What's an Abstract?

We prepare title abstracts to show the history of a property's title.

It is a summarized history of the title to a specific parcel of real property, including a statement of all liens and encumbrances affecting the property. The abstractor searches the records of the Bureau of Conveyances, the Land Court, the Probate Court, the Circuit Court and other official sources. The abstractor then prepares a summary of the various instruments affecting the property and arranges them in chronological order of recording or filing, starting with the original grant of title from the sovereign. The abstract also includes a list showing which public records the abstractor has and has not searched in preparing the report. The abstract of title does not guarantee or insure anything with respect to the title to the property. It merely discloses those items about the property that are of public record, and thus does not reveal such things as encroachments, forgeries, and the like.