Get Clear Title- Forms to Confirm Title or Quiet Title - Quiet Title Form
Confirm Title - How to Get Clear Title to Property Templates
If there is a dispute over land ownership, it's vital to assert your rights and remove others' claims to your property. A real property owner might need to verify title in order to establish his/her absolute right over the property. This can be done by bringing a lawsuit called an action to quiet title or an action to confirm title. An action to quiet title quiets claims to the title and helps remove a cloud on title. This kind of lawsuit is also called an ejectment action or a trespass to try title with certain minor differences. Cloud on title can happen for many reasons. A lis pendens, which is a notice of pending litigation over the title, is one of them. To claim a trespass to title, a deliberate dispossession of property has to be committed.
Only if you do possess clear title can you enter into a valid real estate transaction. If you are a potential purchaser, you can check if the property you intend to buy has clear title by seeking the help of title companies. A title company will perform a title search and confirm who the actual owner of a property is. They also inform you if any claims exist against the property. A title company will also help identify and subordinate any lien on the property. It will be beneficial to secure a title abstract from a title company. The abstract of property deed will give you a history of the title as well as the present status of the title. The abstract will indicate if title to property is clear or not. You can also obtain title insurance over a property and it will protect you against any legal defects.
Sometimes, property title is subject to a claim of ownership by equitable title or adverse possession. However, such title is not treated as marketable unless a proper court confirms it before title insurance is issued on it.
Before you proceed with purchasing real property, it is also important to ensure that the property is not subject to foreclosure proceedings. Foreclosure proceedings can be judicial or non-judicial. Non-judicial foreclosure is generally preferred because it is a shorter process and not as expensive as judicial foreclosure proceeding. Since non judicial foreclosure does not involve litigating in courts, it might be difficult for you to be aware of the existence of such a proceeding.