Chapter 6 ________________ Recordation, Abstracts, and Title Insurance

1. Chapter 6________________Recordation, Abstracts, and Title Insurance

2. Public Records • Constructive Notice – recording documents. • Actual Notice – knowledge based on what one has seen, heard, read, or otherwise observed.

3. The Recorder’s Role The public recorder’s office serves as a central information station for changes in rights, estates, and interests in land.

5. Chain of Title

6. Abstract of Title • A complete historical summary of all recorded documents affecting the title of a property. • It recites in chronological order all recorded grants, conveyances, recorded easements, mortgages, wills, tax liens, judgments, pending lawsuits, marriages, divorces, etc., that might affect title. • The abstracter will summarize each document, note the book and page (or other source) where it was found, and give the date it was recorded or entered.

7. Ownership Proof • Abstract of Title • Title Insurance • Title commitment • Policy premiums • Lender’s policy • Claims for losses

8. Title Insurance The basic principle of title insurance is similar to any form of insurance: Many persons pay a small amount into an insurance pool that is then available if any one of them should suffer a loss. In some parts of the United States, it is customary to purchase the title insurance policy through the attorney who reads and certifies the abstract. Elsewhere it is the custom to purchase it from a title company that combines the search and policy in one fee.

10. The Torrens System A system of land title registration that starts with a landowner’s application for registration and the preparation of an abstract. This is followed by a quiet title suit at which all parties named in the abstract and anyone else claiming a right or interest to the land in question may attend and be heard.

11. Marketable Title • Marketable title is one free from reasonable doubt as to who the owner is. • Marketable Title Act – stops claims to rights or interest in land that have been inactive for longer than the requiredstatutory period.

12. Key Terms • Abstract of title • Acknowledgment • Actual notice • Chain of title • Constructive notice • Marketable title • Public recorder’s office • Quite title suit • Title insurance • Torrens system