Should My Spouse Add Me to the Deed?

Congratulations on your marriage! One of the many questions you might have about your life ahead is whether to go onto your life partner’s home deed.

While we can’t provide personalized advice, we’re glad to offer a set of considerations for anyone asking this question. Follow up with your financial adviser on the points you care about most.

Is It Easy to Be Added to My Spouse’s Deed?

It can be easy. Many couples use a quitclaim deed to make it so. A quitclaim deed enables a simple transfer, with no title search. A deed transfer between closely related people often relies on this method.

Thinking of transferring an interest in your home? Create your quitclaim deed, or select the deed form best suited to your household’s needs.

A quitclaim deed passes the interest of the (formerly) solo owner into the names of the (now) co-owners. Becoming joint tenants with the right of survivorship is a common choice for couples, but there are several ways co-owners can vest the deed. Then, the quitclaim deed becomes the current deed, and the two of you are ready to go on record as co-owning the home.

Opting for survivorship rights? Then transfer a 100% interest (not a half-interest) into both names. Rights of survivorship means the co-owner receives the home if/when one owner dies — no matter what your last wills say.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Before you carry out any deed transfer, check state law. The current, sole deed holder could have a simple path to switching the home to co-ownership upon marriage. Each state is different. In California, for example, an interspousal grant deed form is available for bringing on a spouse as co-owner.

Your new co-ownership will be visible to anyone who looks up your deed in the public records once you (a) place your names on the deed together; and (b) have the new deed status notarized and recorded.

Could adding an owner disable the tax-advantaged homestead status of the home? Call the revenue department in the home’s state to check the rules.

How Does Changing the Deed Change Your Rights?

No matter how you come onto the deed, the current, sole deed holder gives up partial control over the home by making you a co-owner. Once you are both named, and the deed is recorded, both of you have a vested interest in the home.

Unless you live in a community property state, you do not have any right to the home, or any say in how it’s leveraged or transferred, as long as your name is absent from the deed. If the deed names your spouse as sole owner, your spouse has full, exclusive rights to the home.

But if the home’s in a community property state, then you do have rights. Community property rights impact deeds in Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Washington state.

Some states give spouses rights to the home through their community property laws. Learn more about your rights and obligations in community property states.

Now, you might not be a fan of your state’s way of doing things. As a deed holder, you do have a say. A reputable lawyer in your state can draft a separate legal agreement that covers the home and how you’ll share it. A legal agreement can enable a married person to keep the deed apart from “community” property. This document could head off disagreements later on. Both of you must sign off on your agreement.

Does the Home Have a Mortgage?

What happens with a mortgage when a spouse quitclaims a mortgaged home from one name into both names? The current deed holder will likely need to refinance to bring you on as a new co-owner. So, check your credit profiles. Map out how your presence on the deed will reshape the mortgage terms and rates. This could be one reason not to name both of you on the deed.

After all, if you have a lot of debt (or your profession could expose you to litigation), it could be best to just leave the deed in your partner’s sole name. A couple can always decide later that their combined finances are in a better position for co-ownership.

The matter of debt brings us to a co-ownership option available in some states: tenancy by the entirety. With this form of vesting, when one spouse dies, the other gets full survivorship rights. Meanwhile, each spouse’s interest receives a shield from the other spouse’s debts.

Same-sex couples may hold a deed as joint tenants with survivorship rights, as tenants in common, or, if they marry, as tenants by the entirety.

Sometimes, a couple just doesn’t think co-ownership is a good idea. A tax or estate planning expert may advise against it. In some cases, the current, sole deed holder’s financial profile could be helpful for real estate tax deductions, whereas a second owner’s financial position could change this. In other cases, the current, sole deed holder wants to keep the deed as separate property to bequeath to a specific person.

Does Your State Offer More Options?

Does your state issue transfer on death (“beneficiary deed”) forms? Not all states do. In states that have adopted them, these forms make it possible to pass ownership along to a designated person without using a traditional real estate deed. The “TOD” is intended as a simple alternative — along the lines of designating your spouse as beneficiary on your bank account.

Either a life estate deed or gift deed is common when people live together in a home. The transfer on death deed provides yet another option.

A person who signs a transfer on death deed may revoke the form while alive. But it takes effect upon death. That’s when you’d get the home if your spouse names you on a beneficiary deed. No probate needed — assuming no one with a claim comes to the probate court to challenge the property transfer.

Note: We do not present articles on this site as financial or legal advice. Our discussions here are  generalized. Deed transfers have to be understood in the individual context, in light of the laws of the state where the home exists and the deed is recorded. Consult your financial adviser and/or lawyer.

A tax professional or real estate lawyer can help you review the tax consequences — whether you get a homeownership interest as a gift, or are named as the beneficiary to your spouse’s estate.

PS: When in doubt, you can simply refuse a deed and say “no, thanks” to co-ownership.