One of our title policies lists the homeowners as “John Doe and Jane Doe in joint tenancy.” However, the mortgage lists them as “John Doe and Jane Doe husband and wife.” Do we need to amend the mortgage or the title policy?

Based on our discussion of this issue with an attorney for a title insurance company, we do not believe that a slight discrepancy between a title insurance policy and the corresponding mortgage (for example, John and Jane joint tenancy versus John and Jane husband and wife) would affect your coverage under the title insurance policy.

It may be prudent to check the owners’ deed to the property, to see whether the discrepancy is in the mortgage or the title policy. If the deed does not match the title policy, the most conservative approach would be to request an endorsement of the policy to correct the mismatch. But again, the risk that a minor mismatch would affect your insurance coverage is low.