Q: If I die before my spouse and the mortgage and deed are in my name only, will she still inherit our house?
How will the mortgage debt be handled?
A:
It depends. First if you have a will then that will govern who inherits your house at death. If you do not have a will then the CT rules of intestacy govern who inherits your house. The rules depend on whether you have children and a variety of other factors. Surprisingly, usually the spouse does not inherit 100% of a deceased spouses assets at death under intestacy. Why leave it to chance when you can easily prepare a fairly basic will to avoid this situation.
The mortgage debt is secured to the property. Regardless of your death it has to be paid by whoever ends up owning the house. After your death it would no longer be personally guaranteed but the debt would still be attached to the house. The bank still has foreclosure rights over said house.
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