Football, Fund & FinCEN Updates

Hello, Members!

College football season is officially on! The highlight was College Game Day.  There must have been 100,000 people at Ohio State on Saturday morning.  It was Lee Corso’s last time on the show. “Not so fast, my friend….”  is a phrase that will go down in sports history. If only a rally to support the role of an attorney in a real estate transaction would draw that many people…….Oh well. A girl can dream.

Crazy Times. Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks. The Old Republic announcement of the merger of The Fund and the other Florida division has created quite a lot of confusion and concern about the future. If you missed it, here is a link to the message that came out.  https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/PDFs/0925-MJM-Blog-01-Integration-of-Florida-Operations.pdf. First, I want to thank you for the feedback you have provided through the Old Republic email and the Real Estate Forum. It was very gratifying to see that many of you were willing to take the time to send comments and questions. I encourage you to continue to send in that feedback:  ezinfo@oldrepublictitle.com. Second, Jeff Rogero is working all day every day with ORT to make sure you continue to be supported the way you have always been supported and that the transition is as smooth as possible. Lastly,  we acknowledge that we don’t have a lot of answers to your specific questions, but I do know that Jeff is working very hard with ORT on all of these issues, and I am comfortable that answers will start to come  soon.

Our Support Continues. Regardless, we continue with all of the ways we support you, including preparation for the Real Estate Reporting Rule.  Thursday, September 4, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, is our next webinar.  We’re calling it Form Follows Function: A Title Agent’s Guide to Collecting Information for FinCEN. In this Town Hall, Jay St. Lawrence, Kara Scott and Michael Rothman will review ALTA’s Collection Forms as well as the Intake Forms that the Fund has prepared. They will also address how Members might best approach collecting the requisite data from the seller and buyer, taking into account real-world practicalities. You will also get a copy of the Realtor Information Flyer and the gang will speak to the importance of educating real estate agents on the new rule and bringing them into the process. Here’s the link to register: https://www.thefund.com/shop/education/webinars/live/form-follows-function

FinCEN Reporting. Several of you have asked whether we are going to do the required reporting for Fund Members.  We have done limited reporting for Fund Members under the current GTO regime.  However, at this point, we are unable to commit to any type of support other than education and training.  This will be a decision made by folks at Old Republic and not at The Fund.   But Melissa Scaletta has been working with a group at Old Republic, researching a couple of third-party vendors that market themselves as being able to easily handle this for title agents.  As soon as we get more information about this, we will share it with you.

FinCEN/Fidelity Lawsuit Update. Fidelity National Financial (FNF), along with its subsidiary Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., is continuing its legal fight against FinCEN's final rule, set to take effect Dec. 1. On Aug. 25, it filed a motion for summary judgment and for a preliminary injunction to stay the effective date of the rule pending resolution of the motion for summary judgment. Suit was initially filed in May 2025 in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, against the Department of the Treasury and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, along with FinCEN and its director, Andrea Gacki, claiming the FinCEN rule imposes “severe burdens” on Fidelity and other title insurance companies by increasing disclosure reports by 4,000 percent. The motion for summary judgment and a preliminary injunction makes several other very credible arguments in support of Fidelity's position.  The U.S. Treasury and FinCEN have until September 26 to file any opposition.  It will be interesting to see what arguments the government makes in support of the rule. Here is a copy of the motion. https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/PDFs/0925-MJM-Blog-01-Fidelity-Bessent-Mtn-SJ.pdf

That's all for this week. Thank you for your support of The Fund.

Let me know how we can help you.

 
 
Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and General Counsel