Helping pay mortgage, upgrade house, then split the equity

[lemonap618]

Hello All,
This is my first time on the site and I'm hoping someone could provide a little guidance.
I'm currently helping a family in Southlake Texas (a city outside of Dallas) pay the mortgage and upgrade their home to then sell and split the equity. My name is not on the mortgage and everything has been agreed upon via verbal agreements. I want to protect myself and my money. What steps should I go through to ensure that I'm protected? Should I make sure I'm on the mortgage? Should I ask to see what the payoff amount is? Should I create a partnership with this family? As you can see, I'm pretty lost as this is my first real estate investment. I plan on having a real estate lawyer to draft a contact but I want to be informed when I first meet the lawyer.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Why in God's name would you want to be on the mortgage? That puts you in debt. What you need is a contract with the owners that spells out the details of the agreement.

 

[justalayman]

But you needed that contract before you started in this. It may already be too late to make your investment secure

 

[Stephen1]

But you needed that contract before you started in this. It may already be too late to make your investment secure

But he could hold up any future payments of $$$ until after an appropriate agreement (as coordinated with his attorney) is signed.