Tuscola County, MI Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

This depends on how the property is titled on the deeds. If the property is joint tenancy, then upon operation of law, the property goes to the survivor. Usually, the language on the deed is "as joint tenants with rights of survivorship" or "as joint tenants." However, is there is no language on the deed, then the property is held as tenants in common. When one of the owners dies, the decedent's ownership interest goes to the decedent's heirs. If there is no language about tenants in common or no language at all, then the presumption is that the property is tenants in common.

Consent from all titled owners of the property should have been obtained by the mortgage company before issuing mortgage. The sister can only mortgage her interest in the real property and cannot obligate her brother and sister without their consent. Although it is possible to mortgage property without all title owners being on the mortgage, their consent and waiver is necessary. It sounds as though the mortgage company erred in not obtaining their consent. Have your fianc?e check her credit report to see if the mortgage is reporting on her credit. If it is, then that indicates that her information was used to obtain the mortgage, even if the mortgage is not in her name. Then there are other legal remedies available. Should the mortgage company attempt to foreclose she can avoid liability by demonstrating that they had no privity with her, that is no direct connection, and have no right to foreclose on her interests. Also, to sell the property, the sister will have to have the siblings consent and the can instruct the closing company to pay their respective shares to them and not the sister. Finally, there may be a criminal action against the sister if the circumstances dictate.

Obtain the services of a probate attorney and take care of this matter the right way, without mistakes; you will need an affidavit terminating the joint tenancy.