What to Ask Your Title Company About Post-Closing Forgery Coverage

By Mo Ayadi, Founder of Title Barrier | Published September 14, 2026

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If you want to know what your title policy will do about a deed forged after you close, there are five things to ask your title company: Which policy form am I getting, the Owner's or the Homeowner's? Where is Exclusion 3(d) in my policy and what does it carve out? Is the ALTA 49 or 49.1 endorsement approved in my state? What does it cost and exclude? And if I have already closed, what are my options? This article is a script for asking those questions, plus the background you need to understand the answers.

The gap these questions probe is real. A standard owner's policy insures the title as it stood on the policy date. A forged quitclaim deed recorded two years later is, under most policy forms, a post-policy matter, and post-policy matters are excluded. The fraud that exploits that gap is not rare: the FBI and ALTA, in a joint warning issued through the FBI's Boston field office, reported 58,141 victims and $1.3 billion in real estate fraud losses between 2019 and 2023.

Most buyers never read their policy jacket. Most title agents are not asked these questions at the closing table. That is the problem. Ask them anyway.

Disclosure: I run Title Barrier, a property fraud prevention company. I have a commercial interest in this topic. Factual claims are sourced so you can check them.

Why post-closing forgery is the hole in a standard policy

Title insurance is backward-looking by design. The underwriter examines the chain of title up to the moment your deed records, then insures against defects that existed at that point: a missed lien, a bad legal description, a forged signature somewhere in 1987. You pay one premium for one snapshot in time. ALTA has said roughly 1 in 4 real estate transactions has a title issue that must be cleared before closing, and that is the work the premium buys.

Exclusion 3(d) of the standard ALTA Owner's Policy removes from coverage any defect, lien, or other matter "attaching or created subsequent to Date of Policy." That clause is why a forged deed recorded after you close usually lands outside the policy. The company did not insure the future. It insured the past.

I covered the mechanics in Title Insurance After Closing: The Coverage Gap Explained. The short version: your policy is not broken. It is doing what it says. The question is whether you bought anything that extends past that date.

Question 1: Am I getting an Owner's Policy or a Homeowner's Policy?

Two ALTA forms are commonly issued to residential buyers. The standard Owner's Policy is the snapshot described above. The ALTA Homeowner's Policy of Title Insurance is an expanded form for one-to-four family residential property, and it lists a longer set of covered risks. Some of those risks apply to events after the policy date. Whether forgery after the policy date is one of them, and under what conditions and deductibles, depends on the form version filed in your state.

Do not accept "you have enhanced coverage" as an answer. Ask for the form number and the printed Covered Risks list.

Ask these, in this order:

• "Which ALTA form number is my policy? Standard Owner's or Homeowner's?"
• "Which Covered Risks, if any, apply to events after the Date of Policy?"
• "Is there a deductible or a maximum dollar limit on any post-policy risk?"
• "Am I eligible for the Homeowner's form the way I am taking title?"

That last question matters. Eligibility for the Homeowner's form is typically limited to individuals, and in some forms certain estate-planning trusts, buying residential property. A buyer taking title in an LLC often cannot get it. Vacant land often does not qualify. If you are buying a rental through an entity, assume the standard form unless told otherwise in writing.

Question 2: Show me Exclusion 3(d) in my actual policy

Every policy has a jacket with the Exclusions from Coverage. Ask the closer to open it and point to 3(d). Then ask:

• "If someone records a forged deed on this property next year, is that a matter 'created subsequent to Date of Policy' under this exclusion?"
• "Has this underwriter ever paid or defended a post-policy forgery claim, and under what theory?"
• "If I report a forged deed, will you open a claim or send a denial letter?"

You may hear that a forged deed is void, that it conveys nothing, and that the underwriter may still help. Sometimes that is true. It is not a coverage promise. Clearing a forged deed from the record generally means a quiet title action, which in uncontested cases typically runs $1,500 to $5,000 and takes three to six months, and in contested cases often runs $8,000 to $12,000 or more and can exceed a year. Ask who pays for that if the exclusion applies. Get the answer in an email.

Question 3: Is ALTA 49 or 49.1 available in my state?

In August 2025 ALTA released two endorsements, ALTA 49 and ALTA 49.1, that add coverage for post-closing seller impersonation and forgery. I explained the form in ALTA 49 Explained: The Post-Closing Forgery Endorsement. This is the first standardized product that directly addresses the Exclusion 3(d) gap, which is why it belongs in your script by name.

The catch is rollout. Endorsement forms and their pricing must be filed or approved state by state, and underwriters adopt them on their own schedules. A year in, availability still varies by state and by company. So ask:

• "Has ALTA 49 or 49.1 been approved for use in this state?"
• "Which version attaches to my policy, and what is the premium?"
• "What does it exclude? Are there conditions I must meet to keep coverage in force?"
• "Does it cover the legal cost of removing a forged instrument, or only the loss?"
• "Must I request it at closing, or can it be added later?"

If the agent has not heard of it, that is useful information about the agent. Ask them to check with their underwriter and reply in writing.

Question 4: What about my property type?

The properties most exposed to post-closing forgery are the ones least likely to be occupied or watched: vacant land, absentee-owned rentals, free-and-clear homes, homes owned by elderly people, LLC-held property, and second homes. The NAR 2025 Deed and Title Fraud Survey found that 62% of title fraud cases involved vacant land and 12% involved owner-occupied homes.

These are also the property types most likely to be excluded from the Homeowner's form and, potentially, from endorsements. So tell the agent exactly what you are buying and how you are holding it, then ask which forms and endorsements you can actually get. If you are buying land, read How to Protect Vacant Land from Fraud before the closing call.

Question 5: I already closed. Now what?

Most readers of this article are not at a closing table. They own a home, read a headline, and want to know what their existing policy does. Ask your original title company or underwriter:

• "Can an endorsement be attached to my existing policy, or would that require a new policy?"
• "What is your process if I discover a forged deed on my property today?"
• "Does my county recorder offer a free property alert program?"

That last one you can answer yourself. In August 2024 the FTC published a consumer alert about title-lock and monitoring marketing and recommended checking free county property-alert programs first. Do that regardless of what else you decide.

How the options compare

One honest paragraph about my own product. Title Barrier files a notice in the county land records. It makes the property harder to move through a legitimate title search without contacting the owner. Title companies, lenders, buyers, and attorneys who search the title see it and are instructed to verify with you before a transaction proceeds. It is not insurance, it does not reimburse losses, and it does not stop a county clerk from recording a document that meets form requirements. It sits in a different layer than the policy questions above, which is why you can pursue both. Pricing is at /pricing.

The script, in one place

Copy this into a note and bring it to closing, or paste it into an email to your title agent:

1. Which ALTA form number is my policy, standard Owner's or Homeowner's?
2. Am I eligible for the Homeowner's form the way I am taking title?
3. Which Covered Risks apply to events after the Date of Policy, and with what deductible or cap?
4. Please point me to Exclusion 3(d) and confirm whether a forged deed recorded after closing falls under it.
5. Has ALTA 49 or 49.1 been approved in this state? Which version applies to my policy?
6. What is the premium for that endorsement, and what does it exclude?
7. Does the endorsement cover legal costs to remove a forged instrument, or only the loss?
8. Must it be requested at closing, or can it be added later?
9. What is your claims process if I report a forged deed?
10. Does the county recorder here offer a free property alert program?

Ask for answers in writing. A title agent who will not put the form number and the exclusion answer in an email is telling you something.

What to do this week

If you are under contract, send the script above to your title agent before the closing package is finalized. Endorsements are far easier to add before the policy issues than after.

If you already own, pull your policy jacket out of the closing binder and read the Covered Risks and Exclusions yourself. Then look up your county recorder's website and enroll in its property alert if it has one. It is free and takes minutes.

Then decide whether you want a layer that works before a transaction rather than after. Notification tells you a document recorded. A recorded notice tells the people running the next title search to call you first. Different jobs.

If you want a quick read on how exposed a specific property is, the free risk report at /risk-report looks at the factors that matter: occupancy, ownership structure, mortgage status, and property type. You do not need to buy anything to see it.

The point of the script is not to embarrass your title company. Most agents are competent and busy, and post-closing coverage has been a niche topic until recently. The point is to leave the table knowing exactly what you bought and exactly where it stops.

This article is educational and current as of September 14, 2026. It is not legal or insurance advice for your situation. Policy forms and endorsement availability vary by state and underwriter. Talk to a real estate attorney or a licensed title professional in your state before relying on any coverage described here.

Sources

1. American Land Title Association (ALTA), policy forms and industry resources: https://www.alta.org/
2. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), real estate fraud reporting and public service announcements: https://www.ic3.gov/
3. Federal Trade Commission, consumer advice on home title lock and monitoring services: https://consumer.ftc.gov/
4. National Association of Realtors, 2025 Deed and Title Fraud Survey: https://www.nar.realtor/
5. CertifID, seller impersonation fraud research: https://www.certifid.com/

See also: ALTA 49 Explained: The Post-Closing Forgery Endorsement, Title Insurance After Closing: The Coverage Gap Explained, Seller Impersonation Fraud: How It Works and Who It Targets, Best Title Insurance Companies: How to Evaluate What Matters