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moving into dad's house

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balgamannan

Guest
La Canada, California

This is a follow-up post to one I made a long time ago, about my fiancee and I moving into her dad's house after he got a new one, and what would be in our best interests. I was advised to find out what dad's intentions were before posting again. The update:

Dad (again, all references are to her family, not mine) wants to protect his kids' interests (my fiancee and her brother). His main concern was that the brother would be "locked out" of the value of the house ($600K, rough) if she and I get married and take it over (outstanding mortgage $50K, rough). He also wants to get a new house, but not make payments on it himself.

So first he added both kids' names to the house deed, then went and bought a new house, all this past week (taking everyone by surprise in the process). Mom and dad move in 45 days, and are assuming I'm moving in - they've told me to give my 1 mo. notice where I'm renting. Dad has already "figured it all out" and estimates he'll need $1,800/mo to cover existing house mortgage, new house mortgage, and apparently some ancillary expenses. We will be renting from him until we leave/he dies.

Questions:
1) what is the impact of fiancee and brother being listed on the deed to existing house? Are they all 1/3 owners now?
2) what are my rights, if any, after we marry? If we marry today and get divorced later, do I have any claim to any part of the house? (NOTE: I believe this is dad's main concern - that I'm trying to be a shyster and somehow steal their house, which is ridiculous.)
3) can fiancee put me in her will for her portion of the house (assuming marriage, then something happens to her [god forbid] - I don't want to be left without a roof over my head)

We have a "family meeting" tonight (6 hours from now!) to discuss/finalize - HELP! What kinds of questions would y'all be asking right about now?

Thanks in advance, all!
 


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balgamannan

Guest
I'd still like some advice...

...even though I'm off to the big family meeting right now and won't receive it before then. I'll post any new information and/or developments that come out of the meeting tomorrow.

Thanks!
 
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balgamannan

Guest
post-family meeting update

Not much of an update, really; dad and I sat around, drank beer, and hammered out the financials (all figures rough):

New house mort: $1,050/mo
Old house mort: $400/mo
Old house insurance: $1,000/yr ($85/mo)
Old house property taxes: $2,500/yr ($210/mo)

Which brings us to his previously worked out total of roughly $1,800/mo. He's offering to split that total four ways (fiancee, brother, dad, me), so we contribute $450 each.

To make a long story short (since I typed a long version already and had my computer wipe it out), I'll send him a check for $1,000/mo (both mortgages minus his $450 contribution), collect $450 from brother as long as he stays in the house, and fiancee and I pay all "old house" expenses except the mortgage. He owns, we rent, until we leave/he dies.

So, legal community, what am I missing? Is this too good to be true? What about the questions I raised in my first post? (NEW INFO: mom is also named on the deed.)

Dad also wants me to develop a scenario spreadsheet that details everything we can think of that might happen and what we all agree the outcome will be (i.e., mom and dad die, fiancee and I are still living in the house, but brother wants to sell - what do we do?) Then he wants everyone to sign it and have it notarized. Would such a document be legal? What about unforeseen contingencies not covered therein?

This seems like an "estate planning" question to me, but no one has posted an opinion yet - anyone out there? :confused:

Thanks!
 

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