An old mortgage can appear as an open item in title records even after the debt was paid. Finding the recorded release or satisfaction, and matching it to the loan, is part of preparing clear title for a sale.
The document that clears the record
Indiana puts the duty on the lien holder. Once the debt and its interest are paid, tendered and discharged, the person or entity that owns, holds or has custody of the mortgage must release, discharge and satisfy the lien of record.
The proof you are looking for is a recorded release or satisfaction in the county where the mortgage was recorded. If it was never recorded, the lien is still on the record whatever your payoff letter says.
Who is supposed to do it
The statute reaches broadly: individuals, firms, limited liability companies, corporations, partnerships, associations, administrators, executors, guardians and trustees that own, hold or have custody of a mortgage, a mechanic's lien, a judgment or another recorded lien. The mortgages chapter repeats the duty and sends the mechanics back to the liens chapter. A partial release has to say on its face that it is partial and describe which portion of the lien it covers.
Where a bank, trust company, savings bank or other corporation is the holder, there is a separate chapter on how it does the releasing. Specified officers or authorized representatives may release once the debt is paid. A release written on the margin or face of the record of the lien and attested by the recorder is a full discharge and satisfaction.
A county recorder may require each release, discharge, satisfaction or partial release to be its own instrument, and where that rule applies one instrument may contain only one release. An institution may instead use a separate written instrument signed in its corporate name, which the record custodian records and then cross references in the margin. A release signed by an attorney in fact cannot be recorded at all until a written grant of that authority, signed and acknowledged by two officers of the institution, has been filed and recorded in that same county.
The written demand, and its 15 days
The duty section itself sets no number of days. The next section, IC 32-28-1-2, does, once you ask in the right form. If the owner, or anyone else with the right to demand the release, sends a written demand by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, and the holder has not released and satisfied the lien of record within 15 days after receiving it, the holder forfeits up to $500 to the person who demanded it, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees for enforcing the release. A court can also appoint a commissioner to release the lien.
So the lever exists, but it starts with a letter sent the right way, not with phone calls to a servicer.
The route that does carry a clock
Indiana has a separate chapter letting a title insurance company clear the record when the lender will not. An officer or appointed agent of a title insurance company may execute a certificate of release on behalf of the mortgagor, or of a person who acquired a lien from the mortgagor, when two conditions are both met. First, no satisfaction or release has been executed and recorded within 60 days after the payoff payment was sent, according to a payoff statement from the mortgagee or the mortgage servicer.
Second, at least 30 days before executing the certificate, written notice of the intent to do so went to the mortgagee's or servicer's last known address, stating that the certificate will be executed and recorded once the 60 day period expires. The certificate is recorded in the real property records of every county where the mortgage is recorded, and a certificate prepared, executed and recorded under that chapter constitutes a release of the mortgage it describes. The county recorder enters and indexes it the same way as any release or satisfaction of mortgage.
That is the practical answer for a stale mortgage on a title commitment. The title company has a statutory path, it starts with the payoff statement, and the clock begins at the date the payoff was sent rather than the date anyone noticed the problem.
What recording costs
The recorder's fee schedule sets fifty-five dollars for recording any mortgage. Where a recorder attests to a release, a partial release or an assignment on a multiple transaction document, the fee for each transaction after the first is seven dollars plus the amount for recording an instrument other than a mortgage. I am not going to quote you a figure for a single standalone release, because the schedule as read does not name one; the recorder's office in your county will, and that is a one call question.
Why this lands hardest on long-time owners
For a long-held home with previous refinances, collect payoff records and ask the title company to check the recorded releases. Resolving an old open item during preparation leaves more time than discovering it just before closing.
Whether a particular old mortgage is actually released, what a specific exception on a title commitment means, and what to do if a servicer refuses are questions for the title company and for your attorney. I do not read title commitments as legal advice and I am not going to tell you a lien is cleared when a recorded document is what would show it.
The notes on what title insurance is and on what a listing agent does after the sign goes up cover where this sits in the sale, and the sellers page covers the rest of the pre-listing work.
Source: Indiana Code 32-28-1-1, 32-29-11-1, 32-29-5-1, 32-29-6-9 and 32-29-6-15, and the county recorder's fee schedule at Indiana Code 36-2-7-10(c), all read October 13, 2026 on law.justia.com, which reproduces the section text and the amendment history. 32-28-1-1 and 32-29-11-1 as added by P.L.2-2002; 32-29-5-1 as added by P.L.2-2002 and amended by P.L.127-2017; 32-29-6-9 and 32-29-6-15 as added by P.L.2-2002; 36-2-7-10 last amended by P.L.181-2025. Indiana Code 32-28-1-2, the written demand, 15 day period and forfeiture, read October 27, 2026 in the Indiana Code compilation published at statecodesfiles.justia.com; the text there is as added by P.L.2-2002.
This note is general. It is not legal advice, and whether a specific lien has been released is a title question answered by a recorded document.