TitleDesk Agentby The Harness Lab
The common defect classes
| Defect | What it looks like | Typical cure |
|---|---|---|
| Unreleased deed of trust or vendor's lien on the tract | A lien instrument in the chain, or filed under the abstract by a chain party, with no release matched to it. | Obtain or confirm a recordable release or satisfaction. |
| Unreleased prior oil and gas lease | A lease within the lien window, or older with no release of record. | Confirm expiration or obtain a release. |
| Probate gap | An estate conveying with no probate or determination of heirship of record. | Probate, heirship determination or affidavit of heirship. |
| Marital / community-property confirmation | The source deed's grantees do not cover every named lessor (a spouse not in title). | Confirm ownership; obtain a conveyance or ratification. |
| Patent-era gap | No indexed conveyance into the earliest grantee in the chain. | Further research; affidavit or curative deed as appropriate. |
| Over-conveyance | Interests conveyed out exceed what was owned — an exact excess. | Correction deed or stipulation of interest. |
What not to put on the list
Liens the index cannot tie to the subject tract — a chain party's deed of trust on a different parcel in the same survey, or a personal tax lien with no tract — belong in the lien schedule, not on the curative list. Thirty generic "obtain release" lines drown the six that matter.
Writing an item
Each item names the instrument by citation and date, states the defect in one sentence, and proposes the next step. "Obtain or confirm a recordable release or satisfaction of DT 130/577" is workable; "check liens" is not.
In TitleDesk
Curative items are generated from the chain and the lien schedule with the instrument and page they came from, grouped so one secured obligation is one item, and the reservation review and lessor coverage are reported alongside. Mineral title research software.
On real assignments completed by working landmen, TitleDesk's automated run takes about twenty minutes for work that takes a landman three to five days; the landman then reviews and certifies. Packets, county sources and scan quality move the figure, so the ROI page shows every assumption, and we will help you qualify it on one of your own assignments. Download v0.2.5 or talk to Spencer.