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My boyfriend and I bought our house together. The Deed is in both our names. The mortgage was in both our names, but I re-financed it in my name only. I'm paying him half the equity we built up, and he is forfeiting any rights to the house.
So I guess the next step is to have him sign a quit-claim deed, right?
My questions are:
1. Can we do this without a lawyer?
2. I was told by the county recorder of deeds that they don't supply the documents and I should buy one online. Any ideas as to which websites are reputable? I found one for $60, one for $29 and one for $7.95. Big difference!
3. Do we just fill out the form with a Notary and send it to the County with the county's fee, and that's it? What else is involved?
Yep. A lawyer - unless PA is a state like AZ that uses Trust/Escrow companies for nearly all residential closings. In that case, call the company that did the initial closing when you bought the house.
This link should help you determine this:
Who Handles the Closing? – ClosingCorp (http://www.closing.com/learning-zone/article/who-handles-closing/ - broken link)
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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You would probably be ill advised to make significant alterations to your title history in a DIY fashion. There may be some nuances in your title history that the $30 online form will not consider and it is conceivable that your boyfriend could inadvertently retain some rights to the property.
You probably want to get this right while everyone agrees that they want the same thing.
You're probably going to pay for an hour of an attorney's time, maybe $200? $30 may sound cheap, but that's not necessarily a good value.
PA is not like the states (like NJ) that require a lawyer to be involved in buying a house. So we never used a lawyer. Not back when we bought the house, and not when I re-fied in my own name.
I did my closing a few months ago when I refinanced the mortgage in my own name. The mortgage and title companies involved said they did not supply quit-claim deeds and I'd have to go to my county to get one. They said it was a pretty simple thing. I actually asked for the document to be included in my closing and they both said they don't supply them, and I should get it myself.
The county recorder of deeds also advised to just buy one online. From what I'm reading, they really aren't complicated. We just want his name off the house. He and I are both in agreement on this, so there is no legal dispute happening.
Since a lawyer is not required, I just wanted to know any compelling reasons why I might need or want one. Seems like an unnecessary expense. So far, I haven't seen any compelling reasons.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam
PA is not like the states (like NJ) that require a lawyer to be involved in buying a house. So we never used a lawyer. Not back when we bought the house, and not when I re-fied in my own name.
I did my closing a few months ago when I refinanced the mortgage in my own name. The mortgage and title companies involved said they did not supply quit-claim deeds and I'd have to go to my county to get one. They said it was a pretty simple thing. I actually asked for the document to be included in my closing and they both said they don't supply them, and I should get it myself.
The county recorder of deeds also advised to just buy one online. From what I'm reading, they really aren't complicated. We just want his name off the house. He and I are both in agreement on this, so there is no legal dispute happening.
Since a lawyer is not required, I just wanted to know any compelling reasons why I might need or want one. Seems like an unnecessary expense. So far, I haven't seen any compelling reasons.
Your chances of creating a problem by filling out a legal zoom document are probably small and you're right that a quitclaim deed isn't necessarily rocket science, but it would definitely be irresponsible to imply that there are not circumstances with your specific property that require more precision and sophistication than you can get on the internet.
Your chances of creating a problem by filling out a legal zoom document are probably small and you're right that a quitclaim deed isn't necessarily rocket science, but it would definitely be irresponsible to imply that there are not circumstances with your specific property that require more precision and sophistication than you can get on the internet.
So right.
You have the right to take responsibility for not feeling compelled to cover your bases. Absolutely.
No one can responsibly tell you it is smart to skip the legal niceties.
The "compelling reasons" on legal matters have an unfortunate tendency to become clearer later.
Tracy, you probably are a very healthy person and have no compelling reason to have health insurance eitger. And you're a safe druver, so get the minimum auto insurance required in your state.
No worries, right? UNTIL something goes awry.
You thought the relationship with the boyfriend was solid enough to get into this contract. Now it's kaput.
Stuff changes. Get it done properly. This is not a DIY project.
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