E&O Insurance Backed, Licensed Title Insurer, Father & Son Business with 45 years of experience.
Covering Franklin, Lauderdale, Colbert, Marion, Lawerence, Morgan, and Winston Counties
Title Search Fee- $225
Title Searches take 1-5 business days to complete. Contact us if you have any questions.
WHAT IS TITLE INSURANCE?
Title insurance is a non-casualty
product. Rather than indemnify
and insure against future loss
based on future risk, title
insurance indemnifies and insures
against future loss based on prior
risk (risks that before the date of
policy are inherent to the title).
Before issuing the final policy a
title search must be done to help
eliminate encumbrances to the
title before closing to the benefit of
the consumer. Title insurance is a
one-time premium fee that covers
you beyond the grave. This
means, that as long as you keep
an estate or interest in the
property, you and your heirs, next
of kin, and personal
representatives are covered.
WHY YOU NEED
TITLE INSURANCE:
Title insurance is protection
against a list of risks. For example,
if you decide to purchase a piece
of property with liens or
encumbrances to the title, that
was not made aware to you by title
search. You can lose the property
entirely and/or be subjected to
having to pay legal fees.
Therefore, a lien should have
been discovered, reported, and
cleared before the issuance of the
final policy. Should the judgment
lien creditor later claim payment
the title insurer would be
contractually obligated to protect
the insured against loss or
damage, by paying off the lien and
obtaining the release of same.
Please check the full list of the risks covered
by title insurance below.
Covered Risks:
- Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions or releases
- Deed from:
- Person who is insane or mentally incompetent
- Minor
- Corporation, unauthorized under corporate bylaws
- Corporation, given under falsified corporate resolution
- Partnership, unauthorized under partnership agreement
- Purported trustee, unauthorized under trust agreement.
- "Corporation" before formation or after loss of corporate charter
- Legal non-entity [i.e., styled as a church, charity or club]
- Person in a foreign country, vulnerable to challenge as incompetent, unauthorized, or defective under foreign laws
- Predecessor in title using an alias or fictitious name
- Deed challenged due to:
- Execution under fraud, undue influence or duress
- Procedures not followed in a non-judicial foreclosure
- Judicial proceedings [bankruptcy, receivership, probate, conservatorship, divorce], unauthorized by court
- Judicial proceedings, subject to appeal or further court order
- Judicial proceedings, where all necessary parties were not joined
- Lack of jurisdiction over persons or property in judicial proceedings
- Execution by mistake [grantor did not know what was signed]
- Execution under falsified power of attorney
- Execution under expired power of attorney [death, disability or insanity of principal]
- Delivery of deed after death of grantor or grantee, or without consent of grantor
- Execution by one, but not all grantors of community or jointly-owned property
- Undisclosed divorce of one who conveys as sole heir of a deceased former spouse
- All heirs not joined in deed affecting property of deceased person
- Missing person who later appears after administration of estate
- Conveyance by heir or survivor of a joint estate, who murdered the decedent
- Ineffective release of:
- Prior satisfied mortgage due to acquisition of note by bona fide purchaser without notice of satisfaction]
- Prior satisfied mortgage due to bankruptcy of creditor prior to recording of release avoiding powers in bankruptcy]
- Prior mortgage of lien, fraudulently obtained by predecessor in title
- Disputed release or prior mortgage or lien, as given under mistake or misunderstanding
- Ineffective subordination agreement, causing junior lien interest to be reinstated to priority
- Deed recorded, but not properly indexed so as to be locatable in land records
- Undisclosed but recorded:
- Federal or state tax lien
- Judgment or spousal/child support lien
- Prior mortgage
- Notice of pending lawsuit affecting land
- Environmental lien
- Option, or right of first refusal, to purchase property
- Covenants or restrictions [with or without right of reverterl
- Easements [access, utility, drainage, airspace, view] of benefit to neighboring land
- Boundary, party wall, or setback agreements
- Errors regarding taxes and assessments:
- Error in tax records [mailing tax bill to wrong party resulting in tax sale or crediting payment to wrong party]
- Erroneous release of tax or assessment liens, reinstated later to the tax rolls
- Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials
- Special assessments, which become liens upon passage of law or ordinance, but before recorded notice or
commencement of improvements for which assessment is made
- Adverse claim of vendor's lien or equitable lien
- Ambiquous covenants or restrictions in ancient documents
- Misinterpretation of wills, deeds, and other instruments
- Discovery of will of supposed intestate individual, after probate
- Discovery of later will after probate of first will
- Claims relating to access or boundaries:Claims relating to access or boundaries:
- Erroneous or inadequate legal descriptions
- Land without right of access to a public street or road
- Land with legal access subject to undisclosed but recorded conditions or restrictions
- Right of access wiped out by foreclosure on neighboring land
- Readily apparent defects in recorded instruments
- Improper execution
- Lack of witnesses
- Incomplete or missing notarial acknowledgment
- Defective acknowledgment due to lack of authority of notary
- Forged notarization or witness acknowledgment
- Deed not properly recorded
- Deed from grantor who is claimed to have acquired title through fraud upon creditors of a prior owner