A compilation of legal documents pertaining to the ownership rights and interests in real property over a specific time period. All documents are primary records maintained in the indexes of the County Clerk’s office in the area where the subject real property is located. The documents are arranged in chronological order by date of recording or filing in the Clerk’s records, showing the various owners during their respective time periods, rights, agreements, liens and other restrictions on the rights granted from one owner or set of owners to another.

Guaranteed abstracts are prepared according to local attorney bar standards throughout the State of New York, however, most begin with a Warranty Deed form showing adequate consideration exchanged between non-related parties covering all or a portion of a subject parcel of real property, which deed is recorded no later than 40-, 60-, or 80+ years from the current date up to which the County Clerk’s records have been verified by them as correctly indexed.

Vanguard abstracts are prepared using a “hybrid” style of setting forth pertinent copies of recorded and filed documents, as well as wrting out (or “abstracting”) portions of documents in a condensed form where the information to be conveyed was already set forth in more detail prior in the abstract. Notations are made for clarity and cohesiveness.

Additional searches may be included in the overall abstract format, such as a search of real property taxes maintained by the County Treansurer’s office, bankruptcy court proceedings, and a search of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list.

These products contain a special form of guarantee (or “certification”) as to any errors or omissions from the abstract based on gross negligence in the process of searching and compiling relevant public records, which error or omission may result in a loss of title or other litigation. Claims are not barred by time per the language of the certificate, however, most often may require court action to prove liability and recover damages.

GUARANTEED ABSTRACT PRODUCTS: 

• New Abstract
• New Abstract (Copy)
• Abstract Continuation
• Abstract Stub
• Abstract Continuation & Carryback

Non-guaranteed research reports are compiled according to the same standards as Guaranteed Abstracts of Title, however, the liability as to errors and ommisions is limited. Property reports generally share the same overall formatting, but are prepared in a more condensed style with copies appended to the report in chronological order. These reports can be composed to focus on ownership status, liens and encumbrances only, or other aspects of title, ownership, and land use.

PROPERTY REPORT PRODUCTS:

• Current (or “Last”) Owner Only
• Full-title Residential
• Full-title Commercial
• Vanguard Title-Ready Report
• REO Report (Bank-owned)
• Mortgage or Lien Foreclosure Report (Court Actions)
• InRem Tax Foreclosure (Municipal Only)
• Site-Ready Report (Land Developers)
• Historic Use Report (Environmental Review)

New York State is a “first in time, first in right” state. Once a transfer of legal title to land is complete (by the exchange of money and properly executed deed) the next prudent step is to present the new transfer document to the County Clerk for recording the document evidencing the transfer in the appropriate land record index. Other legal instruments are so recorded or filed in their respective indices (i.e., mortgages, contracts, judgments, etc.) so as to provide constructive notice to the world of the rights, interests, and restrictions affecting the ownership rights to a specific parcel of land.

Recording or filing services range from simply presenting the document(s) to the Clerk’s Office as-is, to thoroughly reviewing the documents to verify they are in a form acceptable for recording and calculating fees, to conducting research prior to, or updating reports in conjunction with the recording act.

RECORDING SERVICES:

• Recording Only
• Recording with Search
• Recording with Abstract Update (NOTE: Pricing Per Abstract/Parcel)
• Recording with Property Report Update (NOTE: Price dependent on timeframe of last completed search +/- Six months)
• Document Filing Only
• Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Filing (at County Clerk or Department of State)
• Litigation Index Filing
• Judgment/Lien Transcript Filing (Includes Certificates of Disposition)

Debts can become active liens secured by, or held against real property as collateral. Mortgages, for example, evidence an agreement between a borrower and lender to pledge the real property asset as security for the loan. The lender has a right to commence a judicial proceeding (“foreclose”) to enforce its rights under the note (repayment agreement) and mortgage in the event the borrower defaults on payment.

Money judgments given by court order in civil proceedings also can become liens against any real property of the debtor named in the judgment, once properly filed in the index of the County Clerk’s Office where the subject land is located.

Our lien and litigation reports are designed to focus on singular lien types, or a combination of lien types, including “pending” litigation, or court actions that have commenced, but may not have advanced to a point where a final judgment has been granted.

LIEN & LITIGATION REPORT PRODUCTS / SERVICES:

• Judgment Search
• State & Federal Tax Lien Search
• Judgment, State & Federal Tax Lien Search
• Pending Civil Litigation Search
• Uniform Commerial Code (UCC) Filing Search (County/State/Combo)
• Bankruptcy Search *
• OFAC SDN (“Patriot Act”) Search *
• Vanguard Lien Enhanced (Any combination of Judgment, Bankruptcy, Patriot, UCC, Litigation Search)

*May be prepared on a limited liability certificate if requested

• Corporation / DBA filing and research
• Corporate Good Standing Certificates
• Document Retrieval
• Abstract Location Services

Guaranteed Abstracts of Title are costly and time-consuming to produce. Store your abstract in our secure vault and don’t worry about keeping track of it. If you do sell your property, you can simply request the abstract from storage and we can assist you with the necessary continuation service, or we’ll deliver it right to you or another service provider at your direction.

We issue you a certificate of deposit and link to a .pdf image. We won’t release the original physical abstract and title documents without your authorization.

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