How long does a title search take in Indiana and Illinois?
Chasteen Land & Title
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The honest answer is "it depends on the order type and the county," so here is the breakdown we work from.
By order type
Update or policy forward (new matters since a prior commitment or policy): usually 1 business day.
10-year current owner search: 1 business day.
20-year search: about 2 business days.
30-year search: about 3 business days.
40-year search: about 4 business days.
60-year search: about 6 business days.
Patent-to-present: quoted per county; about a week per tract where the records cooperate.
These are typical times for a single parcel with a normal chain. A parcel with a dozen owners in ten years, an unreleased mortgage from 1998, or an estate that never went through probate takes longer, and we tell you when we see it.
By county
Two things decide whether a county is fast or slow.
The first is how far back the recorder's index and images are online. Many Indiana counties are on Doxpop or Laredo with images from the 1990s or earlier; many Illinois counties are on Laredo or the county's own site. For a current-owner or 10-year search in those counties, the whole job can be done from the desk the same day. For older searches, someone has to go to the courthouse, and the schedule depends on the recorder's hours and whether they scan on request.
The second is the condition of the early records. Some counties have clean, typed tract indexes back to the 1800s. Others have handwritten grantor-grantee books where the only way to find a 1920 deed is to read every entry under the surname. That is still doable, it just takes longer.
Our coverage map shows the typical turnaround by order type for every county in Indiana and Illinois. Hover a county to see it.
What slows a search down
Missing or wrong legal description on the order. Send the parcel number and we will pull the legal.
Common surnames in a county with a name-only index.
Estates with no probate, where heirship has to be proven from obituaries and affidavits.
Mineral severances, which add a second chain to follow.
Courthouse closures and holiday weeks.
What speeds it up
A prior commitment, policy, abstract or runsheet. Even a ten-year-old one cuts the work in half.
Ordering several parcels in the same county at once; the courthouse trip covers all of them.
Telling us the deadline. We schedule to it.
Need a date for a specific county and order type? Order a search and we will reply with a fixed bid and a delivery date, usually the same business day.