Transfer of Ownership

[samwang201301]

Hello. Thanks for your help in advance. I helped my brother and sister in law buy a house by co-signing. I am listed as joint tenant on the title. So there are 3 names as joint tenant of this single family home in Ornage County, California. Now I never claimed the property on my tax returns and have left all dealings to them. But it is time to remove myself from the title by transferring my ownership portion to them. Question. Will this trigger property tax reassessment? Do I hire a real estate attorney to do the transfer, if so how much do they usually charge for this service?

 

[LdiJ]

Hello. Thanks for your help in advance. I helped my brother and sister in law buy a house by co-signing. I am listed as joint tenant on the title. So there are 3 names as joint tenant of this single family home in Ornage County, California. Now I never claimed the property on my tax returns and have left all dealings to them. But it is time to remove myself from the title by transferring my ownership portion to them. Question. Will this trigger property tax reassessment? Do I hire a real estate attorney to do the transfer, if so how much do they usually charge for this service?

Are you on the mortgage? If so, you do NOT want to remove your name from the deed yet. Removing your name from the deed will not remove your name from the mortgage. Only a refinance (without you) will do that. Your name could be removed from the deed as part of a refinance. I do not know whether or not that would trigger a property tax assessment. I would think not, but a local real estate attorney can better answer that question.

 

[samwang201301]

Wow. Totally forgot about the mortgage. Refinancing would definitely trigger property value reassessment. OK, guess that the end of this.

 

[Zigner]

Wow. Totally forgot about the mortgage. Refinancing would definitely trigger property value reassessment. OK, guess that the end of this.

No, it won't. I've refinanced my house several times and there has never been a reassessment. You will need to fill out a POC (preliminary change of ownership) and submit it to the appropriate county recorder's office.

For reference: https://www.lavote.gov/docs/rrcc/documents/Preliminary-Change-of-Ownership.pdf