Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Your mother would have to sign a deed to the property conveying it to you. The deed would then have to be recorded in the land records in the county where it is located. If there are any liens, such as a mortgage, on the property, they would stay as liens. An experienced real estate attorney such as myself can assist you in preparing the papers and making sure that the transaction is handled properly.

Hello. I am a Maryland barred attorney and handle family deed transfers in my practice. You must first figure out whether any liens exist against the property (such as a mortgage or judgments). If the house is clear, your mom would next want to consider the best way to structure a transfer. For instance, your mom can retain a life estate and designate you as the remainderman (meaning you'd get 100% ownership interest when she died without the property going through probate), you can both own the property jointly during her lifetime as joint tenants with right of survivorship or she might want to deed the property in its entirety.

Once these preliminaries are determined, the deed is drawn up, witnessed and recorded. Recording the deed usually involves going to 2-4 government offices in the county where the property is located to get necessary stamps. Each county imposes a filing fee for recording a deed, but the transfer itself should be free of transfer and recordation taxes because you are a member of her immediate family.