Security Title & Escrow Co., LLC

05/06/2026

What an honor to have our amazing customers and friends join us for a great Cinco de Mayo celebration that made the day incredibly special.

12/25/2025

Wishing all of our customers a very Merry Christmas!

04/18/2025

The Easter Bunny made a stop at Security Title and escrow and treated our ‘Peeps’.

04/04/2025

Mule Day at Security Title and Escrow!

09/07/2024

Thank you Jackie for allowing our company to handle this transaction for you. ❤️

09/06/2024

You do not want to miss out on this sale, set those alarm clocks for early in the morning. 🎃 🎄

05/15/2024

Thank you to all our agents, loan officers and customers! There are over 200 agents in the state of Tennessee and we were #7.

12/24/2023

05/23/2023

8 Common Title Problems and How Title Insurance Can Help
Did you know there’s a chance that the home you purchased may not actually belong to you? It’s a chilling thought, but true. Unfortunately, there are circumstances that can give others a legal stake in your property.

Title problems can surface unexpectedly, wreak havoc on your finances and even force you out of your home with little recourse for recovering lost funds. But if you invest in title insurance when you purchase your home, your story doesn’t have to end in horror. Read on to learn how title problems can threaten your property rights, which ones are considered common and how title insurance protects your property interests.
How can someone else have an adverse claim to my property?
Title is the legal right to, or ownership of, real property. However, those property rights can be limited in certain circumstances.
For example, utility easements allow utility companies access to certain portions of private property to manage utility infrastructure. Another circumstance is when a property owner fails to make a required payment, like property tax or a mortgage. Government entities can place a lien on the property and if the lien is ignored long enough, the government can take your home through the foreclosure process. Similarly, banks can foreclose on a property if the borrower defaults on their mortgage loan.
How do I know if my property has title problems?
When a seller accepts a buyer’s offer to purchase a home, a title company is enlisted to perform a title search as part of the closing process. This extensive search and examination of public records identifies chain of title—a historical account of who owned the property. It also seeks to uncover any title problems, including claims or liens against the property, that need to be resolved before the sale can proceed.
How common are title problems?
Title problems (“defects”) are relatively common. Some are due to clerical errors that can be corrected before transferring ownership, but you can’t fix what you can’t find. Chains of title can go back hundreds of years, during which time documents can be lost, destroyed, or never filed. If there is a break in the chain of title or other title issues come to light that were not revealed when the title search was conducted, others might have a right to challenge your ownership of the property. Purchasing title insurance is a great way to protect your investment from the unexpected.
What are the most common title problems?
1. Errors in public records. These are often clerical or filing errors affecting the deed or land survey and can be costly to amend.
2. Fraud / forgery. These cases involve false impersonation and forgery of a previous owner’s signature on a deed, which can lead to ownership being contested.
3. Undiscovered liens. A judgment lien is a legal claim that can attach to real property, such as a home, that gives the creditor an interest in the property. They can be levied for things like outstanding real estate taxes or assessments, credit card bills, mortgages, child support, spousal support, or unpaid contractors (mechanic’s lien). A preexisting judgment lien discovered after the sale of the home remains a lien on the property. The lien can be problematic for the current property owner.
4. Illegal deeds. If a prior deed was executed by someone who did not have the legal right to transfer title – like a minor or someone with diminished capacity – ownership can be contested.
5. Undiscovered wills / missing heirs. If a homeowner dies without leaving a will, the will is not probated, or heirs are missing or unknown at their time of death, ownership can be contested.
6. Boundary/survey disputes. When your land survey shows different boundaries than your neighbors’ surveys, it can create boundary disputes that can be expensive to rectify.
7. Unknown easements / undiscovered encumbrances. Third parties are granted a legal right to access or use a property for a specific purpose, which can affect the owner’s right to possess the land.
8. Unmarketable title. This term refers to a property that has substantial title defects, is involved in ongoing litigation, or is burdened by rules that narrowly define how it can be used, making it hard to sell.
How can title insurance protect me?
Purchasing title insurance does not mean you will never encounter a title problem, but it does protect you from financial loss arising from covered title defects. An owner’s policy (“standard coverage”) protects you from undiscovered title problems that occurred in the past, while a homeowner’s policy (“enhanced coverage”)** extends this coverage to certain limited title problems that could arise in the future.
The one-time cost of title insurance:
• Provides coverage for as long as you or your heirs own the property.
• Protects you from the costs, attorneys’ fees and expenses of defending against any matter insured by the policy. According to the American Land Title Association, the title industry spent over $476 million* defending the property rights of its policyholders and compensating their losses due to covered title defects in 2021.

• Protects you from financial loss, if you decide to sell your property and the title search reveals a covered defect in your property’s title.
For many homeowners, their property is their largest investment — and that’s well worth protecting from undiscovered title problems that could haunt you or your family in the future. To learn more about title insurance, contact us at Security Title and Escrow Co.

04/20/2023

‘Til death do us part?

5 common ways married persons hold title to property
By Pat Schwery

Did you know that every state has its own rules governing how married persons can legally hold title to real estate? There are five common methods of holding title – although no state recognizes all five. Here’s a summary of how each method affects a married couple upon death or divorce.

1. Tenants in common
All states recognize some form of tenancy in common (Louisiana statutes refer to “Ownership in Division,” which is, in effect, similar to a tenancy in common). Two or more persons or entities can hold title to real estate as tenants in common, with equal or unequal percentages of ownership. Each owner has the right to occupy and use the entire property. Tenants in common hold title individually in their respective shares or interests in the property, and can dispose of or encumber that interest, without the consent of the other tenants in common.

Each tenant in common’s interest can be willed to other parties, and in the event of death, ownership will descend to that owner’s heirs, either by will or through the intestacy rules of the state where the property is located. Rights of ownership do NOT pass automatically upon death to the surviving tenants in common, even if the tenants in common are a married couple.

In most states, tenancy in common is the legally presumed method of holding title, unless there is language in the deed to the contrary. This may even be true for married couples. If a married couple holds title as tenants in common then, upon divorce, each spouse will retain their respective share of the property, unless there is a court order awarding one spouse’s interest to the other.

2. Joint tenants
All but three states (Alaska, Louisiana and Oregon) recognize joint tenancy. A joint tenancy, like a tenancy in common, is a form of co-ownership that may involve two or more owners. Unlike tenants in common, however, each joint tenant holds an identical undivided interest in the property. A joint tenant cannot transfer an individual interest in the property without destroying the joint tenancy. When one of the joint tenants conveys their interest in the property, the new owner will not take title as a joint tenant with the remaining owners, and the holding automatically converts to a tenancy in common.

No state presumes joint tenancy for non-married joint tenants. Only two states, Iowa and Utah, permit a legal presumption of joint tenancy for married couples.

Deeds to joint tenants can establish a “right of survivorship.” Survivorship means that if one joint tenant dies, the deceased’s interest in the property automatically passes to the surviving joint tenants. This method of holding title is popular with married couples, because if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse gains a 100-percent interest in the property, without that real estate going through probate court.

For most states, a joint tenancy with right of survivorship can only be established by stating “joint tenants with right of survivorship” in the vesting deed. Many states will allow some variation in the survivorship language so long as the intent to create a right of survivorship is clear. Exception: In Texas, joint tenants with right of survivorship can only be established by a separate written survivorship agreement executed by the joint tenants.

When a married couple is divorced, the joint tenancy may not be automatically terminated. However, the divorce decree, property settlement agreement, and state statutes must be reviewed to determine the disposition of the property and how the property is to be held after the judgment of divorce.

3. Tenants by the entirety
Tenants by the entirety (TBE) is a method of holding title which is only available to owners who are legally married. Each spouse owns an undivided interest in the property, and each has full rights to occupy and use the property. However, individual spouses cannot transfer their interest in the property without the consent of the other spouse. TBE is recognized in 25 states and the District of Columbia.

Married couples holding title as TBE have a “right of survivorship,” meaning that if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse gains a 100-percent interest in the property outside of probate. In several of the states that permit TBE, deeds to a couple as “husband and wife” are presumed to establish TBE. For the remaining states, a deed must specifically state that the property is to be held as TBE.

(Note: Some states’ TBE statutes refer specifically to “husband and wife,” and the law may still be unsettled as to whether deeds to a “married couple,” or deeds which state something other than “husband and wife” establishes a TBE.)

In the case of divorce, property held as TBE automatically converts to a tenancy in common. Unless there are court orders to the contrary, each spouse would retain their respective share of the property and the tenants in common rules would apply.

4. Community property
Community property is a form of ownership by a married couple for property they intend to own together. Community property includes anything earned or acquired by one or both parties during the marriage, including real property paid for with community income. Community property does not include assets owned by either spouse prior to the marriage or acquired after a legal separation. Gifts or inheritances received by one spouse during the marriage are also excluded. Sale or encumbrance of community property requires the approval and agreement of both spouses.

Upon death of a spouse, one half of the property is retained by the surviving spouse and the other half is passed down to the heirs of the deceased spouse, either by will or trust or by intestacy.

In the case of divorce, a court in a community property state will split all community property assets 50/50, unless both parties agree on another arrangement.

There are only nine true community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Five other states – Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota, and Tennessee – have laws which permit married couples to establish community property agreements, or community property trusts that allow an equal division of property.

5. Community property with right of survivorship
Of the nine community property states, all but Louisiana, New Mexico and Washington permit married couples to establish community property with right of survivorship. The standard rules for community property will apply, except that upon the death of one spouse, the community property assets of the deceased spouse will pass to the survivor.

In Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada and Wisconsin, a deed to a married couple intending to create community property with right of survivorship must state “community property with right of survivorship,” or words to that effect. In Texas, a written survivorship agreement must be executed by the married couple. In Alaska, which permits optional community property agreements, survivorship can be established as part of the agreement.

We hope you find this information helpful. However, this article addresses only the most common ways that death and divorce may impact how real property can be owned and transferred. It is important to remember that there are many nuances in this area with respect to applicable local and state laws. Should you have any questions regarding these methods of holding title, please consult us at Security Title and Escrow Co, LLC.

Pat Schwery is Vice President, Regional Underwriting Counsel for the Midwest Region of Doma Title Insurance, Inc.