Widower likely won’t face house-sale issues
Ilyce Glink and Samuel Tamkin
Q: I’m a recent widower living in the Chicago area and planning to sell my single-family home in the near future. The property is mortgage-free, and I have a clear title with my name and my deceased wife’s name on all documents.
Please advise what steps are needed to remove my wife’s name on the title documents and any other documents applicable to the sale of the property.
A: We’re sorry for your loss. Here’s some good news: You might not need to do anything before you sell the home. Most couples own property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship. This type of ownership allows the ownership interest in the home to pass from one owner to the other automatically upon death. We’ll assume the two of you owned the home as joint tenants. Now that your wife has died, the paperwork on the home will still show your wife’s name because you were able to automatically inherit her share of the property; you are the owner of the entire home.
When the time comes to sell, and you have a buyer for your home, you’ll sign the contract for the sale as the sole owner of the home. As you approach the closing, your real-estate attorney will draft documents for you to sign. Those documents will list you as the sole owner of the property (and some documents might indicate that you are now widowed).
In areas of the country where a closing attorney or settlement agent takes care of the documents, the person handling those documents will have you sign the transfer paperwork.
In addition, the title company, closing attorney or settlement agent will probably want a copy of the death certificate and may also request additional paperwork regarding any debts your wife might have left behind.
For a vast majority of owners like you, the process of selling a home after a spouse, partner or joint owner has died isn’t too complicated as long as you have the death certificate and you owned the property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.
As you plan for your sale, you can talk to your attorney now to figure out what sort of paperwork is required. If you gather it now, you’ll have less to worry about at the closing.
Send questions to Real-estate Matters, 361 Park Ave., Suite 200, Glencoe, IL 60022, or contact author Ilyce Glink and lawyer Samuel Tamkin at www.thinkglink.com.