Re: Home ownership

This question comes up often. If a married couple wants to make sure that the current property appears to be owned by both individuals equally on the property records, the couple needs to consider the following process.

1. If appropriate, the person whose name appears on the current deed to the property can sign a deed that is notarized and deed the property equally to the two names that he or she desires (of course, one of these names can still be the donating person, also known as the grantor).

2. An inquiry must be made as to any liens or other obligations (i.e., mortgages, tax liens, home owners' associations, etc.) to make sure that the person giving the property is not giving something that someone else already has a stake in. Typically, this is done by an attorney or title company performing a "lien search."

3. Based on this information, the parties determine whether a quitclaim deed will suffice or whether a general warranty deed, closing, title insurance, or things are needed to complete the transaction.

4. Before a deed is filed, other factors need to be evaluated, such as tax issues, whether one spouse has better or worse credit or legal prroblems than the other, health, whether the deed creates an event of default on the current mortgage, etc. There may even be other issues (children, grandchildren, favorite neices, etc.) that suggest sending the property to someone else is best.

Sometimes putting property in more than one person's name may not benefit one or both individuals. For example, if a second or third home was shared with someone else who had more than one home, that person's other creditors may be able to try and force a sale on the shared home to collect upon judgment debts.

As always, this analysis is based upon my understanding of the limited facts and anyone else reading this should discuss any of his or her particular issues with an attorney who has an understanding of those specific facts.

Take Care and God Bless.

JCC