As I understand today's blog...an off shore company is requesting assistance to complete title work. I would have to think that the reason for the request is that the on line source from which this individual is attempting to perform abstracting is incomplete, and that consequently he is seeking to subcontract supplemental services to fill in the gaps.

The problem I see with this arrangement falls within the law of negligence. If an abstract misses encumbrances, and the off shore abstractor is sued for negligence, it is entirely possible that the American subcontracting abstractor may be impleaded as a third party defendant or cited in as a co-defendant by the offshore abstractor. 

This is defense strategy designed to pass some or all of the liability from the defendant to either a third party defendant or a co-defendant. There is a slim possibility that the subcontractor may find himself/herself litigating his/her defense in the courts of a foreign nation.

The American abstractor may or may not have been negligent in the supplemental search he/she performed for the off shore company, but he/she would still have to go through the same trouble and expense to defend. It would have to be determined who performed what areas of the off shore search and subcontracted search...including the scope of services which were subcontracted. Make sure your e&o insurance covers you for the possibility of liability before commencing such an arrangement.

This may be an issue with respect to the availability of tax information cited in the threads below among other items such as municipal sewer and water liens. It is my understanding that in some counties in Maryland judgment liens may or may not be available unless obtained through a special search service.