Does It Matter How you Take Title?
By Jim Palmer Jr.

There are multiple ways to take title of real estate and it really does matter if you expect certain outcomes. Washington State is a community property state which affects married couples particularly. That typically means the spouse gets it all at the death of one or the other.

When professional brokers create purchase agreements for buyers, they must take care to be sure of a buyer’s marital status and usually ask how they wish to take title. The choices in the drop down menu for purchasers only include the following options; a limited liability partnership, a limited liability company, a general partnership, a limited partnership, a corporation, unmarried persons, an unmarried person, married as separate property, a married couple, or domestic partners. Other legal terms given to describe a certain partnerships include options such as Tenants in Common, or Joint Tenants in Common with rights of survivorship.

That is a myriad of possibilities, and that one decision can become very important in a transaction. Since real estate brokers are not attorneys, and therefore cannot give legal advice, buyers should consult a trusted attorney before sitting down to write an offer. There can even be fractional interest given in ownership such as 75% and 25%.

In a recent case, four people were listed on a real estate title. A married couple, a brother and a grandson were listed in title as “Joint Tenants in common with rights of survivorship. One of the spouses died, so in theory each of the surviving partners now own 1/3 interest in the property (instead of ¼). However, the surviving spouse thought that they had automatically inherited their spouse’s portion and thought they now owned ½ interest, when in fact they could only legally claim 1/3 interest in that scenario.

Joint tenancy is two or more individuals as “joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common. This means the joint tenants have agreed that if one of them dies, the other(s) will automatically inherit the deceased person’s interest in the property. It is critical that the above verbiage is included and acknowledged by all of the buyers by signature.

When one married person wishes to hold title to a property separately from their spouse, they would need to designate that upon purchase. However, title companies always verify the validity of that assertion by having the other spouse sign a Quit Claim deed prior to closing.

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