Title and transfer
Chain of title
The unbroken succession of recorded owners from the earliest to the present
Built by tracing conveyances backward through the public record. A gap — an unrecorded deed, an heir who never took title by a recorded instrument — is a break, and it must generally be cured before title is marketable.
How the exam asks about it
An abstract of title is the condensed written history of that chain; the attorney’s or title company’s opinion on it is a separate step.
Related terms
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