The buyer pays for the lender's policy, because the loan requires it; the owner's policy follows local custom, and in Nevada and Clark County the seller customarily pays for it, though the purchase agreement decides and every one of those lines is negotiable.
There are two policies, and most arguments about who pays for title insurance are two people talking about different ones. The lender's policy is not open in substance: no lender funds without it, and the borrower pays. The owner's policy is the one custom decides, and custom is local enough that the answer changes at a state line and sometimes at a county one.
The lender's policy, which the buyer always pays
The lender's policy insures the lender for the loan amount, follows the lien, and shrinks as the balance is paid down. It protects nobody else. Every mortgage requires it, it appears on the loan estimate among the title services, and the buyer pays it as a cost of borrowing. On a refinance the borrower pays for a new one, because the new loan is a new lien; the owner's policy from the purchase carries on untouched and is not reissued.
The owner's policy, and where custom puts it
The owner's policy insures the buyer for the purchase price, for as long as they or their heirs hold an interest in the property. Who pays for it is custom rather than law, and it varies. Across much of the west, and in Texas, the seller customarily pays. Across much of the northeast and midwest the buyer does. In Florida and in California it varies county by county, which is why a national answer to this question is always wrong somewhere.
Here, the long-standing custom in Clark County is that the seller pays for the buyer's owner's policy, the buyer pays for the lender's policy, and the escrow fee is split. That is a starting point, not a rule. The standard purchase agreement has a line for each title and escrow charge and lets either party take it on, and a seller paying both policies is one of the concessions that shows up when sellers are competing for buyers.
What a seller cannot do, whoever pays
Section 9 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. 2608) forbids the seller of a home bought with a federally related mortgage from requiring, directly or indirectly, that the buyer purchase title insurance from a particular company as a condition of sale. A seller who does is liable to the buyer for three times all charges made for the title insurance. Paying for the policy is allowed. Naming the company as a condition of the sale is not, and the point of the rule is that the party paying is not automatically the party choosing.
In practice the buyer names a title company in the offer, or the two agree on one, and in Nevada that same company acts as the escrow holder for the transaction.
How it shows on the settlement statement
On a $450,000 purchase with a $405,000 loan under Clark County custom, the buyer's column carries the lender's policy and half the escrow fee, and the seller's column carries the owner's policy, the other half of the escrow fee and the transfer tax, which in Clark County is $2.55 per $500 of value. Move the owner's policy to the buyer in the contract and it moves columns on the statement. Nothing about the coverage changes with it.
Questions people ask
Does the buyer or the seller pay for title insurance in Nevada?
Custom in Clark County has the seller pay for the buyer's owner's policy and the buyer pay for the lender's policy, with the escrow fee split between them. The purchase agreement can allocate any of it differently, and in a competitive market it often does.
Can you refuse to pay for title insurance?
Not for the lender's policy on a financed purchase, because the loan does not fund without it. The owner's policy is optional in most states, and an escrow officer will document the declination in writing before closing.
Is title insurance paid at closing or monthly?
Once, at closing. It is a single premium for coverage that lasts as long as the insured interest does, which is why it appears on the settlement statement and never inside the monthly mortgage payment.