Examiner of titles
An examiner of titles is a lawyer appointed by the district court under Minn. Stat. 508.12 to advise the registrar of titles. A deputy examiner may also be appointed.
The office exists because the Torrens registrar does something a recorder does not: it issues title rather than merely filing documents.
Why the office is necessary#
A county recorder accepts documents meeting formal requirements and makes no judgement about whether they are legally effective.
A registrar of titles issues a new certificate — a statement of ownership. That requires deciding whether the instrument presented actually does what it claims, which is a legal determination.
The examiner is the lawyer who makes it.
What they do#
Advise the registrar on whether instruments can be accepted.
Certify instruments the registrar cannot accept without approval. Which categories require certification varies by county practice, and anything unusual on registered land is worth checking on before attempting to file.
Report to the court in registration proceedings and in proceedings subsequent to initial registration, on the state of title and on what the court should order.
Under the court, not the county#
The examiner is appointed by and reports to the district court, as does the registrar in that capacity.
That is a genuine structural difference from ordinary county administration, and it is why Torrens matters resolve differently from abstract ones.
The cost point#
In counties with a full-time examiner, the assistance generally comes with the system at no separate charge to the parties.
That is a significant and underappreciated advantage of registration. An owner with a difficult title question on registered land has access to a lawyer whose function is to resolve it — which is not true on the abstract side, where the equivalent work is billed by whoever the owner hires.
Where a county uses a part-time or appointed examiner, arrangements differ. Ask the county.
Practical advice on registered land#
Establish the requirement first. Before preparing anything unusual for filing on Torrens property, ask the registrar's office whether examiner certification is needed and what it requires.
County practice varies enough that assuming the requirement from another county's process is a reliable way to have a document rejected.
Use the resource. An examiner's view on a difficult question, given early, is faster and cheaper than discovering the problem when a filing is refused during a closing.
Where the examiner helps a distressed property#
The situations that come up most often on land with a difficult history.
Registration of clouded abstract land, where the examiner reports to the court on what the title actually shows and what must be resolved.
Proceedings subsequent on registered land — correcting a certificate, resolving a memorial, dealing with an interest whose holder has vanished.
Instruments the registrar cannot accept alone, which on tax-forfeited, foreclosed and inherited property is a wider category than on ordinary conveyances.
For anyone dealing with a Torrens parcel where the paperwork is unusual, the examiner's office is the first call rather than the last — and asking early is considerably cheaper than discovering the requirement when a filing is refused during a closing.