TIER®
TIER® delivers a legal opinion of exceptions documents found at the Country Recorder’s Office fast.
How TIER® Works
Order Request
Business Day 0
Complete the Order Request (below). It will be emailed to a TC Certified™ attorney licensed in the jurisdiction of the property. Speak to the TC Certified™ attorney within two business days.
1st Attorney Call
Business Day 2
Discuss your concerns for seeking legal counsel*. If you want to engage the services of the TC Certified™ attorney, a signed Fee Agreement and advance fee are required.
Document Review and Drafting
Business Days 3-6 (to start when all required documents have been received).
The TIER® analysis will be delivered within four business days of receipt of all relevant documents.
2nd Attorney Call
Business Day 8
The 2nd Attorney Call is scheduled within two business days of TIER® delivery. Your TC Certified™ attorney will call at the specified time. Discuss the results of your attorney’s legal analysis.
What is TIER®?
TIER is a limited-scope legal solution that delivers a written legal opinion of documents relating to a property found at the County Recorder’s Office. These documents are important because they represent risks to the use and value of a parcel that are not insured by title insurance. See the Examples of Documents Reviewed for a list of risks that may not be covered by title insurance.
Title Insurance Exceptions Review®
What makes TIER® so important is you often don’t see a TIER risk when visiting a property. This is because problems regarding exceptions to title insurance are mostly invisible. TIER® risks are often not discovered for months or years after purchase.
Note. The law assumes you are aware of, and understand the legal effects of, all documents in the public record regarding your property. Depending on where the property’s located, there’s little legal recourse for not doing your homework.
Order Request. First step is to complete the Order Request below. It will be emailed to a TC Certified™ attorney licensed in the jurisdiction of the property. You’ll receive a confirmation email with the TC Certified™ Attorney assigned to you and further instructions.
Note. TIER is covered by the attorney-client privilege and is subject to a conflict check.
1st Attorney Call. The 1st Attorney Call is held within two business days of Order Request. Discuss your concerns with the attorney. If you want to engage the services of the TC Certified™ attorney, a signed Fee Agreement and advance fee are required. Advance fee and hourly rates are subject to local conditions and are set by the TC Certified™ attorney.
Note. You are under no obligation to engage the services of the TC Certified™ attorney.
Document Review and Draft. All County Recorder documents will first be procured. Once procured, your TIER® analysis will be delivered within four business days. A 2nd Attorney Call is scheduled within two business days of TIER® delivery.
Note. It often takes up to ten business days to procure all title exceptions documents.
2nd Attorney Call. Your TC Certified™ attorney will call at the scheduled time. Discuss the result(s) of your attorney’s legal analysis of the documents reviewed.
Examples of Documents Reviewed
- Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs)
- Deeds
- Easements
- Judgments
- Plats
- Record of Surveys
- Road Agreements
- Septic Agreements
- Tax Liens
- Water Agreements
What You Should Know
TC Certified™ Attorney. TC Certified™ attorneys are experienced in real property law and licensed in the State where the subject property is located.
Fee Agreement. Fee Agreement defines terms by which a client engages the legal services of an attorney.
Hourly Rate. Hourly rate is subject to local conditions and set by the TC Certified™ attorney.
Trust Account. By law, advance fees for legal services are held in trust. Trust accounts are held to strict accounting standards.
Advance Fee. Advance fee is the dollar amount required in advance before legal services are rendered. The advance fee remains the property of the client unless exhausted by invoiced legal services and expenses. Any balance due after work is completed is refunded to the client.
TIER® Order Request
Have the following ready:
- Contact information.
- County and State of subject property.
- Goals. Concise statement of why you are seeking legal counsel.
- Conflict Check. Name of individual(s) or entity on other side of transaction. If unknown, indicate “Unknown.”
- Documents. Upload exceptions documents listed in your property’s preliminary title report if the report is less than 90-days-old. If older than 90-days, your TC Certified™ attorney will obtain them.
Examples of Documents. CC&R’s, Deeds, Preliminary Title Report.
Confirmation Email. Monitor your email for your confirmation email, including junk mail.
Limited-scope legal services restrict the involvement of an attorney in a client matter to a predefined set of legal services. Timely Contract’s suite of limited-scope legal services address common transactional problems encountered in the real estate industry.
Limited-scope legal services do not meet the needs of every legal client. If a potential client’s legal need is beyond the scope of the Timely Contract solutions, your TC Certified™ attorney will recommend traditional legal services.