Adding wife to the title deeds

theunforgiven

Hi,

I am due to marry next year and would like to add my soon to be wife to the title deeds of our house. The mortgage is in my name, I make all of the repayments and organised everything. As she wasn't working at the time I applied for the mortgage as a single person even though we were together.

Can I add her to the deeds without consent of the bank, essentially I will still owe the debt (it will be in my name) but I would like to add her name to the deeds giving her an equal share of the property.

Thanks,

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058209660/adding-wife-to-the-title-deeds

Most unlikely that you can do anything without the consent of the bank.

SouthWesterly

She will have an, equal share legally anyway. No need to do anything except get married

theunforgiven

Thanks for the heads up, that's what I thought but wanted to see if it adding her to the deeds made any difference.

BronsonTB

You can ask your bank - they may assess her for suitability & add her to the mortgage liability. (But she would also become liable)

Might be worth having life cover for her to cover the mortgage if anything happend her. (You would have it already with your mortgage)

Make sure you have a legal binding will!

seamus

Adding her to the deeds will simplify some paperwork if you die. It is not always as simple as, "Everything becomes hers when you die". For example, imagine 25 years down the line, she's not on the deeds and you have two young adult children and you die.

You might have a will saying that the house goes to your wife, but if either of your two children believe they have not been adequately provided for in the will, they may try to claim part of the house for themselves.

It is insanely unlikely this will happen, of course.

On the other hand, if you add your wife to the deeds as a joint tenant after getting married, then upon your death the house becomes owned immediately and fully by her and does not form part of your estate for the purposes of probate, and therefore nobody can lay claim to it.

Another unlikely scenario (but it happened with my parents) is that you die while in the process of selling that house. If your wife is on the deeds, she can continue to sell so long as she has your death certificate. If she is not on the deeds, then the sale cannot proceed until probate is complete. Which could take months or even years.

Adding your wife to deeds as a joint tenant is free (except for solicitor's fees). It's not super-urgent, but it's a small bit of peace of mind.

wandererz

When we enquired about it, it was essentially having to be reassessed for a new mortgage.

Easier just to have it squared away via a will.

Or if upgrading home in a few years, add her to the mortgage then.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117915856#Comment_117915856

Depending on how old mortgage is. It may be time to assess LTV which would spur sorting all of this out and modify a rate this saving money ...

seamus

Assuming his wife doesn't have an gambling problem or a huge debt she's struggling to pay back, then the mortgage issue is a formality.

If she has been effectively contributing to the mortgage anyway, then it's a good opportunity to renegotiate a better mortgage.

theunforgiven

Thanks for all of the helpful advice so far.

More back story...

I applied for the mortgage by myself as?my partner wasn't working and we had two kids.

The broker said that the bank would not give me a mortgage based on my then salary with a partner and two kids and advised me to apply as a single man.

Currently she is a stay at home mother to our kids and isn't working so if negotiating a new mortgage I couldn't include her and we'd be assessed on my earnings only.

The mortgage is well manageable and I'm even paying extra off it. (have it for 9 years at this stage).

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117915772#Comment_117915772

She will not.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058209660/adding-wife-to-the-title-deeds

You don't want to "add your wife to the title deeds"; you want to gift her a half-share in the house.

As you've already given the bank an interest in the house to secure the loan they advanced you, you cannot now give away half the house to someone else with their agreement. For obvious reasons, the bank will not agree unless your wife also becomes jointly liable on the mortgage.

theunforgiven

Hi,

Thanks for your insight, all replies are appreciated. A few things to look into so, you have been very helpful.

Cheers,

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917110#Comment_117917110

This will all play in your favour. She's effectively a dependent, but it also means you have no childcare costs, and you've proven your capacity to repay.

With no income I'm not sure you can actually include her as a co-applicant on a mortgage (since she has no ability to repay), but I'm sure there's some legal term for her status. It may just be a case that the bank needs to confirm that they're happy for her to be added to the deeds, rather than go for a full mortgage again.

You have nothing really to lose by talking to your bank to find out whether in principle they will approve the transfer of deeds into joint names.

amen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918095#Comment_117918095

"the broker said that the bank would not give me a mortgage based on my then salary with a partner and two kids and advised me to apply as a single man." <-- What about when the bank ask for proof of marriage and someone notices that the mortgage was taken out as a single person when in fact they were married ?

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925957#Comment_117925957

The bank might then fell that credit was obtained by a fraud. The could demand full repayment. In theory the o/p could be charged with an offence.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925957#Comment_117925957

They are not married yet. It's at the start of the OP

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937277#Comment_117937277

The point is that if he seeks a re-mortgage having got married since he drew down the existing mortgage and it emerges that he in fact had dependents at that time. which he deliberately concealed, he may have problems.