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What
is Title Insurance?
An owners title insurance policy is an agreement that the insurer
will pay all losses involved in any claim covered by the policy
terms as long as you own an interest in that property.
The policy provides two types of
coverage:
1- If someone contests your insured title
in a legal action,
the insurer will defend the
title at no
expense to you.
2- If there is a defect in your title
which cannot be
eliminated, title insurance provides
financial
indemnity
to protect you from loss due to the defect.
Your closing agent should be able to insure the title to your land
by issuing or obtaining for you an owners title insurance
policy.
The coverage of the title insurance is stated in the policy. Any
policy can list matters substantially affecting title, which are
exceptions to the coverage, and are not covered by the owners
policy. Another type of policy is a mortgagees, or lenders title
insurance policy. It protects only the holder of the mortgage and
not the owner, but it's generally required in all loan
transactions.
Why Title Insurance:
No research of the title records, no matter how thorough, can
reveal hidden defects in the title, which can jeopardize your
legal rights of ownership any one of many defects may appear
unexpectedly to cause a costly loss, or require time consuming
hours to clear.
Title Insurance protects you from
damages or expenses incurred because of possible title defects
such as:
Clerical error made at the courthouse when an earlier dee was
recorded.
Instrument signed by a minor.
Improper legal description.
Overlapping legal descriptions.
Forged signatures.
A married signer who represents himself as single.
Title taken as a result of improperly probated Will.
Confusion of title resulting from similar names.
A deed signed by someone who claimed to owne the property, but in
fact did not.
A deed signed by someone mentally incompetant.
A deed executed by someone who's power of attorney had expired.
Outright falsification of records.
Problems associated with a Will.
1- Adoption
or birth of a chile after the date of a Will.
2- Failure
to probate a Will
3- Improper
interpretation of a will.
The appearance of a missing heir.
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