There are a lot of communities in Houston where families live for generations. Often there are issues with property deeds and home ownership. KPRC 2′s Amy Davis has what you can do now to prevent a big problem a lot of Houstonians face.
This is something families often don’t know they didn’t do until it is too late. People who live in homes that have been in their family for generations but they have never legally transferred the home to another person for when they pass. This can create problems - especially if the person needs assistance like with FEMA when a home is damaged.
Or, when the family is left dealing with other loans on a home.
This was the case for the McGee family, who I introduced to you last year. Desmond and Darryl had an issue with a solar panel contract that their mother signed before she died.
They couldn’t end the contract, but it was in her name, along with the home.
Earl Carl Institute Offers Solutions for Preventing Land Loss and Ensuring Housing Stability
The family got help sorting out property ownership questions from the Earl Carl Institute at Texas Southern University.
Associate Director of the Center for Civil Advocacy at the Earl Carl Institute for Legal & Social Policy Kelley Austin explains what families should know.
“One of the ways that you can do that is through a transfer and death deed, and that is a document that, an owner would fill out while they are alive. They would file it into the real property records, designating who it is that they want to become the owners of their property after they pass on. And then, once that person has passed, there’s an affidavit that is completed and that title would transfer. You don’t need to go to probate. You don’t need to do anything else. And it’s the easiest way to transfer a title to real property,” said Austin.
Can you split home ownership between several people, like siblings?
“You can split it three ways. You definitely can do that. Fractured ownership brings its own problems. So we don’t always recommend that people do that. But if you wanted to do that, it’s certainly something that is an option and you can accomplish with the transfer on that document.”
The Earl Carl Institute runs the Property Preservation Project
The website says: The goal is to promote housing stability and to increase generational wealth through the prevention of land loss as a result of failure to plan estates, foreclosures, clouds on title to property/land, and general inheritance issues and eviction defense to ensure housing stability.
Cases they handle: Homeowner Association and Tax Foreclosure Defense, Eviction Defense and other landlord-tenant matters (including deposit refunds and repairs and public housing), Probate, Will and Estate Planning and more. See the full list here.
More information:
See the full Ask Amy Episode from KPRC 2+ right here.