Saturday, 1 October 2011

What You Need to Know About Chain of Title

By Adam Ciboch


The term, chain of title, refers to the sequence of transfers of title to a property. The chain is historical and is established in reverse order, tracing from the present owner back to the original owner. This reconstruction is often necessary in situations where ownership must be documented and the necessary data is usually maintained by either a registry office or a civil law notary.

Chains of title can concern many different types of documents including: judgments of distribution from estates, notations of deeds, certificates of death of a joint tenant, judgments of quiet title, foreclosures, and other recorded transfers of title to real property.

In the case of intellectual property, a chain of title can establish proprietary rights to a film, piece of music, or other materials protected under a copyright.

As far as the real estate industry is concerned, the research, which is conducted by a title company, involves the archives of the county clerk or registrar of deeds. This document is needed to legally establish that the current owner of a piece of property has the exclusive right to sell it, and it must be amended each time the property changes hands.

Abstract of title is another name for chain of title. Title insurance, which protects against financial loss or liability due to errors in the title report, cannot be acquired without a chain of title. Words like "encumbrances" and "conveyances" are present in a chain of tile document and you may need some help interpreting them.

Arguments concerning specific rights to a property, such as hunting, farming, or timber rights can be settled with a chain of title document. Also easements, which grant another party the legal use of the property for a specific purpose, can also be established via a chain of title report. An example of this might be a neighboring property sharing a common ingress or exit route, such as a driveway.

The ownership of intellectual property is a more complex issue as it involves more than providing a document to prove chain of title. Ownership when dealing with any literary work or musical composition demands copyright verification. The commercial distribution of any likeness of participating actors in any film can only occur with a signed release form. Releases must be signed by choreographers and animation artists as well before any of their works can be publicized.




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