Two words: Title Insurance - one time purchase.
I do not know the answer, but in general when you purchase a home and the title is finalized by a title company do you not have “insurance”?
I hear these ads often but I had never heard of such a theft.
Curious if anyone has a more definitive answer?
In both Wisconsin and Ohio the title company provided a document called Title Insurance. In Ohio it was required. In Wisconsin it was advised but not mandatory. The purpose is that you are not out if something goes wrong with the title of the house you procured.
Now reading more on this is sounds like blatant forgery and fraud and should be a simple matter of proving that it isn’t your signature.
My two cents' worth on why I wouldn't bother. Assuming you don't buy the house outright with cash you've bought it with a mortgage. This means the bank is part owner for many years. Even if your state doesn't require title insurance your bank does. And it's for reasons like this. If someone tries to claim ownership of your property, your bank's lawyers will come to bat for you (for the bank) because the bank has a vested interest in keeping someone else from claiming your property. The bank wants their money back for the purchase of the home, and they know that you're the one that'll pay it. But only if you continue to live there.
In the many years it takes to pay off your mortgage (be it a 15 year mortgage or 30 year mortgage) if no one tries to claim your property until after the mortgage is paid off then that person would have a steep uphill battle explaining why they didn't claim it for 30 years. That'd be hard to win in court. And if someone tried to sue you for your property, claiming they're the true owner, you can counter-sue and do it without an attorney. In other words, you can legally make it costly to them without it costing you (sans a $50 or so motion filing fee). The more you interact with their attorney while you're pro se (legally representing yourself), the more it costs your adversary and not you. Which means the quicker they'll drop their case. (At least that's been my experience in a similar manner, completely unrelated to someone claiming they owned my property.)
I do not know the answer, but in general when you purchase a home and the title is finalized by a title company do you not have “insurance”?
Maybe colloquially called a title company, but actually is a title insurance company.