Title & Title Insurance
A title search establishes who owns a property and what is attached to it. Title insurance protects you from what the search did not find.
What the work covers
- Title searches and examination
- Title commitments and clearing requirements
- Owner's and lender's policies
- Resolution of liens and encumbrances
- Title agent services through The Fund
- Clear-to-close coordination
We handle title work in house, which means the search, the commitment, the clearing of requirements and the issue of the policy all happen in one place rather than being passed between a law firm and a separate title company.
What a title search actually finds
The public recordA search examines the public record for everything that affects ownership.
- Prior deeds and the chain of ownership
- Open mortgages and satisfactions
- Judgment liens against current or previous owners
- Unpaid property taxes and municipal charges
- Construction liens
- Easements and restrictions recorded against the land
- Probate matters where an owner died and the estate was never properly closed
- Divorce judgments affecting marital property
Most searches come back clean. The ones that do not usually involve something nobody knew about, which is precisely why the search happens before closing rather than after.
What title insurance covers
What the record hidesThe search finds what is in the record. Title insurance covers what the record does not show.
- Fraud
- Forged or fraudulent documents in the chain of ownership, including deeds signed by someone impersonating the owner.
- Record errors
- Misindexed documents, incorrect legal descriptions and clerical mistakes made decades ago.
- Undisclosed heirs
- Heirs who had a claim to the property and were never accounted for.
- Unrecorded liens
- Liens that were not recorded at the time of the search, or were recorded incorrectly.
- Prior conveyances
- Defects in earlier transfers, including deeds signed by someone without the authority to sign.
It is paid once, at closing, and it lasts for as long as you or your heirs hold the property. Unlike other insurance, it protects against events that already happened rather than events that might.
The lender's policy
Protects the lender, for the amount of the loan, and reduces as the loan is paid down. If you are financing, the lender will require one.
It does not protect the buyer. That is a common and expensive misunderstanding. Where a defect surfaces and only a lender's policy exists, the lender is made whole and the owner is not.
The owner's policy
Protects you, for the purchase price, and does not reduce.
There are two policies and they protect different people. Which one you have is worth establishing before the closing statement rather than after a claim.
What it costs in Florida
Promulgated ratesFlorida is one of a handful of states where title insurance premiums are promulgated, meaning the rate is set by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and every title agent charges the same premium for the same coverage.
| Band | Applies | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| First $100,000 | Standard rate | $5.75 |
| Above $100,000 | Standard rate | $5.00 |
| First $100,000 | Reissue, prior policy under three years old | $3.30 |
| Above $100,000 | Reissue, prior policy under three years old | $3.00 |
| Minimum premium | Liability rounded up to the next $1,000 | $100 |
The reissue rate is not applied automatically. Proof of the prior policy has to be produced.
What is not promulgated is the search fee, the examination fee and the settlement fee. Those are set by the agent. So the premium is the same wherever you go, and the fees around it are not, which is the only part worth comparing.
Who pays for it in Miami-Dade
Local customThis is the part that catches people who have bought elsewhere in Florida.
In 63 of Florida's 67 counties, the seller customarily pays for the owner's policy and selects the closing agent. In Miami-Dade, Broward, Sarasota and Collier the custom reverses. The buyer customarily pays and chooses the closing company.
It is custom, not law. The contract has a box specifying who pays, and the parties can agree to anything. But the default in Miami is not the default in Orlando, and the party who pays generally chooses who closes.
The other closing taxes
Collected, not earnedTitle insurance is one line on a closing statement. Several state taxes sit alongside it and are often confused with it.
| Charge | Basis and who pays | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Deed documentary stamps, Florida | Per $100 of sale price, seller on a resale | $0.70 |
| Deed documentary stamps, Miami-Dade | Per $100 of sale price | $0.60 |
| Miami-Dade surtax | Per $100, anything not a single family residence | $0.45 |
| Note documentary stamps | Per $100 of the loan amount, buyer | $0.35 |
| Intangible tax | Per $1,000 borrowed, buyer | $2.00 |
| Recording, first page | Per document | $10.00 |
| Recording, each page after | Per page | $8.50 |
Miami-Dade is the exception on the deed. On a commercial or multi-family transaction here the effective rate is $1.05 per $100. None of these go to the title agent. They are collected at closing and remitted to the Department of Revenue and the county clerk.
Where we act
ScopeTitle searches and examination. Title commitments and the clearing of requirements. Owner's and lender's policies, issued in house. Curative work where the search reveals a defect. Escrow and settlement. Coordination with lenders, realtors and the other side's counsel.
Being both the law firm and the title agent removes a handoff, and most of the delays we are asked to fix started at a handoff.
Tell us what you're closing.
Give us the property, the parties, and the date you need to close. We will tell you what the transaction requires and what it will cost.