Real Estate Standard 5.5: Title Insurance states, in part, that lawyers must be aware of the existence of title insurance and should have knowledge in broad terms about the protections a policy may provide.
But there is a little more to this. For example, title insurers often have additional coverages that can be added by endorsement to deal with specific issues that your review of the property may disclose.
A title insurance policy is like any other insurance policy. It contains a grant of coverage, exclusions and exceptions to those exclusions. If you see an issue with a piece of property, rather than assuming the title policy will respond to deal with it, you should review the policy or inquire of the title insurer to find out if it does. And if it does not, ask the insurer if coverage is available by endorsement.
In addition, you may also want to inquire if there are coverages available that provide direct protection to you. We mentioned examples of these coverages in a title insurance article in the September 2021 LIANSwers. These coverages, if available, might not be part of the standard policy, instead being added by endorsement.