Title Insurance in a Georgia Closing: Lender's Policy, Owner's Policy, and What Each Covers

Two title insurance policies are usually issued at a Georgia closing. One of them protects the lender. The other protects the buyer, and it is optional, which is exactly why so many buyers end up owning a home without it. The distinction is worth understanding before the closing attorney slides the paperwork across the table, because the decision is made once and the consequences run for as long as you own the property.

This is a process explainer covering how title examination and title insurance work in a Georgia residential closing, what the two policies actually do, and where the costs appear on your paperwork. It is not legal advice. Every closing question should go to the licensed Georgia attorney conducting your closing.

Why Does Georgia Require an Attorney at Closing?

Georgia is an attorney closing state, and that is not a custom. It is a holding of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The Rule

In In re UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2, the Court held that it is the unauthorized practice of law for someone other than a duly licensed Georgia attorney to close a real estate transaction or to prepare or facilitate the execution of the deed. The opinion also expressly disapproved witness only closings, in which a notary or signing agent presides over the execution of the deed while claiming to act merely as a witness rather than as someone practicing law. The Court's stated rationale was accountability: a licensed lawyer can be reached through malpractice or disciplinary action, while a consumer has little or no recourse against a non lawyer who gets it wrong. The full opinion is posted by the State Bar of Georgia as a PDF.

The underlying definition comes from O.C.G.A. section 15-19-50, which includes conveyancing, the preparation of legal instruments of all kinds whereby a legal right is secured, and the rendering of opinions as to the validity or invalidity of titles to real or personal property within the practice of law.

The 2025 Update on Remote Closings

The State Bar of Georgia issued Formal Advisory Opinion No. 23-1 on January 23, 2025. It holds that a lawyer closing a real estate transaction can satisfy their obligations under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct by performing those responsibilities by video conference, so long as the lawyer is in control of the closing process from beginning to end and maintains full professional and direct responsibility for the entire transaction. The attorney requirement did not go away. The requirement that the attorney be physically in the room did.

What Does a Georgia Title Examination Actually Search?

The title exam is the work product behind the policy, and in Georgia it has a customary depth.

The Fifty Year Standard

Georgia Title Standard 2.1 provides that a record title covering a period of 50 years or more is considered sufficient to determine marketability. That 50 year period has to run back to a specific kind of anchor: a warranty deed, quitclaim deeds with reasonable proof of full title, a grant from the state, a probate proceeding in which the property is reasonably identifiable, a regularly foreclosed security deed, or another instrument showing reasonable probability of title and possession. The Standard also allows a shorter search where the parties involved agree to accept less than 50 years. National title underwriters generally require the 50 year search unless an underwriter approves a reduction.

It is worth being precise about what the 50 year figure is. It is a bar title standard, not a statute. Georgia has a related evidentiary rule at O.C.G.A. section 44-2-22 providing that a prima facie case is made out in actions respecting title to land upon showing good record title for a period of 40 years, without needing to prove title back to the original grant from the state. Those are two different numbers doing two different jobs.

Where the Records Live

The Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority hosts a statewide Consolidated Real Estate Index, searchable by name, book and page, and property, across a single county, a county plus bordering counties, or statewide. Coverage runs from all counties since January 1, 1999, with 1993 through 1998 historical data being added. Anything older lives in the county. The Cherokee County Clerk of Superior Court Deeds and Records department records deeds, liens, plats, security deeds, easements, and UCC filings, maintaining Landmark for records from 1989 forward and OnPoint for older indexes.

Lender's Policy or Owner's Policy?

This is the decision the closing turns on, and the federal consumer regulator states it more bluntly than most closing tables do.

What the Lender's Policy Does

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes lender's title insurance as protection for your lender against problems with the title to your property. It is usually required to get a mortgage loan. Then comes the sentence that matters: lender's title insurance does not protect your investment in the home, meaning your equity. If someone sues with a claim against the home, you are the first person responsible.

What the Owner's Policy Does

The CFPB describes owner's title insurance as protection for the homeowner if someone sues claiming they have a claim against the home from before the homeowner purchased it. It is optional. The industry trade association describes it as a one time fee paid at closing that can protect your property rights for as long as you or your heirs own the property, and estimates the premium at roughly one half to one percent of the purchase price, which is a national figure rather than a Georgia rate.

One practical note the CFPB makes: the total cost is usually lower if you use the same provider for both the lender's policy and the owner's policy. That is the simultaneous issue discount, and it is the reason the owner's policy number on your disclosure often looks smaller than a standalone quote.

Who Pays

We could not identify any government, bar, or regulator source stating a fixed Georgia custom for allocating the owner's policy between buyer and seller. The CFPB acknowledges seller paid owner's policies as a real scenario in its disclosure guidance. Treat the allocation as a contract term to be negotiated rather than a rule to be assumed.

What Does Title Insurance Cover, and What Does It Exclude?

Georgia defines the product at O.C.G.A. section 33-7-8 as insurance of owners of real or personal property, or others having an interest in it, against loss by encumbrance, defective titles, invalidity, adverse claim to title, or unmarketability of title.

Covered

The industry's consumer materials list the usual suspects: unpaid mortgages, unpaid property taxes, child support liens, missing heirs who could claim the property, missed easements or rights of way that could limit your use of the property, defects or encumbrances caused by fraud or forgery, unmarketable title, and the right of access to and from the land.

Excluded

The exclusions section of the standard homeowner's policy form is where expectations get corrected. It excludes any law, ordinance, permit, or governmental regulation, including building and zoning. It excludes governmental forfeiture and regulatory power, and any power to take the land by condemnation. It excludes risks created, suffered, assumed, or agreed to by the insured, and risks known to the insured and not disclosed. It excludes the lack of a right to land outside the described area or in any street, road, or right of way. It excludes failure of existing structures to have been constructed in accordance with applicable building codes. It excludes liens for real estate taxes that become due and payable after the policy date. And it excludes any discrepancy in the quantity of area, square footage, or acreage.

That last one is worth sitting with. A title policy is not a survey, and it does not insure that you are getting the acreage on the listing. Boundary questions belong to a licensed surveyor.

What Kinds of Defects Show Up in Georgia?

Four categories account for a large share of what a Georgia exam turns up.

The Unreleased Security Deed

Georgia is a security deed state. Under O.C.G.A. section 44-14-60, a conveyance to secure debt passes title of the property to the grantee until the debt is fully paid, with the grantor retaining the right to have the property reconveyed on payment. That makes the cancellation record important. Section 44-14-3 requires the holder to furnish cancellation to the clerk of superior court within 60 days of full payment, and failure to timely transmit a legally sufficient satisfaction makes the holder liable to the grantor for 500 dollars as liquidated damages plus additional sums for any loss caused and reasonable attorney's fees, after written demand.

Unpaid Taxes

O.C.G.A. section 48-5-28(a) provides that taxes are paid before any other debt, lien, or claim of any kind. Section 48-2-56(a) adds that liens for taxes due the state, a county, or a municipality arise when the taxes become due and unpaid, and cover all property in which the taxpayer has any interest from the date the lien arises until the taxes are paid.

Judgment Liens

Under O.C.G.A. section 9-12-60, a judgment becomes dormant and unenforceable if seven years elapse after rendition before execution is issued on it. Dormancy can be prevented by issuing and docketing execution, by docketed officer entries, or by filing written notice of bona fide public enforcement efforts within the seven year window. Child support and spousal support orders are excepted from the dormancy rule.

Materialmen's Liens and Probate Gaps

Georgia's construction lien deadlines are strict. Under O.C.G.A. section 44-14-361.1, the claimant must file the claim of lien for record within 90 days after completion of the work or the last furnishing of materials, must commence a lien action within 365 days from the date of filing for record, and must file notice with the clerk of superior court within 30 days after commencing that action. The Cobb County Superior Court Clerk states the same rules in plain terms, adding that a lien expires and is void after 395 days from the date of filing if no legal action has been filed, and warning that lien law is strictly construed so that even minor departures typically void a party's lien rights.

Probate gaps are the fourth category, and Georgia's year's support claim is the reason deaths in the chain get extra scrutiny. Under O.C.G.A. section 53-3-5, a surviving spouse or a person acting for the spouse or a minor child may petition the probate court for year's support, and the petition must be filed within 24 months of the date of death.

Where Do These Costs Appear on Your Paperwork?

On the standard federal disclosure forms, title charges are split across two places.

Section C of page 2, Services Borrower Did Shop For, carries the title insurance binder, the lender's title insurance, the settlement agent fee, and the title search. Optional owner's title insurance appears down in Section H, Other, and the federal rule requires it to be labeled as Title, Owner's Title Policy (optional), or a similar label beginning with the Title prefix. The optional tag is not required on the Closing Disclosure if the seller is paying.

The CFPB's guidance on shopping for title and closing services notes that you can shop for the services listed in Section C, that your lender is required to give you a list of companies in your area providing those services, and that shopping around could save meaningful money on title services. It also advises comparing the bottom line total rather than line items, since the disclosed owner's premium is calculated using a formula that adds the full owner's premium to the simultaneous lender's premium and subtracts the full lender's premium, which is why the number on your disclosure will not always match the title company's own quote sheet.

One Georgia specific note on comparison shopping: title insurance is expressly excluded from Georgia's insurance rate regulation chapter at O.C.G.A. section 33-9-3(a), where it appears as exception (a)(6). The state's public insurance filing search portal covers life, health, and property and casualty filings, and title is not a searchable line. That means there is no published state rate table to check a quote against. Comparing bottom line totals from more than one provider is the practical substitute.

Buyers working through the broader closing sequence will find the timeline covered in our guide to closing on your Atlanta home and in our walkthrough of the final stages of a title search and closing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Georgia require an attorney to close a home sale? Yes. The Supreme Court of Georgia has held that it is the unauthorized practice of law for anyone other than a duly licensed Georgia attorney to close a real estate transaction or to prepare or facilitate execution of the deed, and the Court expressly disapproved witness only closings.

Is owner's title insurance required? No. The lender's policy is generally required to obtain a mortgage. The owner's policy is optional, and it is the one that protects the buyer's own equity rather than the lender's position.

How far back does a Georgia title search go? Georgia Title Standard 2.1 treats a record title covering 50 years or more as sufficient to determine marketability, running back to a qualifying anchor instrument. A shorter search is possible where the parties agree to accept it.

How long does a Georgia contractor have to file a lien? The claim of lien must be filed for record within 90 days after completion of the work or last furnishing of materials, and a lien action must be commenced within 365 days of that filing. The Cobb County Superior Court Clerk describes the outer window as 395 days from filing.

Conclusion

Title work is the least visible part of a closing and one of the few parts that reaches years into the future. The lender's policy is not optional and does not protect you. The owner's policy is optional and does. The exam behind both of them is a defined piece of work with a defined depth, and the defects it hunts for have statutory deadlines attached that reward finding them before closing rather than after.

Clareo Group, powered by The Agency Atlanta, works with closing attorneys across Cobb, Cherokee, and Paulding every week, and we make sure clients understand the owner's policy decision while there is still time to make it deliberately. Reach out and we will walk you through what your closing package will actually contain.