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Elaine Said:

What does title insurance protect against?

We Answered:

Title insurance pprotects the owner / lienholder from any previous claims to the property. the title insurance company does a "title search" which generally involves reviewing the deed filing at the town or city hall of records. They check to make sure that there are no outstanding liens, that the property beiong sold is in fact the same parcel as listed on the town/city records, and they often trace back the title to insure that subsequent sales were in fact recorded legally.
Title insurance tends to be a very overpriced product for the protection it provides. (How many people do you know that have ever had a title issue on a house?) In many states, title insurance is actually sold by the attorney representing the buyer, and he does the title search for the company, making up to 40% commission on the sale.
The most famous incidents involving home titles have generally involved Native American claims to tribal areas. 20 years ago, a tribe in Connecticut claimed 100s of square miles of towns and cities in Fairfield County, an area of many of the most expensive homes in the country. It resulted in a huge real estate problem, as title companies began to refuse to cover homes until the matter was resolved, effectively freezing all home sales. the case was quickly rejected by Federal court.

Cathy Said:

Does title insurance protect against a judgement that was made against me due to a past due ground rent?

We Answered:

Probably not; most require that all ground rents be paid current as an exception to the policy.