Two sisters on property title, one divorces.

[sofilegal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I live in Florida. My sister lives in DC.

I bought a property and included my sister's name on the deed as joint tenants with right of survivorship. My sister was married at the time of purchase. Now my sister is divorcing. Does her husband have any legal ground to make any claims on this property? I paid for the property entirely. My sister did not pay anything.
Is my property at risk, will it be considered during their divorce settlement? I am and have always lived in the property. My sister and her husband have not lived in it. The condo is in Florida, they live in DC.
Will it help if I remove her name from the title? This way I don't have to worry about anything.

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I live in Florida. My sister lives in DC.

I bought a property and included my sister's name on the deed as joint tenants with right of survivorship. My sister was married at the time of purchase. Now my sister is divorcing. Does her husband have any legal ground to make any claims on this property? I paid for the property entirely. My sister did not pay anything.
Is my property at risk, will it be considered during their divorce settlement? I am and have always lived in the property. My sister and her husband have not lived in it. The condo is in Florida, they live in DC.
Will it help if I remove her name from the title? This way I don't have to worry about anything.

Its possible he can make a claim for it -- who is on the mortgage?

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I live in Florida. My sister lives in DC.

I bought a property and included my sister's name on the deed as joint tenants with right of survivorship. My sister was married at the time of purchase. Now my sister is divorcing. Does her husband have any legal ground to make any claims on this property? I paid for the property entirely. My sister did not pay anything.
Is my property at risk, will it be considered during their divorce settlement? I am and have always lived in the property. My sister and her husband have not lived in it. The condo is in Florida, they live in DC.
Will it help if I remove her name from the title? This way I don't have to worry about anything.

Because your sister acquired her cotenancy property right by gift it should not be considered marital property under D. C. law.

The problem is that you have no say as to how the D. C. family court might treat that interest. That is, non marital - in which case he gets nothing - or marital - in which case he could be awarded an interest depending on how the family court decides to equitably divide their total marital assets.

I suggest that your sister hire the most expensive D. C. divorce attorney that the two of you can afford!

As far as her re-conveying the cotenancy, I rather suspect that she is under an automatic, joint restraining order prohibiting either from transferring assets until the divorce issues are resolved.
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I don’t know what motivated you to transfer an interest to your married sister, at least in not designating that interest as her sole and separate property and or by gift deed – not that either would necessarily control – but you must now agree that it was double dumb idea.

 

[Ohiogal]

Because your sister acquired her cotenancy property right by gift it should not be considered marital property under D. C. law.

The problem is that you have no say as to how the D. C. family court might treat that interest. That is, non marital - in which case he gets nothing - or marital - in which case he could be awarded an interest depending on how the family court decides to equitably divide their total marital assets.

I suggest that your sister hire the most expensive D. C. divorce attorney that the two of you can afford!

As far as her re-conveying the cotenancy, I rather suspect that she is under an automatic, joint restraining order prohibiting either from transferring assets until the divorce issues are resolved.
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I don’t know what motivated you to transfer an interest to your married sister, at least in not designating that interest as her sole and separate property and or by gift deed – not that either would necessarily control – but you must now agree that it was double dumb idea.

I agree that it if it was a gift then it is non-marital. HOWEVER, if sis is on the mortgage -- even if she has not paid a dime -- then it was not a gift but is rather partially marital property unless sis is paying for the place with strictly inheritance money or some other separate property. I agree with the point about re-conveying as well but I wanted to clarify if sis is on the mortgage as a co-signer then that is an issue that gives hubby rights to claim half of sis' portion.

 

[sofilegal]

The property was purchased cash, there is no mortgage. I paid fully for it from my savings.

 

[LdiJ]

The property was purchased cash, there is no mortgage. I paid fully for it from my savings.

Ok...then it was a gift. A gift is separate property, and I am assuming that your sister never gave you any money for any of the expenses of the property? Correct? If so, you should be safe. That doesn't mean however that you won't have to battle it out in court with her soon to be ex.

 

[Ohiogal]

The property was purchased cash, there is no mortgage. I paid fully for it from my savings.

Then I agree with Latigo.

 

[sofilegal]

Thank you all for the answers. No, my sister has never paid anything for this place. I am the one who paid for it, who pays taxes, and is paying the maintenance every month. How can I ask her to pay for a place she does not live in or use… She already has a place that she is paying for. I wanted to put her name just in case, since she is my only relative in the US and I trust her 101% I wanted her name there too, with thoughts that in the future, if her life circumstances change, she can use the property as her home if she wants/needs and her and I both agree. When I was making the purchase I was told by my realtor that if I put ‘joint tenants with right of survivorship’ nobody else can take it. This being my first purchase, it all happened so quickly, I didn't give it much thought and went with that advice.
Her husband has been unemployed for 3 years, not even trying to get a job, after my sister moved out he filed for legal separation (in DC have to wait 6 mos before filing for divorce) and together with it filed a request for alimony from my sister, we were shocked; his savings are depleted and now we are thinking he will try to get any money he can. He sent my sister a letter asking her some crazy questions among which list all doctor visits, bank accounts and real estate property you own. He knows very well she does not own anything, but he does know I put her on the title. Now I am wondering what documents the court will ask for to prove that this apartment is not marital property?
Latigo, Can you please explain - how should I have done it differently, how should I have gone about ‘designating that interest as her sole and separate property and or by gift deed’ so I am not in this trouble today? Also, as far as the freeze to transfer ownership, I don’t know if they have it, does it require explicit order or is it always implied? Now I am starting to wonder if I will have trouble selling this place in the near future, if the divorce prolongs, which is very likely.

 

[latigo]

Ok...then it was a gift. A gift is separate property, and I am assuming that your sister never gave you any money for any of the expenses of the property? Correct? If so, you should be safe. That doesn't mean however that you won't have to battle it out in court with her soon to be ex.

You say the OP “should be safe”? Safe from what? And why the choice of such a dubious auxiliary verb as “should”?

Does that mean she is “likely safe”, “possibly safe”, maybe - perhaps . . Or are you so uncertain in your belief that you left an escape hatch in case it turns out that she is “unsafe”?
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But more importantly, let’s talk about this “supposed” business of the OP “battling it out in court” with her brother-in-law.

Are you suggesting that the OP move to intervene in the divorce action as an addition party opposing any claim of interest by the husband as to the Florida property?

Or do you mean the OP should “battle it out” with her brother in law in a separate lawsuit over any claimed interest in the Florida property?

In either instance – what are your thoughts on how OP could urge recognition as a real party in interest with respect to any litigation involving the sister’s cotenancy property rights to the land in Florida?

Being convinced that you would not know the correct answers, I will tell you.

There will be no ‘battling it out in court” between the OP and her brother-in-law. Period!

The OP has no judicable interest whatsoever in her non- half of the Florida cotenancy estate!

And I deem it a careless and a reckless disservice to the OP to falsely mislead her to perhaps innocently believe that she does.