Hello, Can you put someone's name on the deed of a house without their knowledge or permission, and if so, are they responsible for any clai...

Question

Hello,

Can you put someone's name on the deed of a house without their knowledge or permission, and if so, are they responsible for any claims against the property or bills that were incurred during the time before they were made aware of their ownership?

Thank you

Answer

Hello. You CAN put someone's name on anything including a Deed to a property. The question is really whether the transfer is valid and legally meets the requirements necessary to make the transfer of property valid. Putting someone's name on a Deed is not the only requirement for a Deed to pass title to a property. There must be a DELIVERY of the Deed to the person. There must be valuable consideration (for ex, money). There are a slew of additional requirements.

As far as the "owner" being responsible for claims against the property or bills incurred during the time before the person knew they owned the property, it depends. Taxes on the property are a lien against the property and billed to and owed by the owners. If the "owner" sells the property, the buyer would require that those taxes be paid (as would the title agency involved in the transaction). Bills like electric and phone do not attach to the property so they would necessarily be only against the individual who "used" those services. Judgments or other liens attach to the property if the persons against whom the judgment was obtained owned the property when the judgment was made - or the persons had judgments prior to ownership. Any owners thereafter would be "responsible" to clear these judgments in order to transfer clean title to someone else. This is just a basic answer on this issue - there are a ton of "if's, ands or buts" that cannot be explained in this type of format.

If you were put on a Deed without your knowledge, the transfer may be voidable. If you want to remain on the Deed, equity - or fairness - would argue that your share of any interest should not be diminshed by the "responsibilities" of any co-owners whose personal actions or ommissions created liens on the property. How you would attempt to remove yourself from the Deed or work out any of the lien issues is a matter that would require you to speak at length with a real estate attorney. The facts you gave are not much to work with and the law involving real estate and title liens is very complex.

I hope this answer gives you at least some basis to move forward with this problem. You may contact me for a consultation.