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Owning property involves more than simply having a deed in your name. A deed alone does not extinguish prior rights or claims of others to the property. Insuring your interest in a property against these prior claims is what Title Insurance is all about.

Protecting Your Rights

"What protection," you may ask, "do I have against such claims? How can I be sure my property is really mine?" The answer to both of those questions is real estate ownership insurance, commonly known as title insurance.

Title Insurance

Title Insurance insures your interest in the property against claims arising out of errors and omissions in the past. Through the years a given piece of property may have changed hands a number of times. With each transfer there exists the possibility of an error in title to arise. Time does not extinguish the rights of others to make claims based on these errors. A Title Insurance Policy guarantees that the property you are purchasing is free from disclosed liens, free from confusion in the chain of ownership and free from other uncertainties which affect the title. In short it guarantees that you "own" the property for which you are paying.

Peace of Mind

An Owner's Title Policy provides you with peace of mind by removing the hidden risks of acquiring a piece of property whose legal history is unknown to you. Additionally the title insurance company will, at its own expense, defend the title and will pay losses within the coverage of the policy if they occur.

Among the many risks against which Title Insurance protects you are:
Confusion from similarity of name Signatures of minors or mentally incompetent persons Undisclosed or missing heir Invalid divorces Unpaid taxes	Wills not probated Forged documents Mistakes in recording legal documents Fraud Misrepresentation of marital status Clerical errors in public records