Chain of Title

A chain of title refers to the sequence of transfers of title to a property. The chain runs in a history from the present owner back to the original owner of the property. Reconstruction of chain of title is inevitable. This is especially true to the situations where documentation of ownership is important. Usually a record of title documents is maintained by the registry office or civil law notary.

As far as real estate is concerned, the chain of title is very significant. There are various registration systems such as the Torrens title system that have been developed to track the ownership of the individual pieces of land.

Even in several countries like US, insurance companies often issue title insurance based on the chain of title of the property. Even the title is insured and title insurance companies track real estate titles apart from the office records. The chain of title is also established by an abstract of title.

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