The searches a lawyer runs through Information Services Corporation before closing catch most obvious problems, but they cannot catch everything, particularly fraud that surfaces only after the fact or an error buried in decades-old paperwork that predates digital records.
That gap is exactly what title insurance is priced to cover. A lender's policy protects the lender's interest, while an owner's policy, if the buyer adds one, protects the buyer's own equity for a modest amount on top of the legal fees, $800 to $1,500, a lawyer charges to close.
Ask your lawyer which specific risks your policy covers before you assume it protects everything. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.