1. The deed of our home just states "Husband and wife" with nothing else before or after..."nothing else" meaning no "joint tenants", "commo...

Question

1. The deed of our home just states "Husband and wife" with nothing else before or after..."nothing else" meaning no "joint tenants", "common property" or any such legal wording, just "Husband and wife." What does that mean exactly??

2. My husband & I are on the deed as just "husband and wife," do I need to removed his name, or can I just keep it? I mean will it cause any legal problems with taxes or anything??

3. I want to add my children to the title, but is there another way of doing it instead of filing a quit-claim deed or having a trust? Should I transfer ownership to them instead? I have no interest in the home cause eventually I want to leave it to them, so what do I need to do? The title companies are not helping me & I can't afford a lawyer.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Answer

1. If a deed to a married couple says "husband and wife" and nothing more, there is a strong legal presumption that title is held as community property without right of survivorship.

2. Do you need to remove his name? Why would you need to remove his name? In the first place, you probably can't, anyway. I wonder why the thought of removing your husband's name would even occur to you, much less that you would "need" to. Possibly you meant to say your EX-husband? If there has been a divorce, the two of you need to carry out the property settlement agreed to by the two of you, or imposed upon the two of you by the court. If your husband is deceased, you need to go through probate and follow the will, trust or probate court rulings. But you don't mention any death or divorce.

3. Lawyers in general disapprove of making a gift of real estate to children while the parent(s) are alive. For various reasons, many related to federal income taxes on capital gains, it is almost always better for the children to inherit by trust (better) or by will (not quite so good). You can probably find a lawyer that will prepare and fund a simple standardized trust for under a thousand bucks, flat fee. (I don't do them and I'm unsure about the going price).

Bottom line, I think LawGuru could do a better job for you if you'd tell us a little more about the circumstances causing you to ask about removing your husband's name from title.