The Quill – June 2016

RIDDLE

What runs around a soccer field and never moves?

Send your guesses to Summer by clicking here.

Good luck!

This was last month’s riddle and answer:

Which President was the biggest ham? Abraham Lincoln.

Industry Updates

ALTA 34 Endorsements

Some of you may have noticed that we have been insuring over things these days in a  slightly different way with the use of the ALTA 34 Endorsement.  It used to be that if we agreed to insure over something, let’s say an old deed of trust, we would simply omit the exception or requirement, as the case may be, from the title binder.  Well, times have changed.  Our current underwriting guidelines require that we insure over the defect with the ALTA 34 Endorsement.  In order to do this, we have to take an exception to the defect, in my example above, an old deed of trust, and then indicate that the matter will be covered with an ALTA 34 Endorsement.  To see an example of an ALTA 34 Endorsement, click here. The affirmative language, covering the insured from loss or damage associated with the defect, comes from the ALTA 34 Endorsement.

Why the change? I have been told that the change in underwriting relates to claims made by certain insureds when the property is later resold.  In my example above of an open deed of trust, claims occur when a new purchaser refuses to buy the property until the deed of trust is cancelled of record.  In essence, the presence of the uncanceled deed of trust creates a marketability issue for the insured.  For the underwriter, these claims seem to lack good faith.  When the insured purchased the property, a request was made to insure over the deed of trust.  So, after agreeing to the Insured or the insured’s attorney’s request, the underwriter has to later pay a claim for lack of marketability?

Using the ALTA 34 Endorsement puts the purchaser – and the purchaser’s lender – on notice that there is a defect and that coverage is available as to the defect.  However, the Endorsement has the effect of stripping the marketability coverage from the insuring provisions of the jacket, as to the identified defect.  If you have any questions about the ALTA 34 Endorsement, please feel free to contact me.

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Meet the Family
Tiffany Storms

Our newest member of the Barristers Title family, Tiffany Storms, sits down to answer our “getting to know you” questions…

1.What is something people don’t know about you?

I have a phobia of spiders.

2.What is your favorite movie?

The Mummy/Indiana Jones

3.Name a person, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with and why.

Harrison Ford because I have always enjoyed his films.

4.If you were not working in title insurance what would you be doing?

I would be a librarian or working at a bank.

5.Tell us about a brush with fame.

My grandmother was friends with the Oscar Mayer Weiner mascot, I knew him as Uncle Bucky. 

If you would like to read more about our staff click here.