Do you need a closing attorney in Tennessee?
No law requires one. The question is whether you want someone at the table who is required to be on your side. Most Tennessee purchases close at a title company with no lawyer for either side, and that is legal. A closing attorney handles the title and the closing, and also represents you. For the same settlement fee a title company charges, Vanderpool Law reads the contract first, searches the title before you are committed, represents you at the table, and handles what goes wrong. So the honest answer is: you don't need one, and Vanderpool Law costs nothing extra.
When to hire one: before you sign, because the contract is where most of the money is decided. Who pays: whoever hires the attorney pays the closing fee, exactly as they would pay a title company. The average cost of a closing attorney in Tennessee, at Vanderpool Law, is the title company's fee.
"You only need an attorney for a complicated closing." You'll hear that from people who close for a living. In our years of doing this there is no such thing as an uncomplicated closing: there is always something to figure out, something to negotiate, something the parties didn't see coming. The only question is whether the person handling it is allowed to be on your side. At Vanderpool Law it is, for the same fee: we read the contract before you sign and sit on your side of the table at closing.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 23-3-103 (a title company may not practice law); Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 8, RPC 1.13; our experience over 15,000 closings.Should I get a lawyer for closing on a house?
If the lawyer costs more than a title company, that's a real question. If the lawyer costs the same, it isn't. Vanderpool Law is a law firm that offers title services: the search, the policy, the closing and the recording, for the same fee a title company charges, and Vanderpool Law reads your contract before you sign and sits on your side of the table at closing. Four complimentary services come with it for every client who asks: a presearch, a contract review, a preliminary settlement statement and a savings check.
When to hire a closing attorney
Before you sign. The Tennessee contract decides who pays what, who closes for whom, and when the deadlines fall; a lawyer who sees it first can fix what a lawyer who sees it last can only explain. After you sign is still fine, and better than never: send us the contract and we'll start that day.
You don't need one. For the same fee, Vanderpool Law reads your contract before you sign and sits on your side of the table at closing. Why would you not?