The Benefits of Using an Attorney to Write Title Insurance
Whether you are buying a home for your family or a property for your business, the purchase of real estate is a large investment of both money and time. Encountering problems with your purchase can be financially and emotionally devastating. A real estate attorney experienced in title insurance can help you ensure that there are no legal problems with the transaction, so that you close the transaction secure in the knowledge that you have full legal rights to your property.
Title Insurance
When you buy a house or other real property, ensuring that you have clear title is essential. Clear title gives you full ownership of and the right to convey the property. Title insurance lets you secure your legal right to the property and protect against title defects. A defect in title occurs when another party has a legal claim to the property. For example, a neighbor might have a right-of-way over the property, or an heir might have a claim to ownership.
Sometimes, a defect may be hidden and is only discovered after closing. In that event, title insurance pays the costs if you have to litigate, and compensates you for any financial loss if you cannot settle the defect.
An Attorney Will Give Legal Advice
Many companies sell title insurance. But a title company can only prepare closing documents and issue your policy. The title company cannot provide legal advice about the content of the documents or the other effects of your purchase. Only an attorney can give legal advice.
If you encounter a legal question or problem relating to your transaction, you will have to obtain an attorney’s advice anyway, because your title company cannot fill that role. Additionally, an attorney can help you understand the income or estate tax consequences of your purchase. The attorney can also advise and help you if the other party is not cooperating and is trying to get out of the contract. Attorneys can also help if you have questions about how to take title, or if you discover a problem with the title. It is often much simpler to start out with the attorney.
An Attorney Will Represent You
The title company, even if it has an attorney on its payroll, does not represent you in the transaction. It represents its own interests, and the company’s attorney does not work for you. Title companies should be neutral, unbiased agents, and so attorneys working for them cannot represent one side or the other.
If you hire a real estate attorney, however, that attorney will be representing you and no one else in the transaction. A real estate attorney will ensure that your best interests, rather than the title company’s, are represented in the transaction.
Title insurance rates in Florida are highly regulated. This means that the fee for title insurance will be the same, whether you use a title company or a real estate attorney. But only with a real estate attorney will you get the added benefit of someone who will represent you and give you legal advice about this very important transaction.
At the Law Offices of Larry E. Bray in Boca Raton, we can prepare your title insurance policy and assist you with any other questions you have about your real estate transaction. Please contact us for a free initial consultation.
