Color of title is often referred to as apparent title. This term results from a party believing the apparent title of a property is valid, when in reality it is not. Color of title results from one party believing he/she is purchasing a property free of defects due to untrue title reports and others or when two or more parties purchased the same piece of land. In both instances, the buyer reasonably relied on title reports and purchased the property in the belief that the purchase would grant them full ownership of a property. Another reason this might occur is when the deed was forged, and the county used the forged deed as the basis for their records.
A color of title is typically a document that wrongly shows whom the owner of a property is. The document, while written that a party is the owner, holds no value when proving real property ownership. The title has defects and therefore is not valid in court to prove title to a property.
