Tag: quitclaim deed
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Does a Quitclaim Deed Remove You From the Mortgage?
No. A quitclaim deed transfers your interest in the property’s title. It does not change who is responsible for paying the loan. Those are two separate legal instruments, and signing one has no automatic effect on the other. This distinction trips up a lot of people — especially during divorce, family transfers, or buyouts between…
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Quitclaim Deeds, Gift Deeds, and Transfer on Death Deeds
Transferring real property between family members is one of the most common estate planning activities in the United States. Whether parents want to pass a family home to adult children, siblings need to resolve inherited property ownership, or grandparents wish to gift vacation property to the next generation, understanding the available deed options is essential…
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For Passing a Home Along, Is My Will Enough?
A will can be enough to distribute a simple estate after you’re gone. In many people’s lives, a deed is the key asset. It can be passed along to your chosen beneficiary through a will. And no matter what other instruments you might use, you absolutely do need a will. In short, the will can…
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A First in the Nation: Cuyahoga County to Install Two-Factor Authentication for Recorded Documents
Could the party be over for deed thieves in Cuyahoga County, Ohio? Home to the beautiful city of Cleveland, it will soon be the first U.S. county to offer two-factor authentication for the recording of legal documents. This is a milestone in the effort to stop fraudulent deed transfers. To explain the forthcoming change, we…
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Game Plan: Negotiating the Best Price for the FSBO Home
The home you want is marketed as for sale by owner. But the price is not right. What’s the best way to buy the home for a better price? Many deed holders have an exaggerated idea of what their property is worth. And those who opt to sell their homes themselves can be especially likely…
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Only My Name Is on the Deed. Will My Spouse Inherit It?
If you share a home, you might figure your marriage means the home deed will belong to your spouse when you pass away. And if you own the home jointly with survivorship rights, then yes, your home will go to the surviving spouse whenever one of you passes on. But not all spouses vest their…
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Questions and Answers: Quitclaimed Property With Unpaid Taxes
As you might imagine, an unpaid property tax debt does survive a transfer by quitclaim. Transferring ownership to a family member, to a company, or to any other party can be done even with a tax balance attached to the property. The transfer will not remove a tax lien. The lien runs with the title…
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Q&A: Cash Offers and Quitclaim Deeds
Quitclaim deeds are typically used within families, between spouses or ex-spouses, or from individual owners into businesses. A quitclaim is a useful tool to transfer real estate when no payment’s expected. What we rarely talk about is a quitclaim combined with a cash transaction. There may be times, though, when a quitclaim and cash come…
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Seniors Lose Billions Each Year to Scammers: 5 Quick Tips to Protect Yourself
According to the FBI, scammers take advantage of seniors to the tune of billions annually. A lot of this happens because seniors own a massive amount of U.S. real estate, a hard and valuable asset. To avoid enriching the wrong people, keep our five tips in mind. Consider sharing this column with friends who need…
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Ohio Cancer Survivor Recovers Home After Quitclaim Fraud
A Dayton homeowner finally got her deed back. The title to Robin M’s home was swiped out from under her while she was undergoing cancer treatments two years ago. Last year, she proved that her property was taken from her by deed theft. The Common Pleas Court of Montgomery County, Ohio determined that her Dayton…
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Married, and Not on the Deed. What Are My Rights?
Sometimes, only one spouse is named on the deed. This can be because one person already owned the home before marriage, or because one spouse inherited a deed. Or perhaps there are financial or tax advantages to having only one person on the deed and not the other. Or the sole named deed holder simply…
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Quitclaim Deeds and Senior Homeowners: Convenience with Caution
When someone wants to know which kind of document makes it easy to pass real estate ownership, the quitclaim deed comes to mind. Convenient? You bet. And quite often, this convenient document is the senior’s deed of choice. This is because so many seniors decide, at some point in their lives, to transfer their homeownership…
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We’re Inheriting a Deed Together (And My Co-Owner Has No Job)
Meet Terry, a new deed holder. Terry received the home from his mother. “My mother recently passed away,” as he tells the story. “I inherited the deed, with my sister. My mother was supporting her, but that’s come to an end.” His sister is already living in what used to be their late mother’s home.…
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What’s “Undue Influence” in the Transfer of a Deed? Massachusetts Appeals Court Speaks
A homeowner transfers a deed. But someone else in the deed transferor’s circle isn’t too happy about who got it. Was the deed transfer fair? Yes, it was, if that’s how the owner wanted to pass property along. Of course, that assumes that the person signing the deed away knows the property’s value, and the…
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Older Adults, Look Out for These Two Common Deed Bloopers
What are the most common fumbles older adults make with deeds? Let’s take it from the top.
