REAL ESTATE

Long-ago lien comes to light

Christopher Combs

Question: Just before her death, my aunt deeded her home in Chandler to me and my wife. We recorded the deed for her. We now want to sell this Chandler home. We thought that the title to the Chandler home was free and clear because the mortgage had been been paid off years ago. The title search, however, shows that my aunt had given a lien on the Chandler home to a bonding company in 1994 in order to keep her son out of jail on an assault and battery charge. Both the bonding company and the title company that handled the lien are no longer in business. How can we clear the title to this Chandler home?

A property has a 20-year-old lien to a bail bonding company that no longer is in business. How can the title to the house be cleared?

Answer: You may be able to find a title company that will "insure over" this lien with the bonding company. In other words, the title company will give a buyer of your aunt's home a "clean" title report with no mention of the lien of the bonding company. The reasoning of the title company would be that the "reward" of the escrow and title insurance fees outweighs the minimal "risk" of the defunct bonding company enforcing this 1994 lien. If a title company will not "insure over" this lien of the bonding company, you will have to file a quiet title lawsuit naming the bonding company as a defendant. Since the bonding company is no longer in business, the bonding company probably can be served by newspaper publication, and, assuming that the company does not answer the suit, you will get a court order eliminating the company's lien.

Reach real-estate attorney Combs at azrep@combslawgroup.com.

At homevalues.azcentral.com

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