Listed here are 30 title problems that can occur. You may not discover them when you buy real estate, but months or years later, they can result in the loss of your property or an expensive lawsuit.

1. False impersonation of the true owner of the land
2. Forged deeds, releases, etc.
3. Instruments executed under fabricated or expired power of attorney
4. Deeds delivered after death of grantor or grantee or without consent of grantor
5. Deeds to or from a defunct corporation
6. Undisclosed or missing heirs
7. Misinterpretation of wills
8. Deeds by persons of unsound mind
9. Deeds by minors
10. Deeds by aliens
11. Deeds by persons supposedly single but secretly married
12. Birth or adoption of children after date of a will
13. Surviving children omitted from a will
14. Mistakes in recording legal documents
15. Want of jurisdiction of persons in judicial proceedings
16. Discovery of will of apparent intestate
17. Falsification of records
18. Claims of creditors against property sold by heirs or devisees
19. Deeds in lieu of foreclosure given under duress
20. Easements by prescription not discovered by a survey
21. Deed of community property recited to be separate property
22. Errors in tax records, e.g., listing payment against wrong property
23. Deed from a bigamous couple
24. Defective acknowledgements
25. Federal condemnation without filing of notice
26. Corporation franchise taxes, a lien on all corporate assets
27. Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials
28. Administration of estates of persons absent but not deceased
29. Undisclosed divorce of spouse who conveys as consort’s heir
30. Marital rights of spouse purportedly, but not legally, divorced