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How to Remove Deceased from Title

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  • 01-28-2013, 07:52 PM
    egngang
    How to Remove Deceased from Title
    My question involves real estate located in the State of: California

    The home is titled to my dad and mom as "husband and wife, as Joint tenants". My mom passed away in 2006 and we are trying to remove her name from the deed and have my dad do a living will. There is also a loan on the property with her name on the loan, we also want to remove her from the loan. How can we accomplish this?
  • 01-28-2013, 11:41 PM
    flyingron
    Re: How to Remove Deceased from Title
    The best solution would be to get an attorney. You seem to not understand legal principles well enough to go this alone.

    What needs to be done is a death of spouse affidavit is filed with the county recorder along with the death certificate. This will transfer the ownership into the surviving spouse.

    A "living will" is the common term for an advanced medical directive (i.e., under what circumstances he does not want extraordinary steps taken in his care). While this is an important thing to have prepared, it has nothing whatsoever to do with property.

    What you probably are looking for is a "living trust." This is the name given for an in vivo revocable trust. Once the above filings have been done, the property can be deeded to the trust. Trusts, despite what some will tell you, aren't really a do it yourself thing. I would suggest you find a lawyer that does estate/elder issues. They can typically handle all of the above for you in one package (I did two trusts, my will, and my advanced medical directive, and a medical power of attorney all at once for a modest fee).

    You can't just "remove" someone from the loan. The estate is still liable for the debt. You can see if the bank will issue a release though they have no particular incentive to do so. The spouse can just continue paying on the loan (they are precluded from calling the loan just because one party died). Alternatively, once the ownership issue is taken care of, the spouse can refinance the loan.

    One thing I would STRONGLY suggest you do not do, is add any body else to the deed. This is not a way of doing estate planning. You're giving away the property before death. This can have serious consequences on medicaid eligibility and further can make certain other options such as reverse mortgages impossible.
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