The purpose of a title search is to verify the seller's right to transfer ownership and discover any claims, errors, assessments, debts or other restrictions on the property. A title company must determine insurability of the title as part of the search process. This leads to the issuance of a title policy, which insures the existence or non–existence of rights to the property.

Fidelity National Title in the Inland Empire performed a search for a title only transaction involving the sale of property in Sherman Oaks, California. Escrow was being closed with an independent escrow agent. The sales price was $500,000.

Sydney Clay, Title Assistant, was comparing the results of the general index search against the information provided by the seller on the Statement of Information. One of the items found in the search was a federal tax lien. The taxpayer matched the owner of the property, Barb E. Dahl, and the lien had attached to the property which was the subject of the transaction at hand.

Sydney noticed the social security number reflected on the lien did not match the social security number provided by Dahl. This was a red flag to Sydney who immediately escalated the file to her manager, Lisa Pleiman.

Lisa searched further and noticed Dahl was only 30 years old based on her date of birth on the Statement of Information. Dahl acquired the property from her brother, Nick O. Time in 1996; which means she would have been only 9 years old. To complicate matters, the deed was uninsured and was not recorded until 2000.

When the original title search was done, the title officer called for a Declaration of Uninsured Deed to be signed by Nick O. Time. Lisa had a copy of the signed Declaration but she dug in further. She contacted the independent escrow company and found this was a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). There were no real estate agents involved. She searched for Nick O. Time using skip tracing software and found him.

Mr. Time verified he did not sign the Declaration. He knew nothing about a sale of his sister's property. He was surprised the property was being sold since his sister died intestate in 2013 and had not paid her taxes in years. The last he knew, the IRS was in the process of seizing the property to use towards his sister's outstanding tax liens for over $600,000.

Next Lisa searched Barb E. Dahl in the skip tracing software and discovered there is another woman, with the same name in Oakland, California. The name, date of birth and address provided on the Statement of Information all matched up with the results of the search Lisa performed. This means another Barb E. Dahl was trying to sell the property of the deceased Barb E. Dahl!

Lisa reached out to the escrow company who confirmed they never met Dahl. The entire transaction had been conducted by email. All the signed documents came in by overnight delivery at the last minute and the seller was pushing for closing. Lisa notified them Fidelity National Title and none of the other FNTG Underwriters would be willing to insure this sale. She also worked with underwriting to ensure their findings were posted to the title plant.

Lisa nominated Sydney for an award by submitting this story. We agree with you Lisa. Sydney deserves to be recognized. Her close attention to just one detail helped the Company avoid the potential for a claim of over $500,000. Great job Sydney!