EDUCATION How to Clear up the Title on Your Real Estate PUBLICATION 8 How to Clear up the Title on Your Real Estate By Peter Squier establish title in the appropriate owner or owners’ Some people are under the false impression names. that they own the house in which they are This article will explore the situations that cause most living. However, once the property’s title title problems along with ways to clear them up. The is properly researched, the actual property author is not an attorney so this should not be owner is often found to be unclear. An considered professional legal advice. owner of a property has “title” to their Title problems can arise when: property, which means the property is • A person dies without a will; vested or “titled” in his or her name. This • A couple separates but never officially gets report identifies potential issues with divorced; property ownership and methods to resolve • A couple gets divorced and one spouse remains in the house; the title concerns. • An owner verbally tells another person he can have the house; here are official laws and regulations that must be • A person inherits a property and then gets Tfollowed to establish the true ownership of real married; property. A person intending to transfer property • A person receives an invalid deed; should follow these laws and regulations when • A transaction does not get recorded with the transferring ownership, or the intended new owner of county clerk; the property may face challenges and doubt as to his • A person has a quitclaim deed; or or her true ownership. When the title to a property is • A lis pendens has been filed on the property with unclear, an owner cannot properly sell the property, nor the county clerk. can he or she use it as collateral to secure a mortgage or loan. An owner must clear up any title problems before A Person Dies without a Will he or she can confidently exercise any ownership rights. Wills are designed to allow a deceased person to instruct Done properly, the “title curing” process will officially others how his or her property is to be distributed upon Your tax office may offer delinquent tax installment plans that may be less costly to you. You can request information about the availability of these plans from the tax office. R8-616 death. When someone dies, an executor carries out the has been approved by the court, they then have the instructions in the will, including the legal transfer of authority to take out a property tax loan on behalf real property. The result is the estate conveys a warranty of the estate, or deed to one or more people. This warranty deed is filed 3. If the probate process has not been started and four in the real property records of the county or counties years have not passed since the death, then most where the property is located thereby making the property tax lenders will accept two affidavits of transfer official and public. heirship indicating the real heirs, and then allow those heirs to take out the loan. An “affidavit of The most common title problem arises when a deceased heirship” is a document stating the family tree facts person does not leave a will (called “dying intestate”), so of the deceased which must be signed by two people there is no formal or recorded transfer of the deceased’s (with no current or future interest in the property) property to his or her heirs. To officially transfer the title who can attest to knowing the deceased and his or from the estate to the heirs, the estate must go through her heirs. the probate process in a probate court. There, the judge reviews all the facts and decides how the estate’s assets Once someone gets a loan on the inherited property, or are to be distributed. The judge then issues instructions provides affidavits of heirship, it does not mean that he enabling a deed to be created officially transferring or she now owns the property or has clear title. He or the property to the new owner(s). The final probate she will still need to have the estate properly probated instructions are filed in the probate court records, and through the probate court. the deed is filed with the appropriate county clerk. Some people handle the probate court proceedings A Couple Separates But Never Officially themselves, but most hire an estate planning, probate, Gets Divorced or real estate attorney. If both spouses owned the property as community property before separating, then they will continue to You must have clear title to your own it together after separating. The length of time they are separated does not matter. Until this couple property in order to get a property officially gets divorced and has a divorce decree that addresses the distribution of the property, they will tax loan. continue to jointly own the property. All property in Texas is characterized as community or Consider this situation: A married man, who owned separate property. In a nutshell, anything owned before the community property jointly with his wife, left his marriage is considered separate property and anything wife and moved to Mexico 5 years ago. The wife, who after marriage is community. However, property can remained in the house, had totally lost track of the be converted from one type of property to the other. husband and had no desire to see or talk to him again. If a person dies without a will or it has been four years Even in this instance, the husband still owns 50% of the since the person has passed and the will was never house in which she lives. So, she could not take out a probated, then the property will pass by intestacy property tax loan or sell the house without his consent. rules. Intestate succession in Texas follows a specific lineage chart which takes into consideration the type A Couple Gets Divorced, and One Spouse of property (community or separate) and the type of heirs that survive the decedent. A good article that Stays in the House Divorces result in a divorce court issuing a divorce explains the Texas intestacy laws, entitled “Issues with decree, which spells out the distribution of the couple’s Inheritance – Who Gets the House?” can be found at assets and liabilities. The divorce decree officially www.PropertyTaxLoansForTexas.com/property-tax- establishes who will own any property after the divorce. resources/. Divorce decrees vary tremendously and can say anything Those with delinquent property taxes wishing to get a the parties agree to. One spouse may get to live in the property tax loan have a few choices: house, though both spouses retain 50/50 ownership. 1. If the estate has been probated, then the new owners Or, one spouse may get the house with stipulations - he can collectively take out the loan with each heir will have to sell it within X number of years, and then signing the loan documents, give half of the money to the other spouse. In another 2. If the estate is in the probate process and an executor situation, the divorce decree might grant the property to the minor child and not the mother. In this case, the an address, but with the official legal description that mother has custodial rights over the child and would be normally includes the county name, the subdivision, able to live in the house and sign on the child’s behalf. the plat page, and the block and lot number. Deeds that But, the mother would not be able to keep any of the have a missing or incorrect legal description or that money if she sold the house because that money could have the wrong owner name listed are considered not only go to the child. valid. Deeds that are not notarized by a notary public are also considered invalid. If both parties desire to A good divorce attorney will have warranty deeds and fix a previously filed invalid deed, they can simply file a assumption agreements for the mortgage as part of the corrected deed with the county clerk’s office. divorce documents that need to be signed, and he or she will file these documents with the county clerk to make The Deed is Not Recorded the real estate transfers public information. If these If the Deed is not recorded at the county clerk’s office, documents are not provided, a divorce decree clearly then there is no way for anyone to know about the awarding and divesting title can be filed at the county change in ownership. Consider the possibility that an clerk instead. But one or the other should be filed with aunt signs a deed transferring the property to her niece. the county clerk; otherwise there is no way for the The niece, not knowing any better, just sticks the deed public to know ownership has changed. Filing at the into her closet and never files it. Now there is no public county clerk is not required for ownership to change, evidence of the transfer of ownership. The fact the deed but then the divorce decree will have to be produced was not filed does not invalidate the sale, but it may any time title needs to be confirmed. mean she cannot secure a title policy, a property tax loan, or a mortgage until the niece can present the deed An Owner Verbally Tells Another Person to prove her ownership. Many of the counties now have He Can Have the House their county clerk records available online.