I put down 40,000 for a 1/2 share in a condo with a friend. We do not have a legal document stating this. The friend is willing to sign a do...

Question

I put down 40,000 for a 1/2 share in a condo with a friend. We do not have a legal document stating this. The friend is willing to sign a document but we can't afford much. How can I legally get my rights for a share in the condo?

Answer

The problem is not in preparing a simple contract to show your interest, it is avoiding additional taxes [for formal transfer of ownership], deciding how you want to handle the eventual sale of the property [can one force the other to sell, both need to agree, first right of refusal], how the ownership should be [joint tenancy, tenants in common], what happens if one does not pay the monthly fees, what documents must be changed, etc. Read the Nolo Press books on real estate to get some idea of what you need and how much you can do yourself. You then have to check the rates charged by various attorneys; if you want to use one of the Lawguru attorneys check their answers to see if you want to use that particular attorney. Also look at similar questions to see what the legal responses are.