IN Underwriting References

Escrows

State Licensure

In Indiana, any employee who has the authority to initiate wires, cut checks, or prepare, edit, or sign CD’s and ALTA Settlement Statements has to have an Indiana Title Producers License.

Life Estates

Indiana has a Transfer on Death Act that covers real estate. You’re correct, they TOD beneficiaries do not need to join in the execution of a deed/mortgage as by statute, they have no present interest in the property. The owner has to die first.

That said, you’ll find many attorneys will screw up the TOD declaration. It needs to be checked against the statute to ensure complete compliance:

https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/2012/title32/article17/chapter14/

TOD section is IC 32-17-14-11

Litigation Issues

Ex Parte Orders

I would not be comfortable insuring this one. The Judge’s order is an Ex Parte Order, becomes a temporary order and is subject to being rescinded should she show up and object. That’s not a good situation for us to insure the buyer when potentially the court could rescind the order in its entirety. Nothing says reversal like an Ex Parte Order where the affected party has no idea what’s going on and has been denied their 14th Amendment Due Process rights.

Probate & Estates

TODI: Indiana has a Transfer on Death Act that covers real estate. You’re correct, they TOD beneficiaries do not need to join in the execution of a deed/mortgage as by statute, they have no present interest in the property. The owner has to die first.

That said, you’ll find many attorneys will screw up the TOD declaration. It needs to be checked against the statute to ensure complete compliance:

https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/2012/title32/article17/chapter14/

TOD section is IC 32-17-14-11

Streets

Streets Exception

Metes & Bounds

We must take exception to it on all metes and bounds because the streets may have either shifted over time or more land is being used for it than how large the road legally is. The only way to remove it would be to require a staked survey that accurately depicts the road and research the roads chain to see if it can be removed.

Abandonment & Vacation

add an exception for the vacated street/alley even though they had an exception for the Notice vacating them. Sometimes, the vacation ordinance will grant an easement to public utilities, sometimes not. It’s always a good idea to add:

Rights, if any, of public utilities installed in vacated ________________ Street and the vacated, unnamed alley prior to the vacation thereof together with the right to enter onto the Land for the purposes of maintaining, repairing and replacing said utilities.

In some states, adjoining landowners may have a statutory easement for ingress/egress if the vacation would land lock them though it’s rare that you’ll have that situation.

Tax Sales

Effective immediately, we have revised our Indiana tax sale requirements. You will recall, that previous underwriting guidelines required a quiet title action if a tax deed was found within the past 10 years. One of the basic changes in our new guidelines is a reduction in the time frame after execution of a tax deed from 10 years to 3 years. After 3 years have passed since the execution of the tax deed, we will no longer require a quiet title to insure the tax sale.

Additionally, we have eliminated the quiet title requirement within the 3 years period when presented with a smaller liability owner’s policy from another underwriter if substantial improvements have been made to the property. Note: use of the substantial improvements option requires underwriter approval.

Our new tax sale requirements are as follows:

TAX SALE REQUIREMENTS: A search of the Land revealed a tax deed within the past 3 years. In order to insure the proposed transaction, we require one of the following:

 A copy of a prior Owners Policy insuring the Seller/Borrower; OR

 Quitclaim Deeds/Releases from:

 All parties with an interest in the Land at the date of tax sale; and

 All parties who acquired an interest between date of tax sale and date of commitment but have not conveyed or released their interest; OR

 A prior Owner’s Policy from another underwriter insuring the Seller/Borrower in an amount within 90% of, equal to, or greater than the amount of insurance on the current transaction. Seller in the current transaction must convey by general warranty deed; OR

 A prior Owner’s Policy from another underwriter insuring the Seller/Borrower for less than an amount within 90% of the proposed amount of insurance in the current transaction if Seller/Borrower has proof of having added substantial improvements the value of which combined with the liability amount of the prior policy is sufficient to support the proposed amount of insurance. Seller in the current transaction must convey by general warranty deed. (NOTE: Use of this option requires underwriter approval); OR

 A Quiet Title suit in which the following parties are properly named and served:

 All parties with an interest in the Land at the date of tax sale; and

 All parties who acquired an interest between the date of tax sale and the date of the Quiet Title complaint but have not conveyed or released their interest.

 If the Quiet Title option is chosen, the current transaction cannot close until the occurrence of one of the following:

 The expiration of the appeal period (30 days after the quiet title judgment) if service was personal, copy, registered or certified mail, or if an appearance was filed by a party.

 The expiration of the period for filing a TR 60(B)(4) motion (1 year after quiet title judgment) if service was by publication only; OR

 Passage of 3 years from date of tax deed.