For real estate attorneys, the integrity of court searches is foundational. Title opinions, lien searches, judgment reviews, estate matters, and foreclosure work all depend on the ability to locate complete and accurate court records.

Now that North Carolina has completed its transition to electronic filing, many lawyers – particularly those handling real estate matters – are finding that even thorough, good-faith searches of civil records may no longer produce reliable results.

The following insights are drawn from the real-world experience of Lawyers Mutual Community Board member and real estate practitioner Julian Robb of Blanco Tackabery, who regularly navigates Odyssey in real estate title searches and has identified several risk areas attorneys should understand.

Why Familiar Search Protocols Can Lead to Incomplete Results

Many attorneys were initially advised to follow VCAP-era search protocols when Odyssey rolled out. Unfortunately, those rules are no longer sufficient.

For example, under VCAP, if you were searching an individual’s name, such as Roy Cooper, if you searched that individual name as “cooper,roy” or “cooper,r” (without a space) VCAP would return all results for that person. In Odyssey, particularly in Judgment Search, using only that same approach may miss results.  There have been searches where no results were returned for a Judgment Search with no space between a specific last name and first name, but several results returned for a Judgment Search with a space between that same last name and first name.

As a result, while there is no best practice yet for Odyssey searches, a prudent title search would include:

• Searching with and without a space between last and first names, with a comma between the first and last names.
• Always using a variation of the search with a wildcard (*), especially in Judgment Search
• Trying multiple variations of the same name

Without these additional steps, attorneys risk missing judgments that do, in fact, exist.

Judgment Searches: Too Many Results and Not Enough Filters

Judgment Search presents a unique challenge because you cannot initially filter by county, unlike Smart Search.

As a result, when you have results in multiple counties: 

• If the number of counties with results are minimal, then the full list of those counties will appear on the left side of the screen, under “Location”
• If the number of counties with results are too many to fit on the screen, then Odyssey will display a “More” button, and you’ll need to click on that “More” button to see the list of additional counties. 
• If the number of counties with results are too many to fit on the screen, even with the “More” drop-down option, then Odyssey will replace the “More” button with a “Find More” search box. One would need to type the specific county in the “Find More” search box to find relevant searches.  Relying only on visible counties on the screen may lead you to incorrectly conclude there are no relevant filings in your jurisdiction.
• Importantly, Odyssey will sometimes list the counties alphabetically in the results list, but sometimes Odyssey will not. So, one cannot rely upon an assumption that if your county is not listed where it would normally lie, alphabetically, that the county is not also listed elsewhere in the list of counties.  

The above features can be confusing, especially for attorneys who do not use Odyssey daily.

Critical risk:

Estate Files: When Records Become Effectively Undiscoverable

Estate searches present another significant risk. While searching an estate in Smart Search may work, it often depends entirely on how the estate was entered by county staff.

I have had transactions where I knew an estate existed, but I could not locate the estate file no matter what variation of the decedent’s name I used. In one case, the estate file was indexed under:   “In the Matter of the Estate of Dan Zureich,” so searching simply by “Zureich, Dan*” failed to discover the estate file. There is no great way to handle this, other than by searching more broadly on Smart Search, but in the absence of knowing for certain that an estate exists when searching there will always be the risk of missing an estate file because of the potential for different variations of filing estates into Odyssey.

The result? An estate file that technically exists—but is functionally undiscoverable through standard searches.

Business Names, Trusts, and Special Characters

Business searches remain particularly difficult, especially when names include:

• Numbers
• Special characters
• Spacing variations

While wildcards help, they come with limitations. Odyssey requires at least three characters before a wildcard can be used, which does not help when a special character exists at the beginning of a business name.  So, if a company were named E & F Mechanics, LLC, for example, it would be better if we could replace the “&” with a wildcard to ensure that all variations of “E & F” and the different ways those variations were indexed could be found.  Without the benefit of a wildcard, however, we are stuck with searching the different variations of “E & F” and trusting that the results are true and correct.

Trust searches add another layer of guesswork. Attorneys must decide whether to search:

• The trust name
• The trustee’s name
• Or both

Much like estates and entities with special characters, attorneys are left guessing how the trust was entered—and must search every possible variation to gain some confidence that the results in Odyssey, if any, are exhaustive.

Even When You Find the Judgment, the Work Isn’t Over: Missing Documents and Delayed Access

In many cases, judgment entries appear without attached documents. Because in-person access is no longer an option, attorneys must contact counties directly to obtain copies.

Response times vary widely. Sometimes documents arrive quickly; other times, it may take weeks – delaying transactions and increasing client frustration.

Another concerning issue: judgments filed against multiple defendants may be entered as “Defendant 1 et al.” This means searches under Defendant 2 or Defendant 3 will not reveal the judgment at all.

When Parties Disappear from Search Results

Odyssey also sometimes removes parties from search results when they are dismissed from a case. If a party was sued but later dismissed – perhaps due to settlement – that litigation may not appear in a name search unless the file number is known.

Under VCAP, dismissed parties were still discoverable, allowing attorneys to understand litigation history. That context is now often lost.

There are many legitimate reasons a real estate attorney may need to know whether a party was ever involved in litigation—not just whether they remain a party today.

The Bigger Picture: Confidence in the Record

The most troubling consequence of these issues is the growing uncertainty around a search of the civil records being completely true, correct, and complete.

Even when attorneys:

• Use wildcards
• Search multiple variations
• Review county filters carefully

There is no longer absolute confidence that every judgment, lien, estate, foreclosure, or lis pendens will appear.

This uncertainty affects not only individual transactions, but the integrity of real estate records in North Carolina and, ultimately, the marketability of property rights.

Risk-Management Takeaways for Real Estate Attorneys

• Do not rely on a single search variation as established by VCAP
• Always use wildcards in Judgment Search
• Search with and without spaces in names
• Manually enter your county in “Find More” when needed
• Search estates, trusts, and businesses using multiple naming conventions
• Be cautious when judgments list “et al.”
• Recognize that dismissed parties may not appear in search results

Additional Resource 

Lawyers seeking additional guidance or experiencing challenges with North Carolina’s e-filing system are encouraged to use the training and support resources available through the NC Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC). The NCAOC provides e-filing helpdesk support, online guides, FAQs, and training materials. The NCAOC also welcomes questions and feedback from system users as eCourts continues to evolve.