The party who usually benefits from simultaneous issue of title insurance policies is the

C

CERTIFICATE OF TITLE – In areas where attorneys examine abstracts or chains of title, a written opinion, executed by the examining attorney stating that title is vested as stated in the abstract. 

CHAIN OF TITLE – Beginning with a conveyance out of an original source of title such as a government, each succeeding deed, will or other medium which conveys and transfers the title to succeeding owners constitutes a link in the chain of title. The chain of title is the composite of all such links. 

CLAIM – A right to assert, or the assertion of, a demand for payment of money due; or the surrender or delivery of possession of property or the recognition or some right. A demand for something as one’s rightful due. 

CLOSING – In some areas called a “settlement.” The process of completing a real estate transaction during which deeds, mortgages, leases and other required instruments are signed and/or delivered, an accounting between the parties is made, the money is disbursed, the papers are recorded, and all other details such as payment of outstanding liens and transfer of hazard insurance policies are attended to. 

CLOSING DISCLOSURE – The five-page Closing Disclosure must be provided to the consumer three business days before they close on the loan. The Closing Disclosure details all of the costs associated with their mortgage transaction. 

CLOSING STATEMENT – A summation, in the form of a balance sheet, made at a closing, showing the amounts of debits and credits to which each party to a real estate transaction is entitled. 

CLOUD ON TITLE – An irregularity, possible claim, or encumbrance which, if valid, would affect or impair the title. 

COMMISSION – The amount due a real estate broker, mortgage loan broker or real estate professional for services performed in such capacity. 

CONDITIONS – This refers to provisions in deeds and other real estate instruments that make a particular right contingent upon the occurrence of some future event. 

CONSUMMATION – Consummation is not the same thing as closing or settlement. Consummation occurs when the consumer becomes contractually obligated to the creditor on the loan, not, for example, when the consumer becomes contractually obligated to a seller on a real estate transaction. 

CONTRACT – Same as “agreement,” but usually more formal. 

COVENANT – A formal agreement or contract between two parties in which one party gives the other certain promises and assurances, such as covenants of warranty in a warranty deed.

E

EARNEST MONEY – Down payment or a small part of the purchase price made by a purchaser as evidence of good faith. 

EASEMENT – A right held by a person to enjoy or make limited use of another’s real property. 

EGRESS – The right to a path or right-of-way over that a person may leave or go away from his own real estate. 

EJECTMENT – (1) Eviction or dispossession. (2) A law suit to regain possession of real estate held by another. 

EMINENT DOMAIN – The right of a government to take privately owned property for public purposes under condemnation proceedings upon payment of its reasonable value. 

ENCROACHMENT – The extension of a structure from the real estate to which it belongs across a boundary line and onto adjoining property. 

ENCUMBRANCE – A claim, right or lien upon the title to real estate, held by someone other than the real estate owner. 

ENDORSEMENT – Addition to or modification of a title insurance policy that expands or changes coverage of the policy, fulfilling specific requirements of the insured. 

ESCROW – Technically, this term strictly refers to a deed delivered to a third person to be held by him until the fulfillment or performance of some act or condition by the grantee. In the title industry, it means the depositing with an impartial third party (typically an escrow agent or title company) of anything pertaining to a real estate transaction including money and documents of all kinds. The money and documents are to be disbursed and delivered to the rightful parties by the escrow agent or title company when all conditions of the transaction have been met. 

ESCROW AGREEMENT – A written agreement usually made between buyer, seller and escrow agent, but sometimes only between one person and the escrow agent. It sets forth the conditions to be performed incident to the object deposited in escrow, and gives the escrow agent instructions with respect to the disposition of the object so deposited. 

ESTATE – (1) A sizable piece of rural land usually with a large house and other pretentious improvements. (2) The whole of one’s possessions, especially all of the property, assets, debts, and liabilities left by a deceased or bankrupt person. (3) The nature and extent of an owner’s rights in real estate. 

EXAMINATION – In title industry terms, to peruse and study the instruments in a chain of title and to determine their effect and condition in order to reach a conclusion as to the status of the title. 

EXAMINER – Usually referred to, in title industry terms, as title examiner. One who examines and determines the condition and status of real estate titles. 

EXCEPTIONS – Insurance policies include a list of items excluded from coverage. Items excluded from coverage can be found in section two of Schedule B of the policy.

T

TAX LIEN – The lien that is imposed upon real estate by operation of law that secures the payment of real estate taxes.

TENANCY BY ENTIRETIES – An estate or interest in real estate predicated upon the legal fiction that a husband and wife are one person. A conveyance or devise to them (unless contrary intent is expressed) vests title in them as one person. Upon the death of either husband or wife, full title passes to the survivor.

TENANT – (1) Usually one who holds possession of real estate under a lease. (2) In a broader sense, one who holds or possesses lands and tenements by any kind of title.

TENANTS IN COMMON – Two or more persons in whom title to a single piece of real estate is vested in such a manner that they have a common or equal right to possession and enjoyment of the property, but each holds a separate individual interest or estate in the property. Each owner may sell or encumber his respective interest or dispose of it by will, and if he dies without leaving a will, his heirs inherit his undivided interest.

THIRD PARTY – A term usually applied to persons who are not principal parties to a contract or other instrument, but who have some right, interest or duty that such contract or instrument affects. For example, where a sale contract between buyer and seller of real estate provides that the money and documents involved in the transaction will be deposited with a title company pending the closing of the deal, the title company becomes a third party to the transaction.

TITLE – (1) A combination of all the elements that constitute the highest legal right to own, possess, use, control, enjoy, and dispose of real estate or an inheritable right or interest therein. (2) The rights of ownership recognized and protected by the law.

TITLE COMMITMENT – An offer to issue a title insurance policy. The title commitment will describe the various conditions, exclusions and exceptions that will apply to that particular policy.

TITLE COVENANTS – Covenants ordinarily inserted in conveyances and in transfers of title to real estate for the purpose of giving protection to the purchaser against possible insufficiency of the title received. A group of such covenants known as “common law covenants” includes: (a) covenants against encumbrances; (b) covenant for further assurance (in other words, to do whatever is necessary to rectify title deficiencies); (c) covenant of good right and authority to convey; (d) covenant of quiet enjoyment; (e) covenant of seisin; (f) covenant of warranty.

TITLE DEFECT – (1) Any possible or patent claim or right outstanding in a chain of title that is adverse to the claim of ownership. (2) Any material irregularity in the execution or effect of an instrument in the chain of title.

TITLE EXAMINATION – To peruse and study the instruments in a chain of title and to determine their effect and condition in order to reach a conclusion as to the status of the title.

TITLE INSURANCE – Is insurance that protects purchasers of real estate and mortgages against loss from defective titles, liens and encumbrances.

TITLE PLANT – (1) In many areas, synonymous with abstract plant. (2) A geographically filed assemblage of title information which is to help in expediting title examinations, such as copies of previous attorneys’ opinions, abstracts, tax searches, and copies or take-offs of the public records.

TITLE SEARCH – A search and perusal of the public records for recorded instruments that affect the title to a particular piece of land. (See also Abstract and Examination.)

TITLE SEARCHER – One who searches titles.