By Lisa A. Tyler
National Escrow Administrator

This month's edition features two heroic associates who were able to spot red flag warnings, research their suspicions and alert their management team. Their stories involve stolen entities, which is a big trend in the industry. The thieves lay claim to entities they do not own and attempt to sell the assets owned by that entity using forged supporting documents. The two heroes in this month's edition, like 211 of their colleagues, will receive big rewards for their efforts to protect the Company from claims and losses, and to protect their customers from suffering losses as well. To–date, the Company has paid $208,000 to associates just like the ones featured in this edition. If you have a story to share, please send it to us at settlement@fnf.com and you could be the next reward recipient!

On March 28, 2018, two title only orders were opened by Chicago Title Company in Glendale, California, by an independent escrow company. Both orders were real estate sale transactions referred to Chicago Title Company by the buyer, a real estate investor who purchases income producing properties and always requests title insurance from Chicago Title Company. Read "CASE of the stolen entity" to discover how a title assistant was able to halt two sale transactions and save the loyal customer from the pain of having to unwind two real estate purchase transactions from a stolen entity.

Robin Lorenzini is an escrow officer in Fidelity's Clackamas, Oregon office. She opened escrow for a sale of real estate with a sale price of $236,500 and a $233,500 loan. The transaction was referred to Robin by an investor who purchased property and closed with her in the past. In this latest transaction the property owner was the Smacker Family Trust. Read "CASE of the stolen trust" to find out how Robin stopped a transaction that could have ultimately led to a title claim.

Some transactions involve principals who have no form of identification whatsoever. Examples include a person who has no driver's license, or someone who refuses to be photographed or even a principal from a foreign country. In some cases, the principals have no acceptable form of identification for notary purposes. All of these situations make closing a real estate transaction challenging. Find some solutions by reading "IDENTIFYING a principal without identification."

Be sure to answer the monthly document execution question to make certain you understand the tips shared and to increase your "PROPER document execution for recording and insuring" knowledge.