Process
How it works
From the first email to the finished packet. Six steps, no surprises.
1. Send a scope
Email the county and state, the legal description, how far back you want the search, what you need back, the format you prefer and your due date. If you have prior runsheets, opinions or lease lists, attach them. The contact page has a checklist.
2. We confirm the scope
We read it, ask about anything unclear and reply with the scope and a date. If your attorney has a checklist or a template, this is the time to send it.
3. We search and image
We search the county's indexes and pull each instrument. Modern tools help us read, sort and name the images, and we record what we find in the runsheet one row at a time with an image for each instrument. On a larger project the counties are split among landmen in our network so they are worked at the same time.
4. We check the work
Before delivery, a person checks each row against its image, and software helps catch names, dates and descriptions that do not agree. The notes are written for anything that needs a closer look: a description that does not match, a missing release, a reservation that reads two ways.
5. You get the packet
You receive the runsheet, the images and an index that ties them together, in the format you asked for. If you need an abstract, an ownership report or a curative tracker too, they come with it.
6. Questions and updates
If your attorney has questions or lists requirements, we work through them with you. If you need the search brought down to a later date, we add the new instruments to the same sheet.
When the title is difficult
Some files have a break in the chain, a missing probate, an old mortgage with no release or a name that changes from one deed to the next. We note each one on the runsheet, put it on a requirements tracker, and can carry it through curative. Tell us about known problems when you send the scope.
Large projects and short deadlines
We work with hundreds of contract landmen around the country. When a project is big or the date is close, we staff it with more people, in the counties where the work is, and keep one runsheet format across all of them.
What helps us most
- A full legal description, copied from your lease, deed or order.
- The starting point for the search.
- Your attorney's checklist, if there is one.
- Earlier work on the same tract.
What we do not do
- Write title opinions or give legal advice. We build the packet. The client's attorney writes the opinion.
- Insure or guarantee title. Our work reports what is of record. It is not title insurance.
- Report what is not of record. Unrecorded deeds, possession, boundary and survey questions, and anything the county does not hold are outside a records search.
- Value property or advise on a deal. We report what the documents say. The decision is yours.
See a finished example on the samples page.
Start with a scope
Send the six things listed above, or just the county and the date, and we fill in the rest with you. Say if the title looks difficult or the deadline is tight. Ask for a quote and we will staff the project to fit. Write to jc@sectionlineland.com.