Ask Your Underwriter
MIA Checklist
Presented by Kay M. Creasman, VP & Virginia State Counsel
Frequently, agents apologize for taking too up much time as underwriters for Old Republic. Our response consistently is, “This is what we do. This is our job. Without your questions we are out of work.” We like answering questions and helping our agents resolve title issues. And, sometimes we develop checklists and forms to help make your life easier, so you don’t have to wait for us to get to your question in our email queue.
A few issues are chronic title problems when processing a file: unreleased deeds of trust, possible judgments, tax liens (federal estate and local tax matters), augmented estate issue because a spouse failed to sign a deed of gift, lack of fiduciary’s right to convey title, a defect in a judicial or administrative hearing, and a problem with the notary are the 8 common problems that everyone spends countless hours trying to resolve.
Effective as of October 2015, a group of title underwriters in Virginia (Old Republic, Fidelity family of companies, First American, Stewart and Investors) signed the “ALTA Model Inter-Underwriter Indemnification Agreement,” aka the “MIA” (Mutual Indemnity Agreement). The purpose behind the agreement is to eliminate repetitive work and the need to obtain LOIs, if the current borrower or seller has an Owner’s Policy (OP) issued by any of those underwriters AND the amount of either the (a) issue, (b) existing OP, or (c) new OP is less than $500,000. The agreement is only a few pages long but is often misunderstood.
To help you determine whether the MIA applies, so you don’t need an LOI, we developed the VIRGINIA: Inter-Underwriter Indemnity Agreement Checklist, aka the MIA Checklist. Over time, other title underwriters wanted to join the agreement. Not all Virginia underwriters are part of the agreement. This document allows agents to read through the form, look at their issue and determine if the MIA applies or not. It is a tool for you to use to make your life easier. As the instructions on the MIA Checklist note, if all of the answers are YES, the MIA applies and you can rely on the current borrower/seller OP to insure over the title problem.
You do not need to submit the MIA Checklist to us for approval. We do not review these, but if you have a specific question, we are happy to provide an answer. The most frequent question that arises is, “The existing OP is on Old Republic, and you are not on the list.” Whenever you have a problem and ORT is the underwriter on the existing policy, we’d like to know so we can determine if the matter needs to be sent to claims for correction, if it’s something the agent can easily correct, or if the agent involved needs to have more education about a particular matter or procedure.
Read the MIA Checklist (found on StarsLink, under Virginia forms, or copied below). If it doesn’t make sense, let us know. We hope it makes your life easier.
VIRGINIA: Inter-Underwriter Indemnity Agreement Checklist
Please use this checklist to document your file for your current transaction (the “Transaction”) when you are relying upon another underwriter’s prior policy (“the Prior Policy”) in issuing an Old Republic National Title Insurance Company (“Old Republic”) Lender’s and/or Owner’s Policy (the “Current Policy”) without taking exception to a potential title defect in reliance upon the Inter-Underwriter Indemnity Agreement (the “Agreement”). Please make sure a copy of this checklist and the Prior Policy you are relying on are both included as part of your remittance. DO NOT RELY ON THE AGREEMENT TO INSURE OVER OR DELETE A POTENTIAL TITLE DEFECT UNLESS YOU ANSWER “YES” TO ALL OF THE QUESTIONS BELOW. IF YOU ANSWER “NO” TO ANY QUESTION, OR ARE UNSURE OF THE ANSWER TO ANY QUESTION, PLEASE CONTACT OLD REPUBLIC UNDERWRITING COUNSEL FOR GUIDANCE.
Prior Policy Underwriter:___________________ Prior Policy Number:____________________________
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1. Are you issuing an Old Republic Policy (Owner’s and/or Loan)?
2. Is the Prior Policy issued by AmTrust Title Insurance Company, Chicago Title Insurance Company, Commonwealth Land Insurance Company, Conestoga Title Insurance Company, DOMA, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company (including Lawyer’s Title), First American Title Insurance Company, Investors Title Insurance Company, North American Title Insurance Company, Stewart Title Guaranty Company, Title Resources Guaranty Company, Westcor Land Title Insurance Company, or WFG National Title Insurance Company?
3. Is the Prior Policy an Owner’s Policy issued to the seller or borrower in your Transaction?
OR
Is the Prior Policy a Lender’s Policy issued to a lender who acquired the insured property by foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure, AND who is the seller in your Transaction, AND the Current Policy is an Owner’s Policy issued to an insured unrelated to seller, AND the potential title defect is a monetary lien identified in Question 4, subsections a – d, below?
4. Does the Prior Policy insure property located in Virginia that is to be insured under the Current Policy?
5. Is the potential title defect you want to insure over one of the following:
a. A deed of trust or mortgage that has not been effectively released, discharged, or reconveyed; b. An attachment, judgment lien, child support lien, condominium or community association lien, or a statutory lien for services, labor or material; c. A lien for federal estate taxes or state estate, transfer or inheritance taxes arising by reason of the death of previous owners of the Land; d. A lien for other federal, state or municipal taxes; e. The marital rights arising in favor of spouses of previous owners of the insured property; f. A lack of authority or capacity of the grantor to convey the insured property to the current or previous owner of the property; g. The failure of the insured property to be effectively conveyed to the current or previous owner of the property by reason of a defective judicial or administrative proceeding; OR h. A document effecting the insured property not being properly created, executed, witnessed, sealed, acknowledged, notarized, delivered, or recorded in the Public Records.
IF UNSURE, PLEASE CONTACT OLD REPUBLIC’S STATE UNDERWRITING COUNSEL.
6. Did the potential title defect(s) you want to insure over arise prior to the date of the Prior Policy AND was not suffered, created or assumed by the insured under the Prior Policy?
7. You have confirmed the Prior Policy does not expressly take exception for, or expressly provide affirmative coverage in Schedule B-1 or by endorsement over, the potential title defect(s) you want to insure over.
8. You are issuing a policy with a face amount that is less than the face amount of the Prior Policy.
OR
You have confirmed the potential title defect(s) do not exceed (individually or in the aggregate) the face amount of the Prior Policy.
9. You have confirmed that the potential title defect(s) do not exceed (individually or in the aggregate) $500,000.00.
10. You are not aware of, and the public records do not show, any litigation or foreclosure proceeding arising from the potential title defect(s) since the date of the Prior Policy.
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Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨
Yes ¨ |
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨
No ¨ |
INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE UNDERWRITER WHO ISSUED THE POLICY, AND THE POLICY NUMBER OF THE POLICY, ON WHICH YOU ARE RELYING IN A NOTE IN THE COMMITMENTS AND POLICY(IES) YOU ISSUE.
“NOTE: Prior owner’s policy with (name of underwriter) Policy # (add number).”
File No.: _______________________________ Agency: ______________________________________
Date: __________________________________ Agent Signature: _______________________________
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