Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

Re: Warranty or land deed

An attorney would advise you to keep your house solely in your name and your spouse will be taken care of if you pass away, whether you provide for that in your will or never prepare a will. But you are always wise to have a will.

Re: Warranty or land deed

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). Spouses commonly allow for "rights of survivorship" among

one another.

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 other 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

problems 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 nieces, 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