A property abstract is a summary of the legal documents that chronicle transactions associated with a particular

parcel of land A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

. Generally included are references to

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferrin ...

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

, wills,

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the st ...

records, court

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

s, and

tax sale A tax sale is the forced sale of property (usually real estate) by a governmental entity for unpaid taxes by the property's owner. The sale, depending on the jurisdiction, may be a tax deed sale (whereby the actual property is sold) or a tax li ...

s—basically, any legal document that affects the property. The abstract will show the names of all property owners, how long a particular holder owned it, and the price of the land when it was sold. Rarely will an abstract mention capital improvements to the property.

Abstract of title

An abstract of title is the condensed history of the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

to a particular parcel of

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

, consisting of a summary of the original grant and all subsequent

conveyance Conveyance may refer to: * Conveyance, the documentation of the transfer of ownership of land from one party to another—see conveyancing * Public conveyance, a shared passenger transportation service * A means of transport * Water conveyance, ...

s and

encumbrance An encumbrance is a third party's right to, interest in, or legal liability on property that does not prohibit the property's owner from transferring title (but may diminish its value). Encumbrances can be classified in several ways. They may be ...

s affecting the property and a certification by the abstractor that the history is complete and accurate. In the United States, the abstract of title furnishes the raw data for the preparation of a policy of title insurance for the parcel of land in question. In Iowa, commercial title insurance is outlawed, so title insurance policies are issued by Iowa Title Guaranty, an Iowa state government agency. An abstract of title should be distinguished from an ''opinion of title''. While an abstract states that all of the public record documents concerning the property in question are contained therein, an opinion states the professional judgment of the person giving the opinion as to the vesting of the title and other matters concerning the

chain of title A chain of title is the sequence of historical transfers of title to a property. It is a valuable tool to identify and document past owners of a property and serves as a property's historical ownership timeline. The "chain" runs from the present o ...

. Many jurisdictions define the giving of an opinion of title as the practice of law, thus making it unlawful for a non-attorney to provide such an opinion.

Notes

External links

* * Legal documents Real property law {{law-term-stub