Why do I need ARIS ATPI®? Should I buy ARIS ATPI® for currently owned art?  How does ARIS underwrite legal title to art? Does ARIS ATPI® cover authenticity? What if ARIS finds that my art has defective title? What does ARIS ATPI® cover? "It won't happen to me."

Why do I need ARIS ATPI®?

Because there is so much to lose without it and so much to gain with it.  Good sense dictates insuring against the known financial risks of art transactions just as individuals insure the ownership of other significant assets.  Contested provenance of art is not a rare phenomenon anymore; this is true despite the best good faith efforts of even the most reputable buyers, sellers and art dealers.  Before the 1980’s, most art buyers and most art dealers had little cause for concern.  However, the events over the past twenty-six years have vastly changed the art world.  Art has generally become regarded as a more valuable “asset,” which has increased the likelihood that a given work of art will be subject to a legal title claim.  Compounding this risk is the impact of the Internet and the increasing volume of information today entering the public domain about art moving throughout the world’s art markets. 

Banks, for instance, are increasingly accepting art as direct loan collateral and at greater value to loan ratios; investment bankers are grouping art for mutual funds; and tax authorities are increasingly scrutinizing art before allowing charitable deductions or "like kind exchanges" to defer capital gains tax.  In addition, international laws affect art sold not only from Western Europe but also from dozens of other countries around the world.