Q: My parents have been married 40 years. They want to transfer property from only my dad's name to both. What do they do?
He has real estate as well as our house in his name only, and my mom wants her name put on the property as well. How can they go about switching ownership legally from just him to both of them, so that her name can also be on the deed?
A:
Easy to transfer title ownership.
Your father can sign a deed from himself to both his wife and him, and probably as joint tenants, with right of survivorship so that when one dies, the other owns the entire property automatically. He then records the deed. There will be a fee for that by the county Registrar of Deeds.
The issue is tax. There are both federal and state gift tax issues involved (depending upon the fair market value of the house. There is an annual credit for federal gift tax purposes.
A: Transferring property from a husband to husband and wife jointly (tenant by entireties in Pennsylvania) is easy so long as there is not an outstanding Mortgage loan. Just need a new Deed from your father (Grantor) to your father and mother as husband and wife (Grantees). Since the transfer is from husband to husband and wife jointly there is no realty transfer tax, so the only costs involved are the deed preparation and the recording costs. Since your parents have been married for 40 years, they may want to review how this gift affects their estate planning before they record the deed.
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