Title Search
A title search is a detailed examination of the public records on a property: deeds, court records, property and name indexes and other public documents. Done before a sale or a refinance, it determines who owns the property, what outstanding debts are recorded against it and the condition of the title.
Where you’ll see the word
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A title insurance policy
The search is step one of the policy: before issuing one, title companies check the records for defects in your title, the California Department of Insurance says.
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A refinance file
A refinance gets a search too: the report describes the title of the property you're refinancing, in the California Department of Insurance's description.
The search and its paperwork
- Preliminary title report What California's insurance regulator calls the search results you receive. California Department of Insurance
- Title plant The California Department of Insurance's word for a title company's own database of property information, examined instead of or alongside the public records. California Department of Insurance
What a title search means for you
What it reads, and what it turns up. The California Department of Insurance lists the records examiners go through: deeds, mortgages, wills, divorce decrees, court judgments, tax records, liens, encumbrances, bail bonds and maps. New York's Department of Financial Services says claims can still arise later from fraud, forgery, unpaid taxes, judgments or liens the search didn't find.
Questions about a title search
Is a title search the same as title insurance?
No. The search examines the records; title insurance, New York's Department of Financial Services says, protects the owner and the mortgage lender against future claims for unknown defects in the title at the time of sale. Our title insurance entry covers the two policies.
Who pays for title insurance and the search?
Local custom, not law, decides who pays the title insurance premium, the California Department of Insurance says. New York's tax department divides the state into two zones for title insurance rates: in Zone 1 the rates don't include the cost of a title abstract (a report from a public-record search), and in Zone 2 they do.
Sources and method
This page uses none of our own data. The definition and the description of the search come from the New York and California state pages listed above, opened on Oct 22, 2026.
- New York State Department of Financial Services · Help for Homeowners, at dfs.ny.gov
- California Department of Insurance · Title Insurance, at insurance.ca.gov
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance · Abstracts of title, at tax.ny.gov
We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.