Real estate titleholding method makes transfer difficult

DEAR BOB: Love your weekly articles, as I have learned so much from them about real estate. But I have a title problem with my home. My wife died almost two years ago. Since then, I have been trying to clear the title to our home into my name alone. But the local recorder of deeds refuses to accept my evidence of her passing, including a certified copy of her death certificate and an affidavit of my survivorship. I am told only the Probate Court can clear my title. Is this true? --Clarence B.

DEAR CLARENCE: The exact legal answer depends on how you and your late wife held title to your home.

Purchase Bob Bruss reports online.

If you both held title as joint tenants with right of survivorship, as an attorney my experience has been all that is required to clear the title after a joint tenant passes on is a certified copy of the death certificate and an affidavit of survivorship by the remaining joint tenant.

Perhaps you and your late wife held title by another method, such as tenants-in-common. If that is the situation, then title must usually be transferred by the local Probate Court according to the terms of the deceased's will. If no will was left, then the state law of intestate succession applies. For full details, please consult a local real estate or probate attorney.

(For more information on Bob Bruss publications, visit his
Real Estate Center).

Copyright 2006 Inman News