Ask Your Title Officer

Manny Manuel | Assistant Vice President, Title Officer
California Title Company | Orange County

 

Q: What should one do when encountering a recently recorded release of a mortgage with no new mortgage of record? There is an old adage that says “Prevention is the Best Medicine.”

A: To that end, in order to prevent problems, it is always a best practice to do the following when one encounters a recently recorded release or satisfaction of a mortgage with no new mortgage recorded: One should not rely on contact information for the lender provided by an owner/borrower and should independently verify with the lender that the mortgage has been paid off.
• If provided with a letter from a lender at closing which states that the mortgage has been paid, Title must independently verify the status of the mortgage with the lender.
• When a recorded release or satisfaction of mortgage in the chain of title that looks suspicious Title must independently verify the status of the mortgage with the lender.
It is important the all parties agents, escrow and title work together on this issue. We are seeing more and more wherein the homeowners are paying off the loans but no reconveyance is recorded. And believe it or not there is opportunity for Fraud when dealing with recently paid off loans prior to their term date and is becoming somewhat common throughout the U.S.

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Ask Your Title Officer

Bill Thomas, V.P, Sr. Title Officer | California Title Company | Los Angeles

Q: Is a court order always required in a probate sale?

A. Not always. Another form of a sale out of a probate Estate, is a sale under the Independent, Administration of Estates Act, commonly known as the IAEA. This allows a probate to be handled by an executor without the full supervision of the Courts. Of course, it must be granted by the Courts first. Once it is granted there are guidelines to follow still. However, a Court Order is not required on the sale of a property. One of the advantages of the IAEA with full authority being granted by the courts, is that instead of a Court Order being required to approve the sale, a notice to all the heirs of the transaction is required. The Heirs have a certain amount of days to consent to the sale. If all the heirs, to the Estate, consent or they do not object to the transaction and the time frame allotted by the Courts to object has expired, the sale may move on. For further questions, please contact your Title Professional.

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#CTCM: CAL TITLE CRUSH MONTHLY

At the start of each month we will be featuring one of our wonderful employees from the Los Angeles, Orange County or San Diego offices. It is important to us to recognize and feature the people that work hard on supporting our clients, in addition to our sales representatives.

For February, we are proud to introduce out of our San Diego office:

Marilou Wijangco has been with the company for almost 25 years (in August)! She started as a document-puller and was promoted to the Payoff Department within a couple of months. She is married to Conrad (a cancer-survivor by the grace of God) and they have 2 wonderful boys. The eldest re­cently joined the US Navy. The youngest is involved in the JR- ROTC program in school and planning to join the US Air Force someday. Marilou is involved in her church ministry teaching Sunday Schools and Bible studies. She loves her church people and appreciates their fellowship. She likes people who help her be wiser…as she quotes Proverbs 27:17 “as iron sharpens iron, so as one person sharpens another.”