Question regarding adding spouse to property

Adding her to the title would make her owner but not responsible for the mortgage correct? In the event that something happened to me, she would still have to refinance the house? Our plans were to take money from the sale of her house and put towards renovations in my house. She was worried about investing her money into a house that she legally didn’t own.

I haven’t yet, we just discussed it last night.

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Any real estate lawyer can add her to the title and you don't touch the mortgage.

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This in Georgia.^^^^

A simple quitclaim is all you need.
There may be a discussion worthwhile as how to add her (i.e. Joint Tenants With Right of Survivorship).

You can't sell the home or take on a new first lien position without addressing the current mortgage.

I would talk to a lawyer before your mortgage company, the mortgage company may not be on your side 100% and you don’t want to open a bag of worms with them until you have a legal opinion of your options.

What state are you in? You could add her to Title with a donation or a quit claim. I would think hard before doing this, you are basically giving her half your equity. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work out but I have seen it a lot where it doesn’t work out and the person really regrets doing that donation.

Do y’all each have your own kids?

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what would happen if I were to die unexpectedly, how would the house be transfered over to her? I have minor children

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You can execute a will that leaves "naked ownership" of your interest in the house to the kids (who are forced heirs until age 24), subject to a usufruct by the wife. The usufruct (life estate) lets her use it for life (or until remarriage unless you okay that in the will). This is a common arrangement for married couples with children of all ages.

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Is there any way to put her on the property without refinancing?

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You could talk to a lawyer about donating or quitclaiming to her half your interest in the home (subject to the mortgage). You can't really just "put her name on the deed" as some say. That instrument is recorded and set forever; you can't change it. Most mortgages prohibit transfers of the property, but I've seen where people made similar transfers when they are getting married.

The thing is, you just gave away half your house, but only your name is on the mortgage. Perhaps you could have her agree to be responsible to you for half the mortgage debt in exchange for the transfer.

If you don't transfer her a half interest: It can get tricky when one spouse buys a house before marriage (making it their separate property) and then community funds (includes anything either spouse earns post-marriage) are used to pay the mortgage for a few years, then the couple divorces. A matrimonial agreement pre-marriage can set the terms for this rather inexpensively, but if it has to be hashed out in divorce ten years later it will be way more $$$.

Others may have some better ideas. This is not an area I know a lot about. Just some ancient memories. Talking to a family law or estate planning attorney may be worth it.

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jmh5724

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A lot of uninformed advice in here. There is no such thing as "putting a name on" a house in LA. It's not a bank account. And you cannot accomplish it via quitclaim. Once you two are married, the payments made toward the house note will be community property. She will start accruing equity from then forward. If she uses proceeds from her house to fix yours up, she is further adding to her equity. If things go sideways between you two, she is going to get her share of the house for these reasons, regardless of whether her "name is on it."

What you are really talking about is a donation of the house to the community. This should be done cheaply by any title company in your area. I imagine the whole thing could be done for about $500 in fees + clerk costs. But, as I said before, it isn't really necessary in the grand scheme of things. If she just wants some warm and fuzzies because her name is on it, then this is the way to go. I would leave the mortgage alone. I don't know when you bought it, but I imagine terms are not nearly as favorable now. You don't want them to force you to refi.

Wouldn't that possible effect any step-up in basis ?

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I used to work for a mortgage lender and my job included dealing with your specific scenario. I don’t know specifically about Louisiana, but in almost all states you can add her to the deed so it is both of your names (joint tenants with a right of survivorship). Leave the mortgage in your name. If something were to happen to you, she would be sole owner of the house, and would just have to provide the deed to the mortgage company. She would become a ‘successor in interest’ for the mortgage. This means she has full access to the mortgage account etc and can do anything with it (as if she was the borrower), but it would not actually make her liable for the mortgage debt

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That's the same for Georgia.

The new wife has no kids?

The only downside to JTWROS is that the property goes straight into her name. And if she deceases, then the property goes to her estate (not yours).

This usually isn't an issue for people the same age as the OP.

But I've seen issues with older remarried couples where the first deceased spouse has nothing left for his heirs.