Title search

What it means

For real property, a title search examines recorded deeds, mortgages, liens and judgments. For a vehicle, it is a check of the motor vehicle record and the national title information system.

It reveals what is recorded, not everything that is true: an unrecorded interest or a fraudulent transfer will not appear.

Title insurance is a separate product that covers the risk of what a search missed.

Why it matters

An estate cannot sell what it cannot clear, and an old lien, a judgment against the deceased, or a decades-old boundary problem stops a sale at closing rather than at the start.

For vehicles, it is how an unreleased lien or a brand is found before rather than at the counter.

When you are likely to meet it

• When an estate is selling a house or a vehicle.
• When a lien appears that nobody expected.
• When a title cannot be located.

How this varies by state

What is searched, where it is recorded and how far back are all set by local recording practice.

Related terms

• Affidavit of heirshipA sworn statement of who a person's heirs are, recorded in the land records where no probate established it.
• Bona fide purchaserSomebody who buys property for value, in good faith, without notice of anyone else's claim to it. The law usually protects them, even against the rightful owner.
• Branded titleA permanent mark on a title recording that the vehicle was once written off or badly damaged.
• Certificate of titleThe state-issued document that proves who owns a vehicle — and whose issuing state decides the procedure after a death.
• Cloud on titleAnything in the public record that leaves ownership of a property open to question.
• DeedThe recorded document that says who owns a piece of real property, and how they hold it.
• EstateEverything the person owned at the moment they died, treated as one thing that has to be settled.
• Home Equity Conversion MortgageThe federally insured kind of reverse mortgage. What happens to the house after the borrower dies is set by its own rules.
• LienA recorded claim against property, securing a debt, that has to be dealt with before the property can be transferred cleanly.
• Lien releaseA document from a lender confirming a loan is paid off, so the lien can be removed from a title.
• Motor vehicle agencyThe state office that issues titles and registrations. It goes by a different name and a different set of initials in almost every state.
• Property tax saleThe process by which a county sells a property, or a lien on it, because the property taxes went unpaid.
• RecordingFiling a document with the county so that it is on the public record.
• Salvage titleA title branded to record that a vehicle was declared a total loss. The brand stays with the vehicle permanently.
• Secured and unsecured debtWhether a debt is attached to a particular thing. It decides who has to be paid, in what order, and what happens if the estate cannot pay everyone.
• Title insuranceCover against defects in ownership that already existed when the property was bought.
• Vehicle identification numberThe unique code identifying a specific vehicle. Every title, registration and transfer form is matched against it.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Inheriting a mortgaged home
• Vehicle title transfer