White Paper

9 Pages
  • 9 Pages

The Title Policy: ALTA Extended Coverage vs. Standard Coverage

 

Gain insight as to how title insurance is characterized.

Title insurance is often characterized as providing either standard coverage or extended coverage. Standard coverage refers to the policy that insures against basic risks, including defects that are ascertainable from the public records, and risks of forgery, competency, and capacity. Extended coverage refers to the policy that insures, in addition, against defects not ascertainable from the records, and that extend to rights or claims of parties in possession, unfiled mechanics’ and materialmen’s liens, and matters that would be disclosed by a complete and accurate survey. An extended coverage policy in its simplest form is one that does not contain any of the standard policy exceptions. However, not all of the standard exceptions will necessarily be removed. Each exception expresses a distinctly separate risk, criteria for the deletion which the title insurer will provide and which must be separately analyzed. This white paper reviews these two types of coverages.