Patent ID: 8401301

Claim:
A non-transitory machine-readable medium for verifying chain-of-title in real estate documents having sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to: receive a current title document image for real property in an electronic form, wherein the current title document image includes at least a grantor field and text; automatically determine a grantor of the real property from the grantor field of the current title document image; search one or more real property title databases for a title document image preceding the current title document image in the chain of title for the real property, wherein the preceding title document image includes at least a grantee field; determine a grantee in the preceding title document image from the grantee field; compare the grantor and the grantee to determine if the grantor and the grantee are substantially similar; determine a document type associated with the current title document image; identify a first set of rules based at least in part on: the document type, and a recording jurisdiction in which the real property is located; identify, based on the first set of rules, a plurality of candidate data strings in the current title document image for validation; identify, based on the first set of rules, a plurality of target data strings stored remotely at a validation server; compare the candidate data strings to the target data strings to determine if the document image is valid according to the first set of rules, and a second set of rules that are updated dynamically as the candidate data strings and the target data strings are compared; and in response to the grantor and the grantee being substantially similar and based on a determination that the document image is valid, certify that the real property has a valid chain of title.