What Happens to My House If I Die Without a Will and My Wife Is Not on the Mortgage?

Just because two people are married and share a home does not automatically mean they’re both the legal owners of that home. In a situation where only one spouse is on the deed to a home, things could get dicey if that spouse passes away.

In this Reddit post, we have someone who’s worried about what will happen to their home should they pass away because their wife’s name is not on the mortgage. They want to know if the house will pass automatically to the wife.

The answer is that while the wife would likely inherit the house in that situation, it’s not so simple. The best bet is to put the right documentation in place to avoid potential issues in the future.

What happens to a house when the owner dies?

The poster above is concerned because their wife’s name is not on the mortgage to their home. In reality, that may not be such a big problem by itself.

A mortgage dictates who’s responsible for paying off a loan on a house. It does not determine who the legal owner of the house is. It’s possible for the wife to be an owner of the house if her name is on the deed and not the mortgage, so that’s something the poster may want to make arrangements for.

Otherwise, the poster’s best bet may be to place the home in a trust and designate the wife the beneficiary of that trust. The poster can also create a will and state in it that they want their wife to inherit the house. However, in that case, the house will generally have to go through a legal process called probate in which a will is validated.

Probate can be both costly and time-consuming. It’s something worth avoiding if possible, and a trust allows for that.

In the absence of a will or trust, the wife would potentially inherit the home anyway. However, whether that happens depends on if there are other family members who may have a claim to the house and the state laws where the poster lives. So either way, the poster should make sure there’s documentation in place dictating who inherits or owns the house.

Make sure you have your bases covered

The poster here is not the only person who may be contemplating a situation like this. That’s why the poster, and anyone else in this type of predicament, should speak to both an estate-planning attorney and a financial advisor.

An estate-planning attorney can help with things like writing a will or putting a trust in place. An advisor, meanwhile, can take a look at all things money-related and make recommendations to help ensure that if one spouse passes away before another, the surviving spouse is taken care of financially.

The poster doesn’t get into the details of their financial situation. But they may want to take steps to protect their spouse like:

• Putting life insurance in place
• Making sure the wife is the designated beneficiary on accounts that aren’t joint, like a 401(k)
• Creating a comprehensive list of all financial accounts so the spouse doesn’t have to hunt for assets

In this situation, the poster’s easiest route may be to add their wife to the deed of their home, which a lawyer can help with. But that does not negate the need to have a thorough financial and estate plan.

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