Bulletin: NC2023001

Dear Associates:

The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is five months into its migration from the current VCAP system which indexes all civil and criminal filings in North Carolina to the Odyssey Integrated Case Management System. The North Carolina Land Title Association (NCLTA) adopted a VCAP to eCourts Odyssey Portal indemnity agreement to be used by title insurance underwriters at the beginning of the migration. The purpose of the indemnity agreement was to address the limited period between the VCAP system going offline in the pilot counties (Harnett, Johnston, Lee, and Wake) and the Odyssey Portal going live. See https://www.nccourts.gov/ecourts to see the Odyssey Rollout projected go-live date for each county. Note that the AOC expects all 100 counties in NC will have migrated to the Odyssey Portal by the end of 2024.

During the migration in the pilot counties, users raised additional issues and concerns about the overall search function and reliability of the Odyssey Portal. As a result, NCLTA revised the original indemnity agreement to address the current data migration concerns. You can find both a pdf version of the revised indemnity agreement (effective 7/11/23) and a Microsoft Word version on the NCLTA website (https://www.nclta.org/). To insure without exception to any matters filed with the Clerk of Court’s office during the migration, this indemnity agreement must be obtained from all Sellers/Owners and Purchasers of the Land, if at the time of closing the records in the Clerk of Court’s office are affected by migration from the current VCAP system to the Odyssey Portal.

The revised indemnity agreement removes references to documents that would be found in a normal search of a Register of Deeds index. It also clarifies that this indemnification form does not replace the need for obtaining the appropriate NCLTA lien waivers. Note that attorneys are still required to search the Odyssey Portal and that obtaining this indemnity agreement does not discharge that responsibility.

Additionally, NCLTA published the below sample requirement language for title insurance commitments. This requirement must be included in Schedule B-1 of the commitment in counties affected by the migration.

If at the time of closing, records in the Clerk of Court’s office potentially affecting Title to the Land are affected by computer data migration from VCAP to eCourts Odyssey Portal, and if coverage is requested without exception for any matters filed with the Clerk’s office during this period in which the attorney’s ability to search these records is impacted, the following are required:

1. attorney’s certification of examination of the VCAP portal immediately prior to the migration;
2. attorney’s certification of examination of the eCourt Odyssey Portal according to the most current search standards available; and
3. receipt of fully executed NCLTA Form “Affidavit of Understanding and Indemnity and Hold Harmless Agreement Regarding Computer Data Migration (VCAP to ECOURTS ODYSSEY PORTAL)” or satisfactory equivalent approved in advance by a Stewart underwriter.

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

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