The stay following an order approving a sale is the most common reason a bankruptcy closing misses its date — not because anyone did anything wrong, but because the calendar was set as though the order were immediately effective.
Everything below describes title practice and underwriter requirements. None of it is legal advice, and we are not your client's lawyer.
The motion, the notice, the order and proof of service together establish what the underwriter can rely on. Free-and-clear relief has statutory prerequisites, and the order needs to say what it needs to say.
An order authorizing a sale is generally stayed for fourteen days unless the court orders otherwise. If waiver was requested and granted, the order should say so — and if it was not, the closing calendar has to account for it.
Nothing closes through the stay. Where relief has been granted, the order and its terms are part of the file the underwriter reviews.
Plan confirmation, trustee consent and court authority all bear on who can convey and on what terms.
Abandoned property leaves the estate and changes who conveys. Separately, the Texas homestead exemption is unusually generous but subject to a federal cap tied to how long the debtor has owned the property, and to acreage limits that differ between urban and rural homesteads.
Discharge addresses personal liability. Liens are a separate question, and tax liens in particular frequently survive.
WG Title is a title and escrow company, not a law firm. WG Law is a separate, independently operated company. We do not advise your client and we do not take your client.
Only if the order waives the fourteen-day stay. If it is silent, the stay generally applies and the closing date has to reflect that. This is the single most common scheduling problem in these files.
Typically the motion, the notice, proof of service, the entered order and a current docket sheet. Send them as a set and the review is fast.
Discharge and lien avoidance are different things, and tax liens in particular often survive. We will tell you what still appears on our search regardless of the discharge.
Abandonment generally returns the property to the debtor, which changes the conveying party. Send the abandonment documentation and we will confirm what our underwriter requires.
Identical at every Texas title company: the basic title insurance premium and the promulgated endorsement charges. These are set by the Texas Department of Insurance. No company can discount them, and any company implying it can is describing something that is not legally possible.
Set by each company: the escrow or settlement fee, and the incidental charges around it. These are not promulgated, they do vary, and they are the fair thing to compare.
We would rather tell you which is which than let you assume we are cheaper on something nobody can be cheaper on.
Muniment of title, an affidavit of heirship and a full independent administration produce very different title positions, and the underwriter treats them very differently. Tell us the path early and we will tell you what will be required to close on it.
What that requires →A commitment without the instruments it references is not reviewable. The most useful thing a title company does for real estate counsel is deliver a complete, legible exception package promptly and then answer questions about it.
What that requires →This is the sub-practice where title problems are created quietly and discovered years later — at a refinance or a sale, when the fix is far more expensive than it would have been during the divorce.
What that requires →FIRPTA withholding, exchange sequencing and rollback exposure all resolve at the closing table. A title company that understands what it is being asked to do is worth more here than almost anywhere else.
What that requires →Send the matter type and where it stands. We will tell you what our underwriter will want before you order a commitment.
