Risks Covered by Title Insurance

What Title Insurance Protects Against

Here are some of the most common hidden risks that can cause a loss of title or create an encumbrance on title:

• Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions or releases of mortgages, and other instruments.
• Impersonation of the true owners of the land by fraudulent persons.
• Outstanding prescriptive rights not of record and not disclosed.
• Undisclosed or missing heirs.
• Liens from unpaid estate, inheritance, income, and gift taxes.
• Defective acknowledgment due to lack of authority of notary. (Acknowledgment taken before commission or after expiration of commission.)
• Descriptions apparently but not actually adequate.
• Deed from bigamous couple - prior existing marriage in another jurisdiction.
• Mistake in recording legal documents. (For example, incorrect indexing or errors and omissions in transcribing, and failure to preserve original instruments.)
• Special assessments where they became lien upon passage of resolution and before recordation or commencement of improvements for which assessed.
• Recorded easement, but erroneous ancient location of pipe or sewer line which does not follow route of granted easement.
• Undisclosed divorce of spouse who conveys as sole heir of deceased consort.
• Deed from record owner of land where he has sold property to another purchaser on unrecorded land contract and the purchaser has taken possession of premises.
• Tax titles invalid because of irregularity of proceeding, reversal of court decisions, or lack of decisions on points of law.
• Fraud, duress or coercion in securing essential signatures.
• Deeds by persons of unsound mind.
• Invalid, suppressed, undisclosed, and erroneous interpretation of wills.