Common Washington real estate attorney services – title clearance.

A title insurer that has been hired to insure a title conveyance will have its underwriter review recorded title records and other public records, such as superior court execution dockets and federal bankruptcy filings.  Issues identified by the title underwriter show-up as exemptions from coverage in the final issued policy.

The existence of title exemptions in the policy can detrimentally impact the property’s marketability and may derail a transaction if the grantee or lender requires clear title.  While real estate attorneys are not typically used for conveyances in Washington (they are in other states), a common reason to hire a real estate attorney in Washington is for pre-sale or pre-conveyance title clearance.  The attorney’s task is simple -- clear the title issue to the satisfaction of the title underwriter and obtain removal of the exemption from the final policy.  Whether completing the task will be simple or not depends on the facts and circumstances and complexity of the issue.

Some issues commonly flagged by title companies can be fairly easily corrected.  These include: old encumbrances that were not released by reason of inadvertence, encumbrances or judgments that are time-barred or expired, unknown claimants because there was a deceased owner and no probate or lack of probate affidavit, benign defects in the chain-of-title such as an incomplete legal description in an instrument, and less benign but still-curable title defects such as a chain-of-title that does not perfectly follow a boundary line adjustment or subdivision.  Issues like these do not typically appear in appellate cases and articles and blogs because they do not result in contested litigation and they are quietly resolved. 

Where the issue underlying the policy exemption involves a present and justiciable title dispute between parties (think: hostile neighbors), removal of the exemption typically requires contested litigation and a prevailing title judgment satisfying the title underwriter.  Washington’s code, at RCW 7.28, contains an entire chapter devoted-to quiet title and ejectment actions.  At any given time, a significant portion of the real property actions being litigated in state superior courts are couched as quiet title disputes.  While a lot of these are disputes between neighbors over boundary lines or easements, by no means are these the only type of contested quiet title actions within the court system.

In sum, when dealing with property transactions insured by a title company, it is always easiest if the title company just assumes all the risk.  But the company won’t if it sees an issue.  The company will carve the issue out from coverage as a policy exemption.  That is when a Washington attorney can be utilized, by the buyer or seller or lender, to craft and execute a plan for clearing title and removing the exception and permitting the transaction to move-forward, fully-insurable.