One of the most common questions I get asked as a residential real estate closing attorney is, “What can I do to protect the title to my home?” I wouldn’t be surprised if you as a Realtor also have been asked this question many times before by your clients and friends.
The short answer is NOTHING. There is nothing you can do to prevent someone from recording a fraudulent deed on the public record. You can, HOWEVER, sign up with the State of Georgia’s FREE Filing Activity Notification System (“FANS”). Please keep reading as there are other ways you can protect yourself against fraudulent deeds or security deeds filed on the real estate records.
So what is FANS? FANS was developed by the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA) as a valuable FREE tool that will notify you of certain filing activity on the Georgia real estate records.
The service is limited to notification of filings in individual names. It does not allow you to track filings in a company name. While it monitors filings in a number of different categories, the two that matter the most are (1) real estate filings and (2) UCC filings. These two are important as they are notifications you would receive if (a) a deed transferring title out of your name was recorded, (b) a security deed in your name was recorded pledging property you own for a loan or (c) a loan has been taken out for personal property associated with your home (i.e., solar panels, HVAC system, water-filtration system, etc.).
You can sign up for FANS by visiting the link at https://fans.gsccca.org and follow the simple prompts to set up your notifications.
It’s important to note, that while you will be notified if a document is filed in your name, it does not provide any financial assistance to remedy the issue. For example, if someone fraudulently transfers the title of your home out of your name, an attorney will have to be retained to file certain court documents to invalidate the deed. This process can be expensive and time-consuming.
I think we have all heard of services such as Title Lock. As I understand it, it monitors the real estate records similar to FANS. It may have a more sophisticated monitoring system and they state that the company will incur the costs (up to a certain amount of course) to remedy the fraudulent activity. They charge a fee for this service.
IF YOU OBTAINED AN ENHANCED OWNER’S TITLE POLICY AT CLOSING, YOU MAY ALREADY HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF PROTECTION AS THE COMPANIES THAT CHARGE FOR IT AND YOU ALREADY PAID FOR IT.
Many of the title policies issued today include coverage for fraudulent activity that occurs AFTER closing. For example, your signature is forged transferring the title to your home out of your name OR someone fraudulently refinances your property and pulls out equity in your home.
So please go look to see if you purchased an owner’s title policy at closing and you can always reach out to the title company directly to see if your policy covers fraudulent activity after closing.
As always, if you need help with anything please call us on our cell numbers anytime (even nights and weekends and even if the closing is not in our office). Joel at 912-484-1996 or email him at jgerber@brannenlaw.com. Bailey at 678-988-0206 or email her at bedwards@brannenlaw.com.
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