Ownership is registered in the US and part of the sale is a "title search" to check that and then update the registered title when the sale is executed (both ha

Ownership is registered in the US and part of the sale is a "title search" to check that and then update the registered title when the sale is executed (both handled by an attorney). The case of title insurance is only where something weirder happens with wills, contracts, or liens. If there was an owner that died in 2016 and his will said "split my house to all surviving children". And at the time one child shows up who believes they are the sole surviving descendant and claims the house and sells it in 2017, then 2018 a second heir finds out their estranged parent died and shows up to say "actually half of this house was mine, that guy didn't legally have the right to sell it even without any fraud occuring". Title insurance ends up 'fixing' this problem so that the buyer and actual-should-have-been-owner can both be made whole (and they go after the seller for the amount they didn't actually own, but sometimes that won't be possible to recover). If you don't have title insurance you as the buyer just take the liability that you might not actually own the house (or part of the house) if the record was mistaken and needs to be corrected. In Germany would this just be a case where if the will is executed and you find out too late the inheritor would be screwed with no way to get what you owned instead?