In Kansas abstractors have had to be licensed for several years, but there was little or no enforcement and very little information put out that the requirement was there.
This past July Kansas beefed up the law and are looking for more enforcement of the law. Below is a copy of the bill.
HOUSE BILL No. 2659
AN ACT concerning insurance; relating to examinations of title; amending
K.S.A. 40-235 and repealing the existing section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 40-235 is hereby amended to read as follows: 40-
235. (a) No insurance company or fraternal benefit society doing business
in this state, and no officer, director, solicitor or other agent thereof, shall
make, issue or circulate, or cause to be issued or circulated, any estimate,
illustration, circular or statement of any sort misrepresenting the terms
of any policy issued or to be issued by it or the benefits or advantages
promised thereby, or the dividends or share of the surplus to be received
thereon, or shall use any name or title of any policy or class of policies
misrepresenting the true nature thereof. No officer, director, solicitor or
agent of any insurance company shall make any misrepresentation to any
person insured in any company for the purpose of inducing or tending to
induce a policyholder in any company to lapse, forfeit or surrender such
policyholder’s insurance.
(b) No preliminary or final policy or contract of insurance of the class
authorized to be transacted in this state pursuant to paragraph (e) of
K.S.A. 40-1102, and amendments thereto, and as further defined in sub-
section (g) of K.S.A. 40-1136, and amendments thereto, may be written
unless and until the insurance company or its agent has caused to be
conducted a reasonable search and examination of the title to the property
involved and has caused to be made a determination of insurability of
title and the risk in accordance with sound underwriting practices.
(1) For owner’s policies of title insurance and loan policies of title
insurance insuring purchase money mortgages, such search and exami-
nation shall be conducted by a title insurance agent or an employee of a
title insurance company licensed to do business in this state or an ab-
stracter licensed to do business in this state. The search and examination
shall be based upon a search of all applicable records of the county, state
and federal offices in which the real estate is located, as may pertain to
the marketability of title for a minimum period of 25 years, or from the
date of the previously issued title insurance policy, whichever period is
less.
(2) For the purposes of this provision, ‘‘sound underwriting practices’’
shall be defined as underwriting practices promulgated by the under-
writer which has an agency agreement with the licensed title insurance
company or which comply with the seventh edition of the title standards
promulgated by the Kansas bar association as copyrighted in 2005.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 40-235 is hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
I hereby certify that the above BILL originated in the
HOUSE, and passed that body
Speaker of the House.
Chief Clerk of the House.
Passed the SENATE
President of the Senate.
Secretary of the Senate.
APPROVED
Governor.
The companies that are licensed to write policies are now requiring their independent abstractors to be licensed, unfortunately the most recent offering to take the abstractor test was this past week or so and another test is not offered until next March. Also there is a debate about having to be sponsored or employeed by a licensed title company to take the test and become a licensed abstractor in the state of Kansas. Also the Kansas Department of Insurance has not been all that helpful to those seeking information about becoming licensed, but I have not heard on how help the Kansas Land Title Association might be.
Jay
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