Buying property is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will ever make and the paperwork behind that transaction matters just as much as the price tag. Every year, buyers discover — sometimes too late — that the property they purchased comes with an unpaid lien, a disputed heir or a boundary conflict nobody mentioned at closing. A professional title search is how these surprises get caught before they become your problem.

At Suntel Global, we help buyers, sellers, attorneys and lenders across Indiana get a clear, accurate picture of a property's legal history before money changes hands. This guide covers what a title search actually involves, how to research a property on your own, why Indiana's process has its own quirks and what to expect along the way.

What Is a Title Search?

A title search is a detailed review of public property records aimed at confirming exactly who legally owns a piece of real estate and whether that ownership is free of competing claims. Examiners trace the property's history of ownership — known as the "chain of title" — back through prior deeds, sales and transfers, checking each link for problems along the way.

A thorough search will typically look for:

• Outstanding liens: mortgages, tax liens, mechanic's liens, judgment liens or HOA liens attached to the property
• Ownership disputes: conflicting claims, missing signatures or improperly executed deeds
• Easements and restrictions: recorded rights that let someone else use part of the property, such as utility access, shared driveways or drainage rights
• Errors in the public record: misspelled names, incorrect legal descriptions or gaps in the recorded chain of ownership

If any of these issues turn up, they need to be resolved through a payoff, a release, a corrective deed or another remedy before the title can be considered "clear" and insurable.

Why a Title Search Matters in Indiana

Indiana law and recordkeeping practices shape how a title search gets done and what it's likely to uncover. A few things make the state's process worth understanding on its own terms.

Records are kept at the county level

Indiana doesn't have a single statewide property database — each of the state's 92 counties maintains its own recorder's office and the level of digitization varies widely. Some counties offer searchable online indices going back decades; others still require an in-person records pull. A search covering a rural parcel in southern Indiana may look very different, procedurally, from one covering a condo in downtown Indianapolis.

Searches typically span 50 years or more

To build a reliable chain of title, examiners generally need to trace ownership back at least half a century, sometimes further if the property has a complicated history, such as a prior foreclosure, a partition among heirs or an unusual transfer. This is also why lien lookback periods matter — most claims eventually expire, but knowing which ones are still enforceable requires checking the dates carefully.

Lien types carry different lifespans

Indiana treats different kinds of liens differently when it comes to how long they remain enforceable:

• State tax liens generally remain enforceable for 10 years
• Federal tax liens run for 10 years plus 30 days
• Mechanic's liens (filed by contractors or suppliers) are typically good for only one year
• UCC financing statement filings generally last five years unless renewed
• HOA liens can affect a title for up to a decade
• Civil judgments are enforceable for up to 10 years
• State and federal judgments can remain enforceable for up to 20 years

A search that doesn't account for these windows can either flag a claim that's already expired or, worse, miss one that's still very much alive.

Closings require a licensed title insurance producer

Indiana law requires real estate closings to be handled by someone licensed for this purpose, along with a signed and witnessed closing statement. The state also recognizes several forms of co-ownership — Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship, Tenants by the Entirety, Joint Tenants and Tenants in Common — and how a property is titled affects what happens to it when an owner dies or a marriage ends.

How to Research a Property in Indiana

Before or alongside a formal title search, it helps to understand how property records are organized and where to look. Indiana offers several tools and resources for researching a property, both online and in person.

Online Property Search Tools

Online resources vary by county, but many offer databases that let you access property records, tax information, and ownership details remotely.

• County assessor and recorder portals: Most counties, including Marion County (home to Indianapolis), offer an online portal where you can search by address, owner name, or parcel number to find basic property information.
• Statewide resources: The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) provides access to property tax data and assessments across the state.

Procedures and the depth of available records differ by county, so it's worth familiarizing yourself with the local recorder's office before you start.

In-Person Property Search

For those who prefer a hands-on approach or need certified copies of documents, visiting the local county recorder's or assessor's office is a reliable option.

• County Recorder's Office: maintains records of deeds, mortgages, and liens. Copies of these documents are typically available for a small fee.
• Assessor's Office: holds property tax records, including assessments and payment history.

Free Property Owner Search Options

Some counties offer basic property owner information at no cost through their assessor or recorder websites. Free searches are a reasonable starting point, but they typically offer far less detail than a professional title search and they won't catch everything a trained examiner would.

Marion County Property and Deed Searches

As Indiana's most populous county, Marion County (which includes Indianapolis) has a well-developed system for property and deed searches.

Marion County Property Search

The Marion County Assessor's Office offers an online property search tool that allows you to:

• View property details, including assessed value and tax information
• Access maps and parcel data
• Research historical property records

Marion County Deed Search

The Marion County Recorder's Office maintains records of deeds, mortgages and liens. You can search for deeds online or visit the office in person to request certified copies.

How Marriage and Divorce Affect a Title Search

Indiana's marital property rules are more limited than what buyers coming from other states may expect. The state does not recognize dower rights, automatic homestead protections or community property. Instead, Indiana courts apply an "equitable distribution" standard in divorce cases.

In practice, that means nearly everything either spouse owns — whether acquired before or during the marriage — can be treated as marital property subject to division, unless a valid prenuptial agreement says otherwise. Courts start from a presumption of an equal split but can adjust that based on each spouse's income, contributions to the marriage, the property's tax implications, and whether an asset came from a gift or inheritance.

For title purposes, this matters because a property transferred as part of a divorce still needs to be properly documented and recorded, even when the transfer itself isn't taxable (generally the case for transfers made within a year of the final decree). A search needs to confirm that any prior divorce-related transfer was actually completed correctly on paper — not just agreed to verbally or in a settlement that was never recorded.

Probate, Inheritance and Avoiding Delays

Property that passes through an estate adds another layer for a title examiner to untangle and Indiana offers a few tools that can simplify or entirely bypass the probate process for real estate.

Transfer-on-Death deeds

Indiana allows property owners to record a Transfer-on-Death (TOD) deed naming a beneficiary who automatically receives the property when the owner dies, without going through probate. For a TOD deed to hold up, it has to be properly recorded while the owner is alive and the owner's death has to later be formally documented with the local courthouse. Because the requirements are specific, these deeds are generally set up with the help of an Indiana-licensed attorney.

Living trusts

Placing real estate into a revocable living trust is another common way Indiana property owners avoid probate. The original owner keeps control of the property during their lifetime, and a named successor trustee takes over managing or distributing it after death without court involvement.

Assets that skip probate automatically

Certain categories of property don't go through probate at all, including jointly owned real estate, accounts with named beneficiaries, payable-on-death bank accounts, and property already held in a revocable trust.

Dying without a will

When someone passes away without a valid will, Indiana's intestacy laws determine how the property is divided — for example, an estate left by a married person with one child is typically split evenly between the surviving spouse and the child. On the tax side, Indiana repealed its inheritance tax back in 2013, and as of October 2023 no new inheritance tax returns are required at all, even for older estates. That said, proper documentation of how an inherited property passed to its current owner is still essential for a clean, insurable title.

Common Title Issues in Indiana

A handful of problems tend to come up more often than others in Indiana searches:

• Unrecorded or improperly recorded interests from earlier transfers
• Boundary disputes between neighboring parcels, particularly in rural areas
• Undisclosed heirs from a prior owner's estate
• Access and utility easements that weren't disclosed to a buyer
• Delinquent property taxes that carried over from a previous owner
• Mineral rights that were reserved separately from the surface property in past transactions

Catching these before closing gives everyone involved — the buyer, the seller, and the lender — a chance to resolve them instead of discovering them after the deal is done.

Why Work With a Professional Title Search Provider

It's technically possible to research a property's history on your own using county recorder and assessor websites, but it's a time-consuming process that requires knowing exactly where to look. Deed records, tax rolls, civil judgment dockets and the State Tax Lien Registry are all separate systems and Indiana's mix of county-level indexing methods (grantor-grantee versus tract indices, for instance) makes it easy to miss something if you don't know the local conventions.

A professional title search team brings a few clear advantages:

• Local knowledge of all 92 counties, including which offices are digitized and which still require an in-person visit
• Experience spotting red flags — like a lien that's about to expire or a deed that was never properly witnessed — that a first-time searcher might overlook
• Faster turnaround, since researchers already know where and how to pull the records efficiently
• A second set of eyes on the chain of title, reducing the odds that a problem gets discovered after closing instead of before

At Suntel Global, our team handles title research across every Indiana county, combining local expertise with efficient order tracking so you always know where your report stands, from the moment you place an order to the moment it lands in your inbox.

Ready to get started? Suntel Global handles title search requests across every county in Indiana, with clear order tracking from request to delivery. Contact us today to discuss your property's specific title research needs. Call us at +1 (239) 215-3331 or email mike@suntelglobal.net to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How far back does a title search go in Indiana?

Most searches trace ownership back at least 50 years, though a longer look-back may be needed if the property's history includes complications like a prior foreclosure or an unresolved estate matter. The goal is always to establish a complete, unbroken chain of ownership.

2. What problems can a title search actually catch?

Common findings include unpaid property taxes, judgment or mechanic's liens, undisclosed easements, boundary disagreements and errors in how a prior deed was recorded. Catching these early means they can be resolved before closing instead of after.

3. Who typically orders the title search — the buyer or the seller?

It varies by transaction and region, but in most Indiana deals the buyer's side orders the search as part of due diligence, often coordinated through the closing attorney or title company. Local custom and the purchase agreement usually spell out who's responsible.

4. How does divorce affect a title search?

Because Indiana treats most property acquired during a marriage as marital property, a search needs to confirm whether a former spouse still has, or ever had, a legal interest in the property and whether any divorce-related transfer was properly recorded.

5. Do Transfer-on-Death deeds complicate a title search?

They add a step rather than a complication. A search needs to check whether a TOD deed was recorded for the property and confirm it was executed and recorded correctly, since an improperly handled TOD deed can create ambiguity about who the rightful current owner is.

6. How long does a title search take in Indiana?

Timelines depend on the county and the complexity of the property's history, but a standard search generally takes a few business days. Properties with more complicated histories — multiple prior owners, an estate transfer or unresolved liens — can take longer to fully resolve.

7. Can a title search miss something?

No search is entirely risk-free, which is one reason title insurance exists — it protects against certain issues that surface after closing despite a careful search. Working with an experienced provider who knows Indiana's county-level recording systems significantly reduces that risk.

8. What happens if a title search turns up a problem?

Most issues can be resolved before closing: a lien gets paid off and released, a missing signature gets corrected, or a boundary dispute gets clarified. In rarer cases, a serious defect may require legal action or delay the closing until it's resolved.

9. Does every county in Indiana handle records the same way?

No. Each of Indiana's 92 counties maintains its own recorder's office, and the level of digitization and indexing method varies. Some counties offer robust online search tools; others still rely primarily on in-person record requests.

10. Why hire a professional instead of doing a search yourself?

A DIY search is possible but risky, since it requires knowing exactly which records to check across multiple separate systems — deed records, tax rolls, court dockets and the State Tax Lien Registry, among others. A professional team already knows the local conventions in each county and is far less likely to miss something material to the title.