Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

To address your last question first, if two people are on title as joint tenants, the right of survivorship that goes along with joint tenancy assures that full ownership is vested immediately and automatically in the survivor, without any intervening process, including probate. However, avoiding probate by this means does not avoid the tax collector, and there is a better way to do this operation -- through use of a living trust -- which gives the successor owner the dual benefits of no probate and a reduced future liability for capital-gains taxes when the property is sold.

So, in a way, I think this answers your first question, at least in part....adding your wife's name to title assures her at least a half interest, and if it's a joint tenancy, it assures her of a full interest if you predecease her while the joint tenancy remains in effect. However, it also assures her of a likely-higher capital gains liability than if she acquired her half or entire interest by will or trust.

Further, giving someone, even your spouse, a part interest in the property might be at least a technical violation of the "due-on-sale" clause in your loan, so don't put her on title without clearing it with the lender. This does not put her "on the loan," of course; it merely satisfies the lender's possible concerns about unauthorized chages in ownership of their collateral.

I don't think there would be any effect on her credit score Credit-rating agencies don't seem to pay that much attention to your assets. The proposed change has no direct effect on her liabilities (at least at present). Nor should there be any real impact on your ability, as a couple, to buy property in the future.

Nevertheless, I don't encourage you to add your wife's name to title; you both should make an appointment with an estate-planning lawyer and see if he or she agrees with me that a living trust is a better way to hold title, in the long run.