What is Title Insurance?
Fire insurance protects you against losses from fire. Collision insurance guards you against the cost of a damaged car. Theft insurance – well, you get the idea. Title insurance protects your title to real estate that you are about to acquire. To understand why title protection is essential, we need to consider real estate for a moment.
Your Ownership of Real Estate
Real estate has always been considered a persons most valuable possession. It is so basic a form of wealth that many special laws have been enacted to protect ownership of land and the buildings which stand on the land.
You should realize whenever you buy property that the owner who is selling it to you has extremely strong rights as do his family and heirs. Also, there may be others – in addition to the owner – who have “rights” in the property you are going to buy, perhaps governmental bodies, or contractors, for example.
Some of the things a title search uncovers are any unpaid taxes or mortgages, judgments against previous owners, easements, and many other court actions or recorded documents which can affect title to real estate.
We find and report such defects in the title to the real estate you wish to buy, so that these matters can be corrected and cleared up. It is the first benefit you receive when title insurance is ordered.
Protecting You against Hidden Risks
Protection against loss from claims on real estate which cannot be discovered by examination of the public records is the second part of the twofold benefit title insurance provides.
For example, the title to the home which you have paid for – and to which you have received a deed – could be threatened or lost by such circumstances as a forgery, confusion due to similar names, or error in the records. These contingencies will be covered in your policy of title insurance.
How Does a Title Insurance Policy Protect against These Dangers?
If a claim is made against your title as covered by your policy, our underwriter, Fidelity National Title, protects you by –
- Defending your title, in court if necessary, at our expense.
- Bearing the cost of settling the claim if it proves valid, in order to perfect your title and keep you in possession of your property.
Summarizing, Title Insurance Means this to You:
It is assurance that every possible cloud on the title to the land you are buying – which can be discovered from the public records – has been called to your attention so that such defects can be corrected before you buy. And – it is insurance that, if any undisclosed claim covered by your policy arises out of the past to threaten you ownership of real estate, it will be disposed of, or you will be reimbursed, exactly as your title insurance policy provides.
…And You Only Pay Once
Unlike other forms of insurance, the original premium is your only cost as long as you own the property. There are no annual payments to keep your Owner’s Title Insurance Policy in force.