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What Is Title Insurance?...Read More

Protect Your Investment...Read More

70 Something Ways to Lose...Read More

 

Sheila Donalson Del Castillo, President
f/k/a Sheila Donalson Alday
sheila@affinitytitleagency.com

 

Office Hours

Office hours are from 8:30am to 5:00pm

Extended hours for your closing convenience

38 years of title insurance experience.

Underwritten by one of the largest title insurers in the nation.  

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Patricia A. Martin, Secretary/Treasurer
tricia@affinitytitleagency.com

 

Affinity Title Agency, Inc.

 

70 Something Ways to Lose

 

You Could Lose Your Home

There are many title issues that could cause you to lose your property or your mortgage investments.  Even the most careful search of public records may not disclose the most dangerous threat: hidden risks.  These issues may not be uncovered until years later.

Without title insurance from a reputable and financially secure company, your title could be worthless.  With the proper insurance, your rights will be defended in court.

Here are some of the issues that occur most frequently.

1. Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions or releases

2. Deed by person who is insane or mentally incompetent

3. Deeds by minor (may be disavowed)

4. Deed from corporation, unauthorized under corporate bylaws or given under falsified corporate resolution

5. Deed from partnership, unauthorized under partnership agreement

6. Deed from purported trustee, unauthorized under trust agreement

7. Deed to or from a "corporation" before incorporation, or after loss of corporate charter

8. Deed from a legal non-entity (styled, for example, as a church, charity or club)

9. Deed by person in a foreign country, vulnerable to challenge as incompetent, unauthorized or defective under foreign laws

10. Claims resulting from use of "alias" or fictitious name style by a predecessor in title

11. Deed Challenged as being given under fraud, undue influence or duress

12. Deed following non-judicial foreclosure, where required procedure was not followed

13. Deed affecting land in judicial proceedings (bankruptcy, receivership, probate, conservatorship, dissolution of marriage, unauthorized by court

14. Deed following judicial proceedings, subject to appeal or further court order

15. Deed following judicial proceedings, where all necessary parties were not joined

16. Lack of jurisdiction over persons or property in judicial proceedings

17. Deed signed by mistake (grantor did not know what was signed)

18. Deed executed under falsified power of attorney

19. Deed executed under expired power of attorney (death, disability or insanity of principal)

20. Deed apparently valid, but actually delivered after death of grantor or grantee, or without consent of grantor

21. Deed affecting property purported to be separate property of grantor, which is in fact community or jointly-owned property

22. Undisclosed divorce of one who conveys as sole heir of a deceased former spouse

23. Deed affecting property of deceased person, not joining all heirs

24. Deed following administration of estate of missing person, who later re-appears

25. Conveyance by heir or survivor of a joint estate, who murdered the decedent

26. Conveyances and proceedings affecting rights of service-member protected by the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act

27. Conveyance void as in violation of public policy (payment of gambling debt, payment for contract to commit crime, or conveyance made in restraint of rade)

28. Deed to land including "wetlands" subject to public trust (vesting title in government to protect public interest in navigation, commerce, fishing and recreation)

29. Deed from government entity, vulnerable to challenge as unauthorized or unlawful

30. Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to acquisition of note by bona fide purchaser (without notice of satisfaction)

31. Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to bankruptcy of creditor prior to recording of release (avoiding powers in bankruptcy)

32. Ineffective release of prior mortgage of lien, as fraudulently obtained by predecessor in title

33. Disputed release of prior mortgage or lien, as given under mistake or misunderstanding

34. Ineffective subordination agreement, causing junior interest to be reinstated to priority

35. Deed recorded, but not properly indexed so as to be locatable in the land records

36. Undisclosed but recorded federal or state tax lien

37. Undisclosed but recorded judgment or spousal/child support lien

38. Undisclosed but recorded prior mortgage

39. Undisclosed but recorded notice of pending lawsuit affecting land

40. Undisclosed but recorded environmental lien

41. Undisclosed but recorded option, or right of first refusal, to purchase property

42. Undisclosed but recorded covenants or restrictions, with (or without) rights of reverter

43. Undisclosed but recorded easements (for access, utilities, drainage, airspace, views) benefiting neighboring land

44. Undisclosed but recorded boundary, party wall or setback agreements

45. Errors in tax records (mailing tax bill to wrong party resulting in tax sale, or crediting payment to wrong property)

46. Erroneous release of tax or assessment liens, which are later reinstated to the tax rolls

47. Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials (not binding local government)

48. Special assessments which become liens upon passage of a law or ordinance, but before recorded notice or commencement of improvements for which assessment is made

49. Adverse claim of vendor's lien

50. Adverse claim of equitable lien

51. Ambiguous covenants or restrictions in ancient documents

52. Misinterpretation of wills, deeds and other instruments

53. Discovery of will of supposed intestate individual, after probate

54. Discovery of later will after probate of first will

55. Erroneous or inadequate legal descriptions

56. Deed to land without a right of access to a public street or road.

57. Deed to land with legal access subject to undisclosed but recorded conditions or restrictions.

58. Right of access wiped out by foreclosure on neighboring land

59. Patent defects in recorded instruments (for example, failure to attach notarial acknowledgment or a legal description)

60. Defective acknowledgment due to lack of authority of notary  (acknowledgement taken before commission or after expiration of commission)

61. Forged notarization or witness acknowledgment

62. Deed not properly recorded (wrong county, missing pages or other contents, or without required payment)

63. Deed from grantor who is claimed to have acquired title through fraud upon creditors of a prior owner. An extended coverage policy may be requested to protect against such additional defects as:

64. Deed to a purchaser from one who has previously sold or leased the same land to a third party under an unrecorded contract, where the third party is in possession of the premises

65. Claimed prescriptive rights, not of record and not disclosed by survey

66. Physical location of easement (underground pipe or sewer line) which does not conform with easement of record

67. Deed to land with improvements upon land of another

68. Incorrect survey (misstating location, dimensions, area, easements or improvements upon land)

69. "Mechanics' lien" claims (securing payment of contractors and material suppliers for improvements) which may attach without recorded notice

70. Federal estate or state inheritance tax liens (may attach without recorded notice)

71. Pre-existing violation of subdivision mapping laws

72. Pre-existing violation of zoning ordinances

73. Pre-existing violation of conditions, covenants and restrictions affecting the land

74. Post-policy forgery against the insured interest

75. Forced removal of residential improvements due to lack of an appropriate building permit (subject to deductible)

76. Post-policy construction of improvements by a neighbor onto insured land

77. Damage to residential structure from use of the surface of insured land for extraction or development of minerals