{"id":5968,"date":"2024-09-06T08:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=5968"},"modified":"2024-09-06T08:05:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:05:50","slug":"can-i-add-a-new-name-to-a-deed-without-the-current-co-owners-ok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/can-i-add-a-new-name-to-a-deed-without-the-current-co-owners-ok\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Add a New Name to a Deed Without the Current Co-Owner\u2019s OK?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If two people are on the deed to a house, can one party add someone else to the deed without the other deed owner\u2019s permission? Maybe the owners are a senior and an adult child. Can the younger owner legally add a marriage partner to the deed without the senior owner\u2019s go-ahead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, a basic Deeds 101 principle. All co-owners get a say when an interest in the property is transferred to a new party. A deed holder may create a deed to transfer an interest in the property to a new co-owner. But all current deed holders must agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quietly changing a deed impacts each owner\u2019s rights, and a deed that\u2019s improperly changed is headed for a court to set the record straight. It could also trigger fraud charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any exceptions? Retrieve your deed<\/a> to see how the co-owners have vested their rights. Your current deed actually shows how you might bring an additional owner onto a co-owned title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Are You and Your Co-Owner(s) Vested? Tenants in Common<\/em> Have Independent Power to Transfer a Deed.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do the current co-owners have survivorship rights to your home? If so, you can\u2019t unilaterally do anything to dilute your co-owner\u2019s share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check to see whether your deed shows you\u00a0vested your property<\/a>\u00a0as joint owners with rights of survivorship. It bears repeating: You can only transfer an interest in a jointly owned home if the joint owners all agree. Together, you may quitclaim the property to include an additional name on the new deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>quitclaim deed<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0easily replaces the co-owners\u2019 current deed with a new deed, with a new set of names. Be sure to speak to your mortgage company if you have a loan on the home, to prevent your lender from requiring a full payoff due to the title change.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, back to the vesting issue. if your names appear on the deed as tenants in common<\/em>, the whole game changes. Each tenant in common may do as they wish with their own percentage of ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenants in common<\/em>? What are those?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tenancy in common provides a basic form of vesting a deed. It allows co-owners to have different percentages of ownership. The owners designate the percentage each owner controls. So, a tenancy in common makes sense for co-owners who wish to control their stated percentage of the co-ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When co-owners vest their property this way, these owners may will their property to others, or sell their own share as they see fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if your deed doesn\u2019t specify whether you and your co-owners are joint tenants with rights of survivorship or<\/em> tenants in common?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a deed lacks clear language telling whether it meant to create a tenancy in common or a joint tenancy, courts generally interpret<\/a> the deed as creating a tenancy in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you do co-own as tenants in common, let\u2019s get back to your original question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Would a Tenant in Common Transfer a Property Interest to Someone Else? Is Co-Owner Approval Needed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A tenant in common can transfer any part of their own percentage of ownership. Permission from the other owner(s) is not <\/em>needed. That\u2019s right: a tenant in common owns an individual, separate interest in the property, and therefore may sell or transfer their share without the other owner\u2019s consent. They can\u2019t sell or convey the whole<\/em> property, but they can convey their particular share!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, on to the deed creation. The new deed must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n