To do a title search in Texas, you work through the records of the county clerk where the property sits, pulling every recorded document tied to the parcel and the people who have owned it. Under Texas Property Code Section 11.001, instruments affecting real property must be recorded in that county to be effective against other parties, so the county clerk’s index is where the full picture lives.1State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 11 The work is methodical rather than complicated, but each step catches a different kind of problem, and skipping one is how hidden liens or ownership gaps end up as your problem after closing.
Get the Legal Description and Owner’s Name First
A street address will not run a title search. You need the current owner’s full legal name and the property’s legal description, which is the boundary language on the recorded deed. Platted subdivisions use a lot number, block number, and subdivision name. Rural or unplatted land uses a metes-and-bounds description built from compass bearings and measured distances off a fixed starting point.
The fastest way to pull both is the local appraisal district’s online database. Every Texas county has one, and an address search returns the owner of record and the legal description on file. The most recent deed, if the owner has a copy, carries the same information. Getting the exact name and legal description in hand before you start keeps you from chasing records for the wrong parcel or missing filings indexed under a slightly different spelling.
Where to Search the County Records
Most Texas county clerks offer an online portal for searching recorded documents, free or for a small fee, with filters for grantor name, grantee name, instrument type, date range, and legal description. Smaller counties may have limited online systems, and a handful still require in-person research at the courthouse. If you go in person, the clerk’s office keeps public-access terminals, and staff can show you how the search software is organized.
Run every plausible variation of the owner’s name. A search for “Robert Smith” will not necessarily surface filings under “Bob Smith” or “Robert J. Smith.” Include middle initials, nicknames, and any maiden names for married owners. A single missed spelling can hide a lien or transfer that would otherwise change your decision.
Build the Chain of Title Backward
The core of the search is the chain of title, the chronological sequence of every owner who has held the property. County clerks index recorded documents in a grantor-grantee system: the grantor transfers the interest, the grantee receives it.
Start with the current owner as a grantee. The deed that comes up tells you when they acquired the property and who conveyed it to them. That prior owner becomes your next grantee search, and you keep working backward. Title professionals generally use a thirty-year continuous history as the working standard because it covers the typical statute of limitations for adverse claims. Some searches go all the way back to the original sovereign grant from the Republic or State of Texas.
Every link should connect cleanly. The grantor on each deed must match the grantee on the deed before it. When someone appears to convey property they never formally received, that is a break in the chain and a potential title defect. Gaps often come from unrecorded transfers, clerical errors, or inheritance situations where nothing was filed. Any break needs to be resolved before the title can be considered clear.
Search Each Owner for Liens
Tracing ownership is only half the search. During each owner’s tenure, run that person’s name as a grantor to surface liens created by them or filed against them.
Mechanic’s Liens
A contractor, subcontractor, or supplier who worked on the property and was not paid can file a mechanic’s lien. Under Texas Property Code Chapter 53, an unresolved claim can lead to a forced sale.2State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 53.001 – Definitions When you find a mechanic’s lien affidavit, look for a corresponding release. No release on file means the debt may still be outstanding and the lien still enforceable.
Judgment Liens
A party that wins a money judgment can record an abstract of judgment in any county where the debtor owns real property, creating a lien on that property. Under Texas Property Code Section 52.006, the lien lasts ten years from the date the abstract is recorded and indexed.3State of Texas. Texas Property Code Section 52.006 Check each owner as a grantor for abstracts of judgment filed during their ownership, and verify whether a release or satisfaction has been recorded.
Federal Tax Liens
The IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien in the county where the property is located, in the office state law designates, which in Texas is the county clerk.4eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6323(f)-1 – Place for Filing Notice; Form These filings sit in the same grantor-grantee index. If one shows up, look for a Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien; the IRS is required to release the lien within 30 days after the tax is fully paid or becomes legally unenforceable.
Child Support and State Tax Liens
Unpaid child support and delinquent state taxes produce liens recorded against the owner. Child support liens are typically filed by the custodial parent or the Office of the Attorney General in the county where the property sits, and they generally remain until the arrearage is paid and a release is recorded. State tax liens follow the same recording pattern. Both appear in the same index; find the lien, then find the release.
Check the Lis Pendens Index
A lis pendens is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting the property is pending. Under Texas Property Code Section 12.007, any party seeking relief in a case involving title to real property, an interest in real property, or enforcement of an encumbrance can file one with the county clerk.5State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 12 – Recording of Instruments The clerk keeps a separate lis pendens record and indexes it under each party’s name.
A lis pendens does not itself create a lien, but it warns everyone that ownership or encumbrances are being contested in court. Buying a property with an active lis pendens is risky because the court’s eventual ruling can affect your ownership. Check both the lis pendens index and the main grantor-grantee index for filings involving the property or the current owner. If a lis pendens was later expunged by court order, that expungement order should also be on file.
Pull Deed Restrictions and Easements
Liens tell you who has a financial claim. Deed restrictions and easements tell you what you can actually do with the land.
Restrictive covenants, sometimes called CC&Rs, are rules recorded against a subdivision or development that limit how owners can use their property. They may prohibit certain construction, require approval for exterior changes, or mandate membership in a homeowners’ association with dues. Under Texas Property Code Section 202.006, a property owners’ association must file all dedicatory instruments in the county real property records, and those instruments have no legal effect until filed.6State of Texas. Texas Property Code Chapter 202 – Construction and Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants Search the subdivision name and legal description for recorded declarations, amendments, and supplements.
Easements give someone else the right to use part of the property for a specific purpose: utility lines, drainage, access to an adjacent parcel. They may be recorded as standalone instruments or referenced inside the deed. Read every deed in the chain for easement language, and search the legal description for separate easement filings. An easement discovered after closing can dictate where you build, where you fence, and how you landscape.
Confirm the Property Tax Status Separately
Property tax liens in Texas outrank almost every other claim on the property. Under Tax Code Section 32.05, a tax lien takes priority over any creditor, any other lienholder including mortgage lenders, and any HOA lien for unpaid assessments, regardless of when those other claims arose.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 32.05 – Priority of Tax Liens Over Other Property Interests If taxes go unpaid, the taxing authority can force a sale and be paid first.
The county clerk’s records will not always reflect current tax status, so go directly to the county tax assessor-collector’s office. Most counties let you check online whether taxes are current, delinquent, or on a payment plan. If you are buying, request an official tax certificate confirming the balance. Delinquent taxes carry over to the new owner with penalties and interest, and the county’s lien follows the land regardless of who holds the deed.
Handling Deceased Owners in the Chain
When an owner in the chain died, the property should have been transferred through probate or an alternative legal process. A will taken through probate typically produces a recorded court order or executor’s deed. Without a will and without probate, the chain often shows a gap where no document moves the property out of the deceased owner’s name.
Texas fills that gap with an affidavit of heirship, governed by Estates Code Chapter 203.8State of Texas. Texas Estates Code Chapter 203 – Nonjudicial Evidence of Heirship Sworn by someone familiar with the deceased person’s family history and recorded in the county’s real property records, it establishes who inherited. If you see a deceased owner in the chain and no probate documents or heirship affidavit on file, treat it as a defect. Closing that gap is not something a buyer does unilaterally; the heirs or a title company have to file the appropriate documents before the property can transfer with clear title.
Order Copies of the Documents You Need
Once you have located the deeds, liens, and other instruments, order copies for your records. Texas Local Government Code Section 118.014 sets the clerk’s fees statewide.9State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code Section 118.014 – Certified Papers
- Noncertified paper copies: $1.00 per page or partial page.
- Certified copies: $5.00 for the clerk’s certificate, plus $1.00 per page.
- Electronic copies of electronic documents: $1.00 for documents up to 10 pages; $0.10 per page beyond that.
Mortgage closings and legal proceedings require certified copies with the clerk’s official seal. For your own review, plain copies are enough. Counter requests are usually filled on the spot. Online orders can take three to five business days depending on the county, delivered by email or mail.
What a Self-Directed Search Cannot Catch
A careful search through county records will surface most recorded defects: liens, breaks in the chain, restrictions, and easements. It will not catch problems that never appear in any public record. Forged signatures on a prior deed, unknown heirs who never recorded an affidavit, identity-theft transfers, and clerical errors in the courthouse index are real risks that no search will reliably reveal. An owner’s title insurance policy is the standard protection against those hidden defects in Texas real estate transactions, purchased separately from the lender’s policy that a mortgage lender will already require. Your own search is what you use before making an offer; title insurance is what closes the gap the records cannot.