Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas
What Form?
Our homestead is in my wife's name only. What form would I use to show me as joint owner?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: What Form?
First off, don't use a "form" to do this, you're dealing with what is likely a significant asset. Please seek professional advice, you'd be pleasantly surprised how inexpensive legal advice can be for these types of transactions. That being said, there are two items that you need to consider when dealing with a parcel of real property--the mortgage and the title.
Title deals with ownership, while the mortgage deals with the obligation to pay. In most cases, you cannot add someone to the payment obligation without the permission of the mortgage company. You can change the title, however, provided that the mortgage company doesn't have a "due on sale" provision in their documents. (If they do, then you'll need to get written permission from them.)
Anyway, you can add a spouse to the title and mortgage by refinancing, or you can add the spouse to the title only by having a deed drawn up to transfer a fractional interest and filing it with the appropriate county clerk.