HOW YOU TAKE TITLE IS IMPORTANT
- Julie Settle
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Bob and Susie were boyfriend and girlfriend, and ten years ago they bought a house together. It was Bob’s understanding that he was the only one going on title because he was the only one borrowing the money for the purchase.
Bob and Susie are no longer a couple, but they still live in that same house together. Bob’s the only one who’s ever made payments on the mortgage over the past decade, and the house has $500,000 in equity now. Bob wants to refinance and payoff some credit card debt, but when he gets to the title company, the title company asks, “Where’s your girlfriend?” and they’re not just being polite.
First of all, she’s not his girlfriend anymore.
Second of all, she didn’t borrow any money and she’s not on the mortgage.
Third of all, she hasn’t been making payments towards the mortgage.
So how the [insert-choice-expletive-here] is the refinance of the mortgage loan any of her business?
Though Bob and Susie were never a married couple, they had taken title as Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.
So obviously Bob and Susie had been compatible to live together, though their romantic relationship had ended some time ago. Bob had no problem with that. And he’d been making the mortgage payments all those years without her participation. Bob was okay with that too. Bob also had no problem with her getting half the equity in this refinance deal. Then Bob asked Susie to come down to the title company and sign for the refinance, and she replied, “No.”
[insert-choice-expletive-here again]!!!
That’s when Bob had a problem.
Susie had lived there for free for ten years, and the house had tons of equity. She claimed it was her homestead and he couldn’t force her to sell or help him refinance.
So Bob filed a Partition Action.
A Partition is a court action where the court determines the value, and then the property is sold at the courthouse steps to the highest bidder.
It’s virtually impossible to yank the homestead out from underneath your spouse. The spouse is going to have to be at the closing, and if the spouse doesn’t want to sign, you have no sale. But with a boyfriend-girlfriend ownership, you may be able to partition the property and force the sale, even if it’s a homestead. (Note: there are exceptions if minor children are involved.)
From Land Title Talk Podcast on YouTube
July 2, 2025
Written by Stephen Collins and CJ Godwin
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