Title Insurance is a means of protecting yourself from financial loss in the event that problems develop regarding the rights to ownership of your property. There may be hidden title defects that even the most careful title search will not reveal. In addition to protection from financial loss, Title Insurance pays the cost of defending against any covered claim.
Also, keep in mind; title insurance is a one-time purchase that stays with you as long as you or your heirs own the home. When thinking about how expensive a home can be, and the possibility of significant loss, and then how low this one-time insurance purchase cost’s, there is really no insurance like it.
It’s a no-brainer.
How will Owner’s Title Insurance protect me?
Some common examples of problems covered by an Owner’s Title Insurance Policy include:
- Improper execution of documents
- Mistakes in recording or indexing of legal documents
- Forgeries and fraud
- Undisclosed or missing heirs (including divorces of previous owners of the home)
- Unpaid taxes and assessments
- Unpaid judgments and liens
- Unreleased mortgages
- Mental incompetence of grantors on the deed
- Impersonation of the true owners of the land by fraudulent persons
- Refusal of potential purchaser to accept title based upon condition of title
*Also, sometimes sellers of a home are either unaware of issues, or are not being forthright about them.
What can make the Title to my home defective?
When you purchase your home, you take “title” to your property. Any number of problems that remain undisclosed after even the most meticulous search of public records can make a title defective. These hidden “defects” are dangerous indeed because you may not learn of them for many months or years. Yet they could force you to spend substantial sums on a legal defense and still result in a potential lawsuit, significant financial loss, or even the loss of your property. In worst-case scenarios, you can experience ‘D – all of the above.’
