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Your Title and the Title Co Title is the legal right to your ownership of real estate. Technically you do not own land: you own title to land. Your title to land may be good or bad depending on the actions of earlier owners and of other parties who have had an interest in the property. Such parties may still have interests in your land even after you receive your deed. Therefore it is necessary to discover and consider all matters of legal significance affecting - your particular piece of land in order to establish that you have good title. TITLE ... WHERE DOES IT START? Title to your land starts with the Federal government. In the beginning the government sold parcels of land, or conferred land upon citizens as a reward for the settlement and development of the country. The document by whjch the Federal government granted its land to individuals is called a patent. Through treaties the Federal government also recognized title of persons to land in the territories which it acquired, It recognized the titles which persons derived from state governments where such states entered the Union as sovereign bodies. After title passes from the Federal government it becomes subject to the laws of the state in which the land lies. - TITLE ... HOW IS IT TRANSFERRED? The most common method of transferring the title to real estate is by delivery of a deed -- a written document which passes the title to another. From the deed, however, you cannot determine what rights, liens, or claims may be outstanding against your title, and perfectly honorable people may sometimes unknowingly sell property in which others also have rights. Title may also pass, upon death of the owner, to the persons named in the owner's will. If he left no will, title will descend to persons decreed by law to be heirs. Title may also pass by operation of law. Examples are found in the case of adverse possession, foreclosures, partition, court sales and condemnation proceedings. TITLE EVIDENCE...WHAT FORM DOES IT TAKE? If a deed is not actual proof of good title, what is? There are two, kinds of title evidence in common use throughout Illinois -- Abstracts of Title and Title Insurance Policies. v, An abstract is a condensed history of the title to a parcel of land as revealed by the public records. When you order an abstract from a title company it is prepared for you in a complete summary of all matters to be found in the public records which might affect your possession, enjoyment and use of the property you propose to buy. The abstract assembles the essential facts about all of the previous times the land has been sold. It lists all of the mortgages, other liens and liabilities which have attached to that specific parcel of land since it was granted to its first owner by the Federal government ... and it indicates which of these liens or liabilities still stand against the land. Thus, the abstract provides the means -- the information -- by which it becomes possible to determine the status of the title as it is shown on the public records. It is the function of the title company to gather that information from all of the many sources where it is available, to put down accurately all of these facts, and to indicate in a signed statement that the abstract is correct and complete. This information contained in the public records is also the basic material that must be compiled and analyzed in the issuance of a title insurance policy. An owners title insurance policy insures the owner, and a mortgage title insurance policy insures the lender, not only against title defects disclosed in the public records which the insurance company may be willing 1 * ' ** 2, * • ^VtlJ§lI§P ON NEXT MONDA , . ... h°"».'» our new drive-up ^ toDAY! _ your - ourgkandu-nS Member Of The Family SWINGS 4 MEMBER Federal Savings and Loon Insurance Corporation Federal Home Loan Bank System Saving and Loan Foundation United States Saving and Loan League Illinois Savings and Loan League SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATI REMEMBER OUR NEW LOCATION 1209 N. GREEN ST. McHENRY to assume as risks, 0but also against hidden defects in the title to land which cannot be discovered through a search of the public records,. Such hidden defects are potentially lurking in every chain of title and can arise out of the pastyears later -- to become a claim against the title of a new purchaser. They include forgery of signatures on a previous deed or mortgage, misrepresentation by a seller of his marital status, existence of undisclosed heirs, mistaken legal interpretations, mental incompetence of an individual who has executed a deed, confusion due to similar or identical names, and errors in the records or in clerical work. In accordance with the terms of its policy, the title insurance company will defend such attacks on your title, pay the full legal costs of such a defense if it becomes necessary at any time while you own the property, and if a loss is sustained, protect you up to the full amount of the policy. How Does It Operate The maintenance of records is the heartofthe title company's operation. These records are the foundation upon which both abstracts of title and title insurance policies ai-e issued. The title company is the institution in your community which performs the difficult task of compiling for every parcel of land in the county all of the information and facts that comprise the legal history of each parcel. This is done by the title company maintaining in its own offices a detailed index to all of the public records and having these indexes so geared for accuracy and speed of reference that an abstract can be speedily prepared for any parcel that is about to be sold. Procuring this information requires a daily inspection of all courts in the county and all county offices where matters affecting real estate have been filed or posted. The company makes a copy of each item it finds and then posts this information on its own books --indexed to each separate parcel of land in the county -- so that it wiirbe possible to discover these items when called upon to report on the property each peculiarly affects. The title company must have an infinite knowledge of the legal descriptions that identify and locate each parcel of land and a knowledge of what facts are needed to determine the status of the title. The information gathered by the title company deals with more than legal matters relating to property. A large portion of its records is concerned with individuals. The title company must also gather each day the facts, pertaining to judgments, decrees, notices, divorces, adoptions, bankruptcies and similar matters which will also have bearing on the title to any real estate which such individuals may own. You see, claims against individuals attach themselves to .the property they own. If such claims are not discovered -- and you were to buy a home against whose previous owner such claims h§d been filed -- these claims could arise to plague your rights of ownership to this property, even though the property had been sold several times in the interval. When the title company receives an order to chronicle a legal title -- to prepare the abstract which will be the basis for an opinion of title, and for the issuance of title insurance -- it turns to its books upon which entries have been made each day year after year and seeks out and assembles all the information that has been posted about the property and about the individuals who have been involved in its ownership. It should be clear that your title to real estate depends on the accuracy of the work done by the title company in your county. Such companies, are in short, the painstaking, concise, and careful historians of the land. The cost of maintaining the records that are necessary to render such a service to the community must be borne by the title company regardless of the number of orders it receives. Extraordinary care must be taken in gathering such a vast amount of information, posting this data on the company's books each day, and compiling the facts which are required when an order for title evidence is received. The title company is liable for even the slightest negligence and must back the accuracy of its work with its own financial responsibility. In addition, when a title insurance policy is issued as a further protection for the purchaser of real estate, the title insurance ^mpany assumes responsibility for the cost of any legal defense of the title that may become necessary in the future and for the payment of any loss that may be sustained by the owner as provided in the terms of the policy. Recent years have brought many changes and a greatly increased pace in economic growth in our county. Shopping centers, large residential and commercial developments have required land to be divided and subdivided many times. At the same time there have been numerous changes in the laws affecting real estate. All of these factors and trends have placed increased importance and greater demands upon the service provided by title companies. They have steadily enlarged their facilities and adopted new techniques and improved methods in a constant effort to make available the rapid, dependable and efficient title service required by growing communities in a modem economy.