Our office has been called upon by various title insurance underwriters over the years to fix title problems that have kept a closing from going forward. 

Just recently we were retained by a well known west coast title underwriter to negotiate with the now adult children of their deceased mother who had left her homestead to her husband in her revocable trust.   Unfortunately for the title company that handled the previous transaction, it did not inquire into whether she was survived at death by minor children.   Something as simple as reading the decedent’s will where she provided a guardian for her minor children, together with the application of some simple mathematics, would have made evident she was survived by both a spouse and minor children.  Her devise of her homestead through her trust, solely to her husband, was invalid according to the Florida constitution.

The husband, thinking he was the sole owner, deeded the property to a husband/wife couple whose title was insured by the West Coast title underwriter.  The husband/wife, years later, was now selling the property.   They thought they had a good title.  After all, they had a title policy; and we all have been told that “the title company takes care of everything”.

Unfortunately, the title company that handled the sale to the husband/wife did not understand Florida constitutional law and never obtained deeds from the guardians of the minor children.  BocaClosings℠ was able to negotiate with and obtain deeds from the two children who were now over 18 years of age; and, the current title agent was able to go forward with the closing.

A few years back, when reviewing the location of a condominium unit as depicted on the survey or the condominium with the location on the ground, it became evident that every one of the four condominium units in the quad of units bore an incorrect property description from their correct mailing address.  Every one of the owners in the quad were actually in possession of one of their neighbor’s unit!  It turned out that the carpenters, working for the developer, nailed the wrong addresses on the facia of each condominium unit. 

BocaClosings℠ was retained by a well known Illinois based title underwriter to cure all four title defects, thus allowing the pending closing to proceed.

Our experience has taught us that early identification of potential title issues is your best insurance policy against a closing going bad.  Our in-house title examination saves days (and is actually less expensive) over the “send it out – get it back” manner in which Good Enough Title℠* orders title wholesale and then sells it retail.  Saving a couple of days in the process, which is the way BocaClosings℠ handles the title examination process, may well save your deal.

However, if you stick with Good Enough Title℠ and the closing goes bad; that is, Good Enough Title℠ is no longer good enough, consider BocaClosings℠ for your title insurance/closing solutions.  BocaClosings℠.  Small Enough To Know Who You Are, Experienced Enough To Know What To Do℠

*Good Enough Title℠ is the generic name of the title companies BocaClosings℠ uses to describe most of the title companies in our community.  Of course, BocaClosings℠ expresses no opinion on whether YOUR particular Good Enough Title℠ is good enough or not until it is not, and then it might be too late!