Identifying the property that is the subject matter of a deed, mortgage, contract or any other agreement, is a critical component for enforceability. Back in the 17^th and 18^th century, the Boards of Proprietors, a few individuals who owned the majority of land in New Jersey, commissioned surveyors to survey and prepare maps or descriptions of their lands, which the boards wished to convey. Similar to today, larger tracts of land were divided into smaller tracts. The descriptions were, and still are based on land measurements taken by surveyors, who go on-site to the property to identify its boundaries.

There is a history of conflicting division lines between the Eastern Board of Proprietors and the West Jersey Board of Proprietors.  Over the centuries that have passed, there have been several instances where boundary line location disputes, overlaps and gores existed due partially to the less advanced systems of measures and recording that were relied on.  The records of both Boards are now with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

A [legal] description identifies the land being conveyed in a particular instrument, used to indicate the delineation of boundaries, which separate a given parcel from the surrounding land. The description used in a deed, mortgage, or lease needs only to identify the property with reasonable certainty to constitute a valid conveyance. One court decision states, “It is not necessary that the description of property conveyed by a deed shall define it by the metes and bounds or by reference to a specific location, in order to pass title”.  Thus, a description by reference to a tax assessment map or by street address alone is usually adequate to pass title; however, such little information is not generally acceptable from a title insurance standpoint.

For purposes of insurability, the description used in a deed, mortgage, or lease should be as precise as possible. The best modes of describing land, from the title insurer’s standpoint, are metes and bounds and filed map descriptions.  Tax lot and block references are generally only accepted as a legal description when the property is conveyed by a municipality.

Metes and bounds descriptions are written versions of what is graphically set forth in a survey. It should contain a beginning point, which locates the starting place of the description, oftentimes with a readily identifiable point and end with “thence”, indicating there is more to come. For example, “BEGINNING at the point formed by the intersection of the westerly sideline of Main Street with the northerly sideline of Elm Street, thence,”. Next, the description should contain bearings and distances, which are the compass bearings indicating the location of the boundary lines with respect to “true” north and the length of the boundary lines in feet and inches. For example, continuing from the above beginning point the bearings and distances are listed for each boundary line as such, “ North 34 degrees 58 minutes 43 seconds east, 92 feet to a point, thence,”. There will generally be multiple lines of bearings and descriptions, sometimes ending with monuments or boundaries, such as a utility pole, intersections of roads, the boundary of a named person’s property, a stream, or sometimes even just a particular type of tree.  Finally, the description should end with closure, or the last boundary line in the description, returning to the beginning point, “South 55 degrees 10 minutes and 04 seconds East, 906.34 feet to the point or place of BEGINNING”.

This endorsement may be issued on loan policies for commercial or residential, improved properties. This Endorsement, when affixed to a Loan Policy, insures against loss or damage due to violations of Covenants; encroachments over building setback lines, boundary lines and easements; and damage by reason of mineral or other subsurface substance development. This endorsement only provides coverage for violations existing at the Date of Policy. 

For residential home buyers purchasing an Owner’s Title Policy, there is an option to purchase a policy with standard coverage or a policy with enhanced coverage. The Enhanced Owner’s policy, also known by Stewart and Fidelity as the Homeowner’s Policy and by First American as the Eagle Owner’s Policy, offers additional coverage for buyers of residential property. Keep in mind that the Enhanced policy can only be issued to a natural person or the trustee of a Trust on residential 1-4 family completed structures. Unfortunately, it cannot be issued to any type of corporation or organization and cannot be issued on vacant land or any other land classification other than residential.

 The Enhanced Owner’s policy includes all of the protections provided under the standard ALTA policy plus additional protections and benefits. The additional covered risks for the Insured include mechanics liens that belong to someone else, unrecorded liens by a homeowner’s association, false impersonation of the true owner of the property, forged deeds, releases or wills, undisclosed or missing heirs, instruments executed under invalid or expired Power of Attorney, mistakes in recording legal documents, deeds by minors, deeds by persons supposedly single but in fact married, liens for unpaid estate, inheritance, income or gift taxes, and fraud, and several other additional benefits explained below:

The Enhanced Policy's Additional Benefits

The Enhanced policy protects homeowners against claims arising both before and after the policy date. The Homeowner is covered if someone else has an interest in or claims to have rights affecting the title or if the title is defective. Post-Policy protection includes coverage for forgery, easements by prescription, encroachments built by neighbors after the policy date and adverse possession.

Expanded Access Coverage

The Standard Owner’s Policy does not define the type of access a homeowner has to the property but the Enhanced policy specifically insures both actual pedestrian and vehicular access, based upon a legal right. 

As title agents review searches and prepare commitments for their transactions, there are oftentimes title issues that arise. Issues may include old mortgages that were never discharged or satisfied of record, tax sale certificates that were paid but never cleared from record, errors in land descriptions, etc.; however, it is possible that the current owner's policy in place may not have added the title issues as exceptions to the policy. In such cases, the title agent insuring a transaction can rely on the prior insurer's policy to issue without exception on the new policy. 

Prior to 2006, title companies had to request a letter of indemnity from the prior underwriter insuring the policy for each and every title issue. In 2006, all title insurance underwriters doing business in New Jersey entered into an Inter-Underwriting Indemnification Agreement. The agreement's purpose was to streamline the indemnity process between underwriters for specific issues and eliminated the need for a formal letter. In 2009, the treaty was revised, increasing the liability limit to the lesser of the face amount of the Prior Insurer's Policy or $1 mil- lion and expanding the coverage of issues that were included in the treaty. 

When seeking indemnification for one of the seven title issues covered by the treaty, the title insurance company that has issued the current policy in effect (known as the "Prior Insurer") must provide the title company that is insuring the transaction (known as the "Current Insurer") with a copy of the Owner's Policy that is still in effect, including schedules A and B of the policy. 

The seven issues included in the Indemnification Agreement are: 

• Judgments;
• Federal Tax Liens and other statutory or common law liens provided nevertheless that in the case of any lien which will not expire in a fixed period of time;
• Liens of Federal Estate Taxes, NJ estate taxes and transfer inheritance tax;
• Tax Sale Certificates, provided there are no pending or successfully concluding proceedings to foreclose, and further provided that contemporaneous notice is given to the Prior Insurer of the Current Insurer's intention to rely on the prior Insurer's policy in accordance with the terms of the agreement;
• Marital Rights arising in favor of the spouses of record titleholders;
• Legal Description errors such as lack of metes and bounds or filed map descriptions or scriveners' error contained in descriptions, provided that the land conveyed may still be identified from the documents themselves using recitals, tax information, etc.; and,
• Alleged or Actual Defects in judicial proceedings, provided they are not major defects

Title issues NOT included in the indemnity include any lien of record against the current owner, defects in a master deed, missing interests, defective bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings, association dues,  violations of restrictions, pending judicial proceedings, insufficiencies of Power of Attorney, open property taxes and assessments, escrow compliance issues, etc. 

While the agreement only includes the seven title issues, a title insurance company can still request a letter of indemnity form the prior insurer for other types of issues. 

Real estate transactions are target or a cover for many different financial crimes. As a title and settlement agency, we are in a continuous battle against financial crime and our technique for fighting these financial crimes is to prevent the crimes from taking place. Thus, Zwiren Title has established the following procedures:

• Daily Closing Department Meetings: Our closing team meets daily to discuss upcoming closings and potential issues that may occur. 
• Verbal Confirmation of Wire instructions: Before sending a wire, we call to confirm the wire instructions we've received are correct, to ensure funds are wired to the correct account.
• Two-Party Wire Approval: In order to send a wire, two authorized employees must be involved: an initiator, who enters the wire amount and an approver who confirms the amount and instructions are correct.
• Positive Pay: Everyday, we receive images of our disbursed checks that have been cashed or deposited. We review the check amount and endorsement to confirm the intended payee(s) deposited the checks. If there is any issue, we can stop they payment of the check.
• Daily Escrow Account Reconciliation: Our escrow account is reconciled every day to ensure all funds coming in and going out are accounted for. (Account Reconciler is prohibited from disbursing any funds from the escrow account).
• Company Insurance: We have a comprehensive Cyber Insurance and Fidelity Policy. 

National Financial Crime Fighter Day is celebrated on October 26 every year. The objective of the day is to celebrate anti-money laundering professionals and the positive effect their work has on financial institutions in the US. The first ever Financial Crime Fighter Day was held in 2017 and was organized by a risk management technological platform used by financial institutions in America. It was created to honor anti money laundering professionals and acknowledge the extremely important work they do.

As of March 2022, the State of New Jersey updated the RTF-1 & RTF-1EE Forms, otherwise know as the Affidavit of Consideration for Use by Seller and the Affidavit of Consideration for Use by Buyer. As stated in both new forms, transfers of real property that are intercompany transfers between combined group members filing a New Jersey combined return as part of the unitary business of the combined group are exempt from the grantor and grantee fees.