How a Title Search Works in Michigan: The Abstract, Curative Items and the Policy That Protects You

When you buy a house in Michigan, the lender asks for something you may not have thought about: proof that the person selling you the house actually has the right to sell it. That proof comes from a title search, and in Michigan it takes a specific form that surprises people from other states. Instead of just a database check, most residential transactions start with an abstract of title, a compiled history of the property pulled from county records. The search, the examination of that history, and the insurance policy at the end of the process each do different jobs, and knowing what each one covers helps you read your closing documents without surprises.

What the title search covers in Michigan

Every county in Michigan keeps its property records at the register of deeds, and the instruments that matter are public: deeds, mortgages, releases of mortgages, property tax deeds, easements, judgments and liens that attach to the land, and court orders from probate and foreclosure cases. When your offer is accepted, the title company orders an abstract of title. An abstractor pulls the relevant records and compiles them in chronological order, tracing the property's ownership back through the years, usually several decades and sometimes much further in the older parts of Grand Rapids and its surroundings.

The abstract is not a guarantee. It is a collection of documents. The next step is the examination, where an attorney or examiner at the title company reads the abstract and works out what it means: who currently has the right to sell, what encumbrances sit on the property, and whether the chain of ownership is complete from one owner to the next.

How curative items get found and cleared

The examiner flags anything that stands between clean ownership and the closing. These are called curative items, and a typical Michigan transaction will surface a few.

Some are routine. An unreleased mortgage from a seller who paid off a loan years ago but never recorded the satisfaction is the most common. The title company asks the old lender for a release or a satisfaction statement, and the item disappears. A property tax lien from an unpaid bill gets paid or prorated at closing.

Others take more work. A mechanic's lien from a contractor who was never paid on an earlier job, a judgment that attached to the property, an easement that crosses the driveway, a missing signature in an old deed, or a gap in the probate record. Each one needs a cure, or it becomes an exception to the policy. A cure can be a recorded release, a quitclaim deed from the missing party, a paid-off lien, or in some cases an affidavit or indemnity agreement from the seller that covers the risk.

Read the exception list before you close. A short list of routine items is normal. A list that includes an unresolved boundary question, an active lien or a long-unrecorded ownership gap deserves your attention, and it is the right moment to ask for legal review. The title company insures the transaction, so an independent attorney's eyes on tricky items are money well spent.

What the title insurance policy does after closing

There are two policies that matter at a typical closing. The lender's policy protects the bank's interest in the mortgage, and the owner's policy protects you. Both are one-time purchases. You pay a premium at closing, and the owner's policy stays in force for as long as you or your heirs own the property, at a fixed face amount tied to the purchase.

The owner's policy pays if a covered defect shows up after you close. That can be a forgery somewhere in the chain of title, an undisclosed heir who appears and claims ownership, a recording error, or a lien that was missed in the abstract. The policy also defends you in court if someone brings a claim against your ownership. For many buyers this is the most practical reason the whole process exists: without the policy, a boundary dispute or an old unrecorded deed becomes your legal fight.

Two limits are worth knowing. The policy generally does not cover defects you already knew about, which is another reason to read the exceptions list. And some policies carry a standard exception for matters a survey would reveal, so whether a survey is on file matters when an issue involves where the property lines actually are. Zoning questions are outside the policy entirely. It tells you who owns the property, and it does not tell you what you are allowed to build on it.

Where West Michigan ownership gets complicated

Older neighborhoods have longer chains of title, and longer chains mean more room for small records problems. In Grand Rapids and Grandville, a house that has changed hands six times since the 1920s carries a longer and more varied history than a home built last decade, and the abstract holds all of it.

Michigan also gives a primary residence a special status. The state constitution protects an established homestead from forced sale for many ordinary debts, and separate rules govern how much of the property's tax value is exempt from property taxes. That protection changes the math for judgment creditors and for anyone buying a property with outstanding debt against it, which is one more reason the examination matters rather than a quick database check.

A few more things to recognize as you read your documents. A property held by a trust or a corporation has its own record to verify. A probate with missing heirs can surface years later as a claim against the property. And an easement recorded decades ago for a utility line can still control what you can build in your backyard. None of these items is unusual, and the process for handling them is well worn. It just needs to happen before you close, not after.

What to ask before you sign

By the time you are near closing, the abstract and the exception list should exist. Ask for them, and ask these questions:

• When was the abstract ordered, and how far back does the search go?
• Which items are on the exception list, and which of them will be cured before closing?
• How will each cure happen: a recorded release, a paid-off lien, an affidavit, or an exception to the policy?
• Is a survey on file, and does the policy carry the standard survey exception?
• Who pays for the owner's policy, and what does the face amount cover?

If an answer is vague, ask for it in writing. The title company, your attorney and your lender all work from the same documents, so a question asked early tends to get a clean answer instead of a closing-day scramble.

The short version

A Michigan title search is a three-part process: the abstract collects the records, the examination finds the problems, and the owner's policy stands behind the ownership after you close. Most problems are routine and get cured without you noticing. The ones that are not are the ones you want on your list a week before closing, not on your mind five years after.

This article is general information about how title work works in Michigan, not legal advice. Curative items, homestead protection and policy exclusions depend on the specific property and the documents in the file. For anything beyond the routine, have a Michigan real estate attorney review the abstract and the exceptions.

If you are buying or selling in Grandville, Grand Rapids or elsewhere in West Michigan, call or text me at (616) 856-1492. I can walk you through what your title search turned up, what gets cured before closing and what your policy will and will not cover.