How to Sell a Shared House
Find a buyer and walk away., Consider the consequences to the other owners., Dissolve your marriage.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Find a buyer and walk away.
If you and the co-owners of the house are "tenants in common," you don't have to do anything special to sell your share of the home.
As long as you can find someone willing to purchase your share, you can execute the transfer and be done with it.
Tenancy in common is the most popular type of concurrent ownership.
Under a tenancy in common, all of the parties own an equal and undivided portion of the property.
So one person doesn’t own the left side of the house and the other the right.
Instead, they share the whole property equally.
Each of the owners may sell, will, or transfer their share (or part of their share) to another party.
The sale of a portion of the property does not affect the rights of the other owners. -
Step 2: Consider the consequences to the other owners.
Under another type of concurrent ownership, a "joint tenancy," if a co-owner sells his/her share of the property, the sale destroys the joint tenancy, creating a tenancy in common.
In joint tenancy, if a tenant dies, his/her share of the property is automatically conferred on the survivors, irrespective of what a will might say.
If a joint tenancy is destroyed, this can have far-reaching consequences.
Imagine that a married couple, Otis and Ada, own a second home under a joint tenancy.
Otis is deeply in debt, and worries his creditors will seize his second home, so he sells it to his son Elmer for a nominal price.
When Otis's finances improve, he buys his share of the house back from Elmer.
Shortly after they complete the resale, Elmer becomes estranged from the family.
Otis dies without reconciling with Elmer.
Even though Otis thought he had a joint tenancy, it was destroyed when he sold his share to Elmer, even though he bought back his share.
So instead of Ada having full possession of the house, Elmer can take her to probate court to demand his inheritance--Otis's share of the house--because Otis didn't address it in his will, thinking he had a joint tenancy with Ada. , If you want to sell your share in a house you own with your estranged wife, you may not be able to if the two of you own it as "tenants in entirety." Tenancy in entirety is used less frequently than tenancy in common or joint tenancy and occurs only with married couples.
Both parties own the entire property, not just a share.
They may not sell or transfer the property to anyone else without the consent of the other, at which point the tenancy in entirety terminates.
Should the marriage end in divorce or death, the tenancy ends and the house becomes the undivided property of the surviving spouse. -
Step 3: Dissolve your marriage.
Detailed Guide
If you and the co-owners of the house are "tenants in common," you don't have to do anything special to sell your share of the home.
As long as you can find someone willing to purchase your share, you can execute the transfer and be done with it.
Tenancy in common is the most popular type of concurrent ownership.
Under a tenancy in common, all of the parties own an equal and undivided portion of the property.
So one person doesn’t own the left side of the house and the other the right.
Instead, they share the whole property equally.
Each of the owners may sell, will, or transfer their share (or part of their share) to another party.
The sale of a portion of the property does not affect the rights of the other owners.
Under another type of concurrent ownership, a "joint tenancy," if a co-owner sells his/her share of the property, the sale destroys the joint tenancy, creating a tenancy in common.
In joint tenancy, if a tenant dies, his/her share of the property is automatically conferred on the survivors, irrespective of what a will might say.
If a joint tenancy is destroyed, this can have far-reaching consequences.
Imagine that a married couple, Otis and Ada, own a second home under a joint tenancy.
Otis is deeply in debt, and worries his creditors will seize his second home, so he sells it to his son Elmer for a nominal price.
When Otis's finances improve, he buys his share of the house back from Elmer.
Shortly after they complete the resale, Elmer becomes estranged from the family.
Otis dies without reconciling with Elmer.
Even though Otis thought he had a joint tenancy, it was destroyed when he sold his share to Elmer, even though he bought back his share.
So instead of Ada having full possession of the house, Elmer can take her to probate court to demand his inheritance--Otis's share of the house--because Otis didn't address it in his will, thinking he had a joint tenancy with Ada. , If you want to sell your share in a house you own with your estranged wife, you may not be able to if the two of you own it as "tenants in entirety." Tenancy in entirety is used less frequently than tenancy in common or joint tenancy and occurs only with married couples.
Both parties own the entire property, not just a share.
They may not sell or transfer the property to anyone else without the consent of the other, at which point the tenancy in entirety terminates.
Should the marriage end in divorce or death, the tenancy ends and the house becomes the undivided property of the surviving spouse.
About the Author
Jacob Barnes
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in crafts and beyond.
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