Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Signature Required When Selling A House

Your question does not specifically state what you are trying to accomplish, so I hope the following helps. A joint tenant can only sell his own interest in the property by himself. In most jurisdictions, the sale will sever the joint tenancy, and the new owner and the old owner will no longer be joint tenants but rather tenants in common. Generally, a tenancy in common does not avoid probate like a joint tenancy. If the intent is to sell everybody's interest in the house, I would expect the buyer and the title insurer to require a notice of death be filed on the one joint tenant, that the still capable joint tenant sign the deed, and that either the guardian or conservator of the incapacitated joint tenant sign for that joint tenant. You should also talk to a lawyer or accountant about the tax consequences before you do anything. If you sell, you may have to pay capital gains taxes and how the deal is structured can affect the amount of tax due.

Re: Signature Required When Selling A House

When a joint tenant dies the interest of the deceased in the property immediately passes to the survivoring joint tenants. In your case there would now be only two owers.