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Can a drawn up document supersede a Home Deed

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Cyn4Real

Junior Member
New York. Can a document supersede a Home Deed. Five years ago a friend of mine purchased a home with his girlfriend (they have since broken up) which is in her name only due to him having IRS issues with his business. He said that prior to purchasing the home they had an attorney draw up papers which they both signed that she cannot sell or do anything without him and vice versa.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
New York. Can a document supersede a Home Deed. Five years ago a friend of mine purchased a home with his girlfriend (they have since broken up) which is in her name only due to him having IRS issues with his business. He said that prior to purchasing the home they had an attorney draw up papers which they both signed that she cannot sell or do anything without him and vice versa.
Your friend should speak to an attorney. Your friend might just end up out of luck because of the fraud he tried to perpetrate. Karma and all...
 

tranquility

Senior Member
New York. Can a document supersede a Home Deed. Five years ago a friend of mine purchased a home with his girlfriend (they have since broken up) which is in her name only due to him having IRS issues with his business. He said that prior to purchasing the home they had an attorney draw up papers which they both signed that she cannot sell or do anything without him and vice versa.
It cannot "supersede" the deed, but it could be a separate agreement that is enforceable.
 

latigo

Senior Member
New York. Can a document supersede a Home Deed. Five years ago a friend of mine purchased a home with his girlfriend (they have since broken up) which is in her name only due to him having IRS issues with his business. He said that prior to purchasing the home they had an attorney draw up papers which they both signed that she cannot sell or do anything without him and vice versa.
Well if your friend said that "vice versa" means that the agreement prevents him from selling "her home", for all the good it amounts to it just as well have included the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River

If you want to be helpful as a surrogate here, then recommend that your friend return to the shyster that drew up the silly thing and have him or her explain how avoiding an IRS tax levy (if not money laundering) can serve as quid pro quo to make the agreement legal binding.

You might also inform him that if the girl resists his demands to turn over any interest in the property, his legal recourse is limited to either filing a suit for declaratory judgment, or an action to quiet title to the home. Either of which will require him to expose the fraudulent purpose of the agreement.

He might also wish to pull up some information explaining the equitable principle known as "The clean hands doctrine" and the unpleasant consequences it would have on any effort to enforce the agreement.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Clean hands would be a defense if the OP(friend) sued on a resulting trust or other trust theory that is sued in equity. Breach of contract would require the unclean hands are in relation to the deal with the defendant. Even if we found it to be so, what equitable rights would the OP(friend) want? Specific performance? Rescission? Reformation? Probably not. (Although specific performance is a possibility.) The OP(friend) can sue for damages for breach of contract if the house were sold.
 

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