Lots more document packages have recently been posted for download through the Auto-Updater. You can see an updated list of what packages are available now on our Document Status chart.

If you have not yet loaded your Auto-Updater, click to our announcement to install it and to download your document updates. It only takes a few minutes and should not interfere with your office's use of Standard Conveyancer

We informed everyone by QuickNote on Monday and again today that the Auto-Updater was made available for download on December 31st. All title insurance state packages that were approved for distribution as of Friday, December 28th are available now through the Auto-Updater. The remaining packages will be made available in the coming days as they are approved and posted. Preparation and posting of the packages for download through the Auto-Updater is somewhat time consuming, but we will make everything available as soon as possible.

You can see what packages are available now on our Document Status chart.

The Auto-Updater is still on track to be delivered by the end of they year. Look for a QuickNote with download instructions on December 31st, and probably a follow-up on January 2nd. The System Requirements listed below, plus the information on how to get there, still applies.

It started to become clear this month that not every title insurance company state office would get their new documents to us in time to have everything ready by the end of the year. Most of the 50 or so state packages we support will be available January 1st, but the ones that are not are already well underway toward completion. Of those packages still not complete, most are at the state offices for approval, a step which is necessary before we can distribute the package to agents.

Before the end of this year, you will be able to download and install our new Auto-Updater program and use it to obtain your new title insurance packages and other document updates.

For a long time now we've been encouraging everyone to get their Standard Conveyancer updated to version 10.20.6, which is required for the Auto-Updater and the new title packages.

You can quickly update to 10.20.6 from any version between 10.20 and 10.20.5. In Standard Conveyancer, click Help, then SC on the Web, then Check for Web Updates.

To update to 10.20 from Standard Conveyancer version 9, 10, 10.1, 10.3. or 10.31, you need to install your 10.20 Update CD that was sent to you some time over the past year. From version 10.20, you will then be able to complete your update to 10.20.6 in one step through our Check for Web Updates system.

If you can not locate your 10.20 Update CD or if there is something preventing you from installing it, it is imperative that you contact us right away. If there are large numbers of offices that still need to be updated at the end of the year, we cannot guarantee that we can help you by the January 1st deadlines for the new title policy documents.

This News Blog was originally intended to let our client base know when individual policy packages had become available. Several things have happened, however, that caused us to alter our original plan to distribute the new packages one at at time. As a consequence, we have not really had much new to report.

First, as everyone knows by now, the deadline for use of the documents was extended to the beginning of next year. Second, many of the title insurance company state offices have been using this extension of time to continue to work on document development or to send us additional changes. Third, we have been able to use this time to continue development of our new AutoUpdater Module. The AutoUpdater will allow your system to download document and program updates for Standard Conveyancer automatically, in the background, without you even needing to check for updates.

As a general principle, we have switched from attempting to finalize individual packages in the sequence we received them to making sure we can shepherd all the needed state underwriter packages to completion before the end of the year. We have received most of what we need from the title insurance company state offices and are proceeding with plans to deliver all packages before January 1st.

A recent ALTA news item called the new Freddie Mac (and Fannie Mae) January 1st deadline "only a reprieve," and urged the title insurance industry to be ready by this date. From our perspective the holdup has been in the localization of the policy forms on a state-by-state basis.

All of the policy forms that the underwriters have asked us to do either have been implemented or are in process now. We still do not have forms from some underwriters, however. ALTA is mistaken to say that "most title production software has been revised to accommodate" the new policy. This work depends on the underwriters finalizing the development of their policy schedules and commitments and getting the forms to the software developers.

To clarify, at this time only the Massachusetts United General policy forms are available for download. RI forms have not been approved for distribution. We have no information yet on whether the CT, NH or ME forms have been filed with or approved by the appropriate insurance commissions.

Like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae has now announced that it will require the use of the 2006 policies beginning January 1, 2008.

United General has informed us that they are ready to start distribution of the 2006 jackets and policy forms. As things stand now, United General will deliver the new jackets to individual agent offices starting next week. Agents should download the forms only when they receive the new jackets and they are ready to start using them, as the new policy forms will replace the old ones in Standard Conveyancer.

Look for a Standard Solutions QuickNote on this topic, which will contain an e-mail link you can use to request the documents.

ALTA's decertification date of June 18th passed without much notice, as most of the underwriters were still working on getting forms finalized and into software packages. ALTA acknowledged in its news item marking the passing of the 1992 policies that, while they were no longer official ALTA forms, as a practical matter they would still be in use until at least the end of the year.

Some underwriters have made up MS Word or PDF versions for temporary use with 2006 on-line policy jacket generators. Otherwise, the general rule is to keep using the 1992 forms and policy jackets until you get the word from your underwriter that the new jackets and forms are available to you. The major wrinkle will probably be lenders starting to ask for the new policies, and this issue will need to be dealt with on a case by case basis with your underwriters.

The 2006 First American forms are available for MA, NH and ME for agents using the First American E-Jacket system, which switched over to the 2006 jackets this week. If you are still using 1992 jackets, however, you need to continue using the forms you already have. Please call or e-mail if you need the new forms.

All other packages are being held pending distribution of new jackets by the underwriters or are still in development. At this point we have the forms in from most of the underwriters and we are anticipating a changeover period that will last though the end of the year.

More and more underwriters are making the decision that agents may continue to use the old forms and/or jackets until the new ones are ready. This could be a while, as some don't have the forms completed or available to us yet. As a practical matter, it's up to the underwriters to decide what forms are allowed. There no longer appears to be any uniform deadline other than January, 2008.

Standard Solutions will very shortly release a program update that will self-install the title insurance documents that your firm is licensed for. We're taking the extra time, in light of this deadline rollback, to do further testing and tweaking before we release the update.

We got word today that Freddie Mac has extended the date for the mandatory use of the ALTA 2006 Loan Policy from June 17, 2007 to January 1, 2008. This decision was attributed to delays in development of the new forms for the title insurance distribution systems: i.e., getting the state versions of the forms ready and supplying them to the software vendors.

In April, concerned that we had not yet received any new forms, Standard Solutions sent a message to all the underwriters in all the states we support explaining the urgency and asking for the forms as soon as possible. To date, many of the underwriters have not yet sent us their forms. At least some have not yet completed their revisions. Judging by the rate at which these forms are trickling in to us, we know that some of the new packages will be available for Standard Conveyancer well before others. As the forms come in, we are committed to getting them added to the program as quickly as possible.

We don't anticipate that any underwriter will leave you in a position where you are unable to generate commitments or policies. As in the past, the forms should be available from your underwriters either on disk, through their Web sites, or on paper. In addition, your current schedules and commitments will remain in your system until they are replaced by the new ones. It is up to your underwriter to give you instructions on what to do during this changeover period.