified corporate resolution
  5. Deed from partnership, unauthorized under partnership agreement
  6. Deed from purported trustee, unauthorized under trust agreement
  7. Deed from a legal nonentity (styled, for example, as a church, charity, or club)
  8. Deed by person in a foreign country, vulnerable to challenge as incompetent, unauthorized or defective under foreign laws
  9. Claims resulting from use of “alias” or fictitious name style by a predecessor in title
  10. Deed following non judicial foreclosure, where required procedure was not followed
  11. Deed affecting land in judicial proceeds (bankruptcy, receivership, probate, conservator ship, dissolution of marriage, unauthorized by court
  12. Deed following judicial proceedings, subject to appeal or further court order
  13. Deed following judicial proceedings, where all necessary parties were not joined
  14. Lack of jurisdiction over persons or property in judicial proceedings
  15. Deed signed by mistake (grantor did not know what was signed)
  16. Deed executed under falsified power of attorney
  17. Deed executed under expired power of attorney (death, disability, or insanity of principal)
  18. Deed apparently valid, but actually delivered after death of grantor or grantee, or without consent of grantor
  19. Deed affecting property purported to be separate property of grantor, which is in fact community or jointly owned property
  20. Undisclosed divorce of one who conveys as sole heir of a deceased former spouse
  21. Deed affecting property of deceased person, not joining all heirs
  22. Deed following administration of estate of missing person, who later reappears
  23. Conveyance by heir or survivor of a joint estate, who murdered the decedent
  24. Conveyances and proceedings affecting the rights of service member protected by the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act
  25. Conveyance void as in violation of public policy (payment of gambling debt, payment for contract to commit crime, or conveyance made in restraint of trade)
  26. Deed to land including “wetlands” subject to public trust (vesting title in government to protect public interest in navigation, commerce, fishing and recreation
  27. Deed from government entity, vulnerable to challenge as unauthorized or unlawful
  28. Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to acquisition of note by bona fide purchaser (without notice of satisfaction)
  29. Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to bankruptcy of creditor prior to recording of release (avoiding powers in bankruptcy)
  30. Ineffective release of prior mortgage or lien, as fraudulently obtained by predecessor in title
  31. Disputed release of prior mortgage or lien, as given under mistake or misunderstanding
  32. Ineffective subordination agreement, causing junior interest to be reinstated to priority
  33. Deed recorded, but not properly indexed so as to be locatable in the land records
  34. Undisclosed but recorded federal or state tax lien
  35. Undisclosed but recorded judgment or spousal/child support lien
  36. Undisclosed but recorded prior mortgage
  37. Undisclosed but recorded notice of pending lawsuit affecting land
  38. Undisclosed but recorded environmental lien
  39. Undisclosed but recorded option, or right of first refusal, to purchase property
  40. Undisclosed but recorded covenants or restrictions, with (or without) rights of reverter
  41. Undisclosed but recorded easements (for access, utilities, drainage, airspace, views) benefiting neighboring land
  42. Undisclosed but recorded boundary, party wall or setback agreements
  43. Errors in tax records (mailing tax bill to wrong party resulting in tax sale, or crediting payment to wrong property)
  44. Erroneous release of tax or assessment liens, which are later reinstated to the tax rolls
  45. Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials (not binding local government)
  46. Special assessments which become liens upon passage of a law or ordinance, but before recorded notice or commencement of improvement for which assessment is made
  47. Adverse claim of vendor’s lien
  48. Adverse claim of equitable lien
  49. Ambiguous covenants or restrictions in ancient documents
  50. Misinterpretation of wills, deeds and other instruments
  51. Discovery of will of supposed intestate individual, after probate
  52. Discovery of later will after probate of first will
  53. Erroneous or inadequate legal descriptions
  54. Deed to land without a right of access to a public street or road
  55. Deed to and with legal access subject to undisclosed but recorded conditions to restrictions
  56. Right of access wiped out by foreclosure on neighboring land
  57. Patent defects in recorded instruments (for example, failure to attach notarial acknowledgment or a legal description)
  58. Defective acknowledgement due to lack of authority of notary (acknowledgement taken before commission or after expiration of commission)
  59. Forged notarization or witness acknowledgement
  60. Deed not properly recorded (wrong parish, missing pages or other contents, or without required payment)
  61. Deed from grantor who is claimed to have acquired title through fraud upon creditors of a prior owner
  62. Deed to a purchaser from one who has previously sold or leased the same land to a third party under an unrecorded contract, where the third party is in possession of the premises
  63. Claimed prescriptive rights, not of record and not disclosed by survey
  64. Physical location of easement (underground pipe or sewer line) which does not conform with easement of record
  65. Deed to land with improvements encroaching upon land of another
  66. Incorrect survey (misstating location, dimensions, area, easements or improvements upon land)
  67. “Mechanics’ lien” claims (securing payment of contractors and material suppliers for improvements) which may attach without recorded notice
  68. Federal estate or state inheritance tax liens (may attach without recorded notice)
  69. Preexisting violation of subdivision mapping laws
  70. Preexisting violation of zoning ordinances
  71. Preexisting violation of conditions, covenants and restrictions affecting the land