Chain of title
The unbroken sequence of recorded owners of a property, from the earliest records to the present, with each transfer linked to the next.
Key Takeaways
- Chain of title is the sequence of recorded transfers of a property, each owner taking from the one recorded before.
- In Washington the chain is assembled from the county auditor's general index, which lists grantors alphabetically in a direct index and grantees alphabetically in an inverted index (RCW 65.04.050).
- A break in the chain is a point where the grantor on one recorded deed is not the grantee on the deed before it, which stops a searcher from linking the transfers.
- Washington is a race-notice state: an unrecorded conveyance is void as against a later purchaser in good faith and for valuable consideration whose conveyance is recorded first (RCW 65.08.070).
What It Means
Chain of title is the sequence of recorded transfers that connects today's owner back through every owner before. Each link is one conveyance, and each link has to join the one ahead of it: the grantee named on a 1994 deed has to be the grantor named on the 2007 deed, and so on forward to the person who owns the property now.
The chain is not a document sitting in a file. It is what a searcher assembles by walking the public record backward, name by name, and it exists only because county recording offices index every instrument under both parties. A title examiner starts with the current owner, finds the deed that put that owner on record, reads the grantor's name off it, then hunts for the earlier deed that made that same person a grantee, and repeats the move until reaching a starting point far enough back to rely on.
What the search produces is an Abstract Of Title, and what a clean unbroken chain supports is Marketable Title. Gaps, misspelled names, unprobated estates, and deeds signed by people who never appear in the record are what make the work slow.
How It Works in Washington
In Washington, the chain of title is built out of the county auditor's index, and the statute spells that index out. RCW 65.04.050 requires every auditor or recording officer to keep a general index in two forms. The direct index carries the date of reception, grantor, grantee, nature of the instrument, the volume and page or auditor's file number, remarks, description of the property, and the assessor's property tax parcel number, with the grantors in alphabetical order. The inverted index carries the same columns except that grantee occupies the second column and grantor the third, with the grantees in alphabetical order. An auditor may combine the two into a single index so long as it holds all the required information and stays searchable under both names.
That double index is what makes a backward search possible, and RCW 65.08.070 is what makes the result decisive. An unrecorded conveyance is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee in good faith and for a valuable consideration whose conveyance is first duly recorded. That is the Race Notice Rule at work: a buyer needs to be without notice of the earlier claim and also needs to win the trip to the Recording counter. A deed that never reaches the index never enters the chain.
Example
A title examiner searches a lot in Olympia now owned by Farrah Whitcomb. She works backward: Whitcomb took title in 2019 by a deed from Leo Adair, Adair took title in 2007 by a deed from Marta and Juan Reyes, and the Reyeses took title in 1994 by a deed from Hollis Brandt. Four owners, three links, and so far each grantor matches the grantee on the deed before.
Then the 1994 deed shows a problem. Its grantor is Hollis Brandt alone, but the 1981 deed put the property in the names of Hollis Brandt and Ann Brandt as a married couple. There is no recorded deed, decree, or probate order moving Ann's half out of her name. Her interest has sat on the record untouched since 1981, which is 45 years of open gap, and the 1994 deed conveyed only Hollis's share.
The fix is a recorded instrument: usually a quitclaim deed from Ann or from her heirs, or an order out of a probate if she has died. Until one is recorded, the examiner reports a defect, the title company excepts Ann's interest from coverage, and Whitcomb's pending sale stalls at the title review.
Common Mistakes and Exam Traps
- Chain of title and abstract of title are different things. The chain is the sequence of recorded owners; the abstract is the written summary a searcher produces from that sequence.
- A break in the chain is not a lien. A break is a missing link between one deed's grantee and the next deed's grantor; a lien is a claim recorded against an owner who sits properly in the chain.
- Being recorded does not put a deed in the chain. A deed from someone who never appears as a grantee in the index is sometimes called a wild deed, and a searcher working backward through the index will never reach it.
- Washington is race-notice, not pure race and not pure notice. The later buyer needs both good faith and the first recording to win (RCW 65.08.070).
Where you'll learn this
Frequently Asked Questions
How far back does a chain of title search go?
Far enough to reach a dependable starting point, which title companies call the root of title. A Washington search runs on the county auditor's grantor and grantee indexes required by RCW 65.04.050, and how deep it goes turns on the title company's underwriting standards and on what the record itself shows.
What is the difference between chain of title and title insurance?
The chain is the factual record of who owned the property and when. Title insurance is a policy that pays if a defect in that record causes a loss. A clean chain lowers the risk; the policy covers what the search missed.
What causes a break in the chain of title?
Common causes are a deed signed by only one of two co-owners, an estate that was never probated, a name changed by marriage or divorce with no recorded instrument tying the two names together, and a deed that was signed but never recorded. Each one leaves a grantor in the record who was never recorded as a grantee.